Interior Designers salary

SOC 27-1025 · BLS OEWS May 2025

Median

$67,190

per year, nationally

Middle half

$51,840–$85,740

25th to 75th percentile

Employed

71,500

in the U.S.

Growth 2024–34

+3.2%

7,800 openings/yr

What the range looks like

A single median hides most of what a job pays. The bar below is the full national range: the wash spans the 10th to 90th percentile, the solid bar is the middle half, and the tick is the median.

$41,420$114,140

10th: $41,420
25th: $51,840
Median: $67,190
75th: $85,740
90th: $114,140

Getting in

Typical education to enter: Bachelor's degree
Related work experience: None
On-the-job training: None

Entry requirements describe what is typical, not mandatory. Source: BLS Employment Projections, 2024–34.

Where interior designers earn the most

Nominal pay and pay adjusted for local prices rank states differently — a high-wage state with high costs can be worse off in real terms than a middling one. Switch between the two below.

The median wage as published, before local prices are taken into account.

#	State	Median	Cost of living	Employed	Concentrationvs. national
1	District of Columbia	$98,450	109.9	620	1.92×
2	Wyoming	$96,100	92.7	90	0.72×
3	California	$80,230	110.7	8,500	1.02×
4	Massachusetts	$80,110	105.8	1,580	0.95×
5	Colorado	$78,390	103.1	2,300	1.74×
6	Washington	$76,570	107.0	1,330	0.81×
7	Illinois	$76,290	100.0	2,570	0.92×
8	New York	$75,580	107.9	5,340	1.20×
9	New Jersey	$74,020	108.8	1,670	0.85×
10	Minnesota	$73,270	98.6	1,220	0.90×
11	Georgia	$71,760	96.3	3,050	1.36×
12	Arkansas	$69,990	86.9	740	1.24×
13	Oklahoma	$68,520	87.8	490	0.62×
14	Connecticut	$67,330	103.6	630	0.80×
15	Oregon	$66,350	103.4	1,030	1.14×
16	South Dakota	$65,220	88.6	150	0.72×
17	Texas	$65,160	97.1	6,450	1.00×
18	Maryland	$65,070	105.0	1,440	1.13×
19	Nebraska	$64,870	90.1	430	0.91×
20	New Hampshire	$64,140	104.2	300	0.95×
21	Vermont	$63,870	98.0	110	0.76×
22	Maine	$63,830	97.0	230	0.78×
23	South Carolina	$63,790	93.7	940	0.89×
24	Hawaii	$63,780	110.0	270	0.95×
25	Tennessee	$63,660	91.9	1,530	1.01×
26	Alaska	$63,320	102.4	40	0.27×
27	Wisconsin	$62,740	94.1	1,200	0.89×
28	Indiana	$62,580	93.3	1,020	0.69×
29	Virginia	$62,560	101.1	1,550	0.82×
30	Pennsylvania	$62,400	97.6	1,820	0.65×
31	Montana	$61,770	94.6	290	1.24×
32	Utah	$61,740	98.9	1,110	1.39×
33	Arizona	$61,460	100.7	1,600	1.07×
34	Ohio	$61,410	92.8	2,180	0.86×
35	North Carolina	$61,400	94.3	2,610	1.15×
36	Kansas	$61,090	90.1	400	0.61×
37	Alabama	$61,050	88.8	620	0.64×
38	Florida	$60,860	103.4	7,410	1.62×
39	New Mexico	$60,850	92.2	90	0.23×
40	Louisiana	$60,610	88.2	350	0.40×
41	Delaware	$60,360	99.8	190	0.84×
42	Missouri	$59,610	90.8	1,010	0.74×
43	Michigan	$59,340	96.2	1,930	0.95×
44	Kentucky	$59,240	90.2	490	0.54×
45	North Dakota	$59,190	89.0	160	0.79×
46	Rhode Island	$58,100	102.3	550	2.37×
47	Iowa	$58,040	87.8	510	0.72×
48	West Virginia	$49,800	89.5	90	0.28×
49	Mississippi	$43,740	87.0	330	0.62×

Cost of living is the BEA regional price parity for all items, where 100 is the national average. Concentration is the BLS location quotient: how much more of the local workforce does this job than the national average, so 2.00× means twice the national share. It is often the reason wages differ — a place that concentrates an occupation has the employers and the competition for it. States where interior designers wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Best paying metro areas for interior designers

The 40 highest-paying metros with a published estimate. BLS suppresses roughly half of all occupation-by-metro cells, so a metro absent here has no local figure rather than a low one.

The median wage as published, before local prices are taken into account.

#	Metro area	Median	Cost of living	Employed	Concentrationvs. national
1	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$87,460	115.6	1,810	1.66×
2	San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	$85,140	110.4	340	0.65×
3	Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH	$81,480	108.3	1,290	1.04×
4	Boulder, CO	$80,850	105.2	90	1.03×
5	San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA	$80,640	111.9	820	1.16×
6	Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO	$80,150	105.8	1,500	2.03×
7	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$80,000	113.6	3,880	1.35×
8	Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas, NV	$79,720	100.2	460	0.89×
9	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV	$79,590	108.9	1,840	1.27×
10	Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA	$78,960	108.8	110	1.20×
11	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	$78,810	111.1	970	1.01×
12	Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX	$78,390	98.1	1,090	1.84×
13	Huntsville, AL	$78,250	93.1	80	0.63×
14	San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles, CA	$78,000	108.6	50	0.84×
15	Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA	$77,970	107.8	110	1.19×
16	Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA	$77,690	106.7	300	0.60×
17	Burlington, NC	$77,590	93.2	30	1.02×
18	Fort Collins-Loveland, CO	$76,800	101.1	110	1.46×
19	Bakersfield-Delano, CA	$76,780	100.9	50	0.35×
20	Fresno, CA	$76,770	102.2	80	0.37×
21	New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	$76,580	112.6	5,460	1.25×
22	Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN	$76,570	103.6	2,250	1.08×
23	Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA	$76,090	106.4	340	0.43×
24	Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA	$75,290	110.5	100	0.66×
25	Naples-Marco Island, FL	$75,210	103.2	400	4.96×
26	Akron, OH	$74,720	93.4	120	0.81×
27	Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI	$74,680	104.8	1,030	1.15×
28	Kahului-Wailuku, HI	$73,810	109.4	40	1.11×
29	Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA	$73,700	105.4	760	1.37×
30	Santa Fe, NM	$72,800	98.8	40	1.27×
31	Atlantic City-Hammonton, NJ	$72,490	98.9	50	0.70×
32	Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA	$72,490	100.1	2,430	1.83×
33	Charleston-North Charleston, SC	$72,400	101.0	260	1.46×
34	Tulsa, OK	$71,670	89.2	190	0.92×
35	Bridgeport-Stamford-Danbury, CT	$71,060	106.9	260	1.38×
36	Gainesville, FL	$70,930	96.7	50	0.70×
37	Springfield, MA	$70,910	96.1	40	0.41×
38	Salinas, CA	$70,630	109.0	60	0.68×
39	Bremerton-Silverdale-Port Orchard, WA	$70,510	105.6	40	0.83×
40	Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN	$69,770	96.3	880	1.74×

Cost of living is the BEA regional price parity for all items, where 100 is the national average. Concentration is the BLS location quotient: how much more of the local workforce does this job than the national average, so 2.00× means twice the national share. It is often the reason wages differ — a place that concentrates an occupation has the employers and the competition for it. Metro areas where interior designers wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Similar occupations

Other jobs in the same field, with what each pays nationally.

Graphic Designers$62,960
Merchandise Displayers and Window Trimmers$39,390
Art Directors$114,850
Floral Designers$37,360
Commercial and Industrial Designers$83,910
Fashion Designers$80,960
Special Effects Artists and Animators$102,030
Fine Artists, Including Painters, Sculptors, and Illustrators$55,490