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Role hub · Interior Designers

Interior Designer: what the job is, what it pays, and how to get hired.

The work, the skills that matter, the tools in demand and the pay range, from U.S. government data, plus every TryHired page for the role.

Maid DizdarevicCareer coach · 8x LinkedIn Top Voice
Updated Oct 24, 2026 · Data: BLS OEWS May 2025 · O*NET 31.0
Pay ladder · select a percentile
Median percentile pay

Half of interior designers earn more than this and half earn less.

Annual
$67,190
Hourly
$32.31
Source
BLS May 2025
Quick answer

Interior Designers plan, design, and furnish the internal space of rooms or buildings. The median pay is $67,190 a year ($32.31 an hour) (BLS, May 2025). The most commonly reported education requirement is a bachelor's degree (84% of workers surveyed by O*NET).

Median pay
$67,190
BLS May 2025
Employed in the U.S.
71,500
BLS May 2025
Preparation
Job Zone 4 of 5
considerable preparation
Most common education
Bachelor's Degree
84% of workers
Explore the role

Every page for Interior Designers

SalaryInterior Designer salary

Pay by percentile, state and metro, with a negotiation script.

Open →How to becomeInterior Designer how to become

Education, training and the skills to build first.

Open →ResumeInterior Designer resume

Keywords, bullet formulas and the skills to prove.

Open →Interview questionsInterior Designer interview questions

Questions with what they test, plus practice mode.

Open →Career changeInterior Designer career change

Where these skills transfer, with skill match and pay change.

Open →Free toolCheck your resume

Parsed text, evidence per bullet, fixes first.

Open →
The work

What interior designers do day to day

Data Core tasks rated most important by workers in the role (O*NET).

  1. Design plans to be safe and to be compliant with the American Disabilities Act (ADA).
  2. Use computer-aided drafting (CAD) and related software to produce construction documents.
  3. Research health and safety code requirements to inform design.
  4. Confer with client to determine factors affecting planning of interior environments, such as budget, architectural preferences, purpose, and function.
  5. Advise client on interior design factors, such as space planning, layout and use of furnishings or equipment, and color coordination.
  6. Coordinate with other professionals, such as contractors, architects, engineers, and plumbers, to ensure job success.
  7. Review and detail shop drawings for construction plans.
  8. Inspect construction work on site to ensure its adherence to the design plans.
Skills that matter

Ranked by importance to the job

Data O*NET importance ratings. The first three are core.

Reading ComprehensioncoreActive ListeningcoreSpeakingcoreCritical ThinkingSocial PerceptivenessCoordinationService OrientationComplex Problem SolvingWriting

Knowledge areas: Design, Customer and Personal Service, Building and Construction, English Language, Sales and Marketing, Administration and Management.

Tools and technology

Software interior designers use

Data Examples reported for the role; employer demand flags from O*NET.

  • Adobe Creative Cloud softwareGraphics or photo imaging softwareIn demand
  • Adobe IllustratorGraphics or photo imaging softwareIn demand
  • Adobe InDesignDesktop publishing softwareIn demand
  • Adobe PhotoshopGraphics or photo imaging softwareIn demand
  • Autodesk AutoCADComputer aided design CAD softwareIn demand
  • Autodesk RevitComputer aided design CAD softwareIn demand
  • Trimble SketchUp ProComputer aided design CAD softwareIn demand
  • Chaos EnscapeComputer aided design CAD softwareIn demand
  • 20-20 Technologies 20-20 DesignComputer aided design CAD software
  • AutoDesSys form ZComputer aided design CAD software
  • Autodesk 3ds MaxVideo creation and editing software
  • Autodesk Architectural DesktopComputer aided design CAD software

Also called: Certified Kitchen Designer, Color and Materials Designer, Commercial Interior Designer, Decorating Consultant, Designer, Interior Decorator.

Method

How this page is built

Tasks, skills, tools, education and related roles come from O*NET 31.0. Pay and employment come from the BLS OEWS May 2025 national estimates. The skill-match score is our calculation: Skill match is the correlation between the two occupations' skill profiles: for each of 35 O*NET skills (10 essential, 25 transferable) we multiply importance by level, subtract the average across all occupations, and correlate the two profiles. 100 means identical shape; 0 or below means unrelated. Only occupations that O*NET itself lists as related are compared.

What this page can't tell you
  • How a specific employer defines the job.
  • Pay for self-employed workers (OEWS covers employees).
  • Your own chances: data describes the occupation, not you.
Sources
  1. O*NET 31.0 Database, U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license. TryHired selected, ranked and combined the data; O*NET is not responsible for these pages.
  2. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 estimates (public domain).