The average interior designer in the United States earns $74,540 a year, and the median, which is the figure that describes a typical worker rather than one dragged around by the top end, is $67,190. That works out at about $35.84 an hour. Where you work moves that a long way: District of Columbia averages $102,040 and West Virginia $54,150. Everything below is from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2025 release, not from job ads or self-reported surveys.
What a interior designer actually does for that money
Interior designers is a cleanly counted occupation, but it is weighted toward employed designers at firms rather than the independent decorators who make up much of the residential market. Commercial designers at architecture and design firms sit at the top of the range.
What interior designers earn, from bottom to top
An average hides the spread, and the spread is what matters when you are deciding whether to enter the trade or what to pay someone. Here is the full range BLS publishes.
| Percentile | Annual | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Bottom 10% | $41,420 | Starting out, or an apprentice rate |
| 25th | $51,840 | Still building speed and a customer base |
| Median | $67,190 | The middle of the trade |
| 75th | $85,740 | Experienced, licensed, in demand |
| Top 10% | $114,140 | Specialists, supervisors and owners |
Interior Designing salary by state
District of Columbia pays the most at $102,040 a year, and West Virginia the least at $54,150. Cost of living explains part of that gap and licensing rules explain a good deal of the rest.
| # | State | Average annual | Median annual | Hourly | Employed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | District of Columbia | $102,040 | $98,450 | $49.06 | 620 |
| 2 | California | $89,740 | $80,230 | $43.14 | 8,500 |
| 3 | Wyoming | $89,250 | $96,100 | $42.91 | 90 |
| 4 | Colorado | $86,940 | $78,390 | $41.80 | 2,300 |
| 5 | Illinois | $85,520 | $76,290 | $41.11 | 2,570 |
| 6 | Massachusetts | $83,670 | $80,110 | $40.23 | 1,580 |
| 7 | Washington | $81,360 | $76,570 | $39.12 | 1,330 |
| 8 | Arkansas | $80,310 | $69,990 | $38.61 | 740 |
| 9 | New Jersey | $79,580 | $74,020 | $38.26 | 1,670 |
| 10 | Georgia | $78,660 | $71,760 | $37.82 | 3,050 |
| 11 | Oregon | $76,170 | $66,350 | $36.62 | 1,030 |
| 12 | New York | $75,510 | $75,580 | $36.30 | 5,340 |
| 13 | South Dakota | $74,170 | $65,220 | $35.66 | 150 |
| 14 | Hawaii | $73,680 | $63,780 | $35.42 | 270 |
| 15 | Alaska | $73,320 | $63,320 | $35.25 | 40 |
| 16 | Vermont | $72,660 | $63,870 | $34.93 | 110 |
| 17 | Minnesota | $72,420 | $73,270 | $34.82 | 1,220 |
| 18 | Texas | $72,090 | $65,160 | $34.66 | 6,450 |
| 19 | Connecticut | $71,730 | $67,330 | $34.48 | 630 |
| 20 | Virginia | $70,840 | $62,560 | $34.06 | 1,550 |
| 21 | Maryland | $70,600 | $65,070 | $33.94 | 1,440 |
| 22 | New Mexico | $70,320 | $60,850 | $33.81 | 90 |
| 23 | Wisconsin | $70,280 | $62,740 | $33.79 | 1,200 |
| 24 | Nebraska | $70,220 | $64,870 | $33.76 | 430 |
| 25 | Ohio | $70,070 | $61,410 | $33.69 | 2,180 |
| 26 | Arizona | $69,240 | $61,460 | $33.29 | 1,600 |
| 27 | Oklahoma | $69,220 | $68,520 | $33.28 | 490 |
| 28 | Tennessee | $68,480 | $63,660 | $32.92 | 1,530 |
| 29 | Iowa | $68,360 | $58,040 | $32.86 | 510 |
| 30 | South Carolina | $67,970 | $63,790 | $32.68 | 940 |
| 31 | Pennsylvania | $67,890 | $62,400 | $32.64 | 1,820 |
| 32 | Missouri | $67,280 | $59,610 | $32.35 | 1,010 |
| 33 | Rhode Island | $67,150 | $58,100 | $32.28 | 550 |
| 34 | Kansas | $66,910 | $61,090 | $32.17 | 400 |
| 35 | Utah | $66,290 | $61,740 | $31.87 | 1,110 |
| 36 | North Carolina | $66,260 | $61,400 | $31.86 | 2,610 |
| 37 | Florida | $65,980 | $60,860 | $31.72 | 7,410 |
| 38 | Indiana | $65,460 | $62,580 | $31.47 | 1,020 |
| 39 | New Hampshire | $64,750 | $64,140 | $31.13 | 300 |
| 40 | Delaware | $64,670 | $60,360 | $31.09 | 190 |
| 41 | Maine | $64,440 | $63,830 | $30.98 | 230 |
| 42 | Kentucky | $63,620 | $59,240 | $30.59 | 490 |
| 43 | Montana | $63,500 | $61,770 | $30.53 | 290 |
| 44 | Alabama | $62,200 | $61,050 | $29.90 | 620 |
| 45 | Michigan | $62,180 | $59,340 | $29.90 | 1,930 |
| 46 | North Dakota | $60,190 | $59,190 | $28.94 | 160 |
| 47 | Louisiana | $59,410 | $60,610 | $28.56 | 350 |
| 48 | Mississippi | $57,000 | $43,740 | $27.40 | 330 |
| 49 | West Virginia | $54,150 | $49,800 | $26.03 | 90 |
| 50 | Idaho | n/a | n/a | n/a | 350 |
| 51 | Nevada | n/a | n/a | n/a | 590 |
Where the money is: highest paying metros
State averages flatten out the difference between a city and the rural county next to it. These are the metro areas paying interior designers the most.
| # | Metro area | Average annual | Hourly |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA | $100,980 | $48.55 |
| 2 | San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA | $99,350 | $47.77 |
| 3 | Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas, NV | $92,760 | $44.60 |
| 4 | Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO | $89,330 | $42.95 |
| 5 | Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA | $88,370 | $42.49 |
| 6 | Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN | $88,220 | $42.41 |
| 7 | San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA | $86,370 | $41.52 |
| 8 | Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA | $85,840 | $41.27 |
| 9 | Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH | $85,450 | $41.08 |
| 10 | Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA | $85,050 | $40.89 |
What moves the number
- A handful of states register or license interior designers, and NCIDQ certification is what lets you work on commercial projects that require stamped documents.
- Project-based rather than hourly, so income arrives in lumps. Designers who charge for the design phase separately have a far steadier year.
- Commercial, hospitality and healthcare design pay well above residential decorating, and furnishing procurement is where the margin sits.
- The bottom ten percent of interior designers earn under $41,420 and the top ten percent clear $114,140. That gap is the trade telling you where the money is.
- Working for somebody else and working for yourself are different questions. These figures cover employed interior designers on a payroll, so they exclude the self-employed, and in this trade a large share of the best operators are exactly that.
What you can earn running the business instead
The number above is a wage. Running the business is a different calculation: you take the full ticket rather than an hourly rate, and what you keep depends on how many jobs you fit in a week, how quickly you get paid and how much of your day goes on scheduling, estimates and chasing invoices instead of on the work. That is the part software actually changes. Owners who put scheduling, estimating, invoicing and automated follow-up in one place tend to run more jobs with the same crew, which is where the gap between a interior designer wage and an owner income opens up.
Interior Designing salary FAQs
- How much do interior designers make a year?
- The median interior designer in the United States earns $67,190 a year and the average is $74,540, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics May 2025 release. Half the trade earns more than the median and half less.
- How much do interior designers make an hour?
- The mean hourly wage is $35.84. Annual earnings are usually higher than that rate multiplied by a standard year, because overtime, call-outs and premium work are not in the base rate.
- Which state pays interior designers the most?
- District of Columbia pays the most at an average of $102,040 a year, followed by California at $89,740 and Wyoming at $89,250. Cost of living accounts for some of that and licensing rules for much of the rest.
- Which cities pay interior designers the most?
- San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA tops the list at an average of $100,980 a year, with San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA at $99,350. Metro figures move a lot more than state averages, so the city matters more than the state.
- Can interior designers earn six figures?
- Yes. The top ten percent of interior designers earn $114,140 or more. Getting there usually means a combination of licensing, specialization and either supervising a crew or running the business.
- Do these figures include self-employed interior designers?
- No. The Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program covers wage and salary workers, so sole proprietors and business owners are excluded. In a trade with as many owner-operators as this one, that matters when you read the number.
- Where does this interior designing salary data come from?
- The US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program, May 2025 release, for "Interior Designers" (SOC 27-1025). It is a survey of employers rather than of workers, which is why it is more reliable than self-reported salary sites.
All wage figures on this page are from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 release. BLS suppresses figures in areas with too few employers to publish safely; those appear as n/a rather than an estimate.
