Interior Designer Salary, Skills & Requirements (2026)
Advertised pay, starting pay, skills and experience from 3,409 US job postings by 537 employers. Data as of October 2026.
What US employers post for interior designers: advertised pay, the skills and experience they ask for, and the job titles they use, from 3,409 open job postings (October 2026).
- The median advertised pay for interior designers in US job postings is $80,000 a year (462 postings from 149 employers, October 2026).
- The middle half of those postings offer $57,000 to $102,000.
- The skills that most set interior designer postings apart are revit, space planning, interior design.
- Postings that state a minimum ask for a median of 3 years of experience.
Interior Designer job postings in the US, October 2026
- $80,000
- Median advertised pay (462 postings)
- $57,000–$102,000
- Middle 50% of postings
- 3,409
- US job postings from 537 employers
- 3 years
- Median experience asked
How much does an interior designer make?
The median advertised pay is $80,000 a year, from 462 US job postings by 149 employers that state pay. One in ten postings offers $136,000 or more.
Advertised pay in 462 US interior designer job postings: median $80,000 a year, middle half $57,000 to $102,000.
- Median: $80,000
- 25th percentile: $57,000
- 75th percentile: $102,000
The figures as a table
| Annual pay | Share of postings |
|---|---|
| $20K–$30K | 0.5% |
| $30K–$40K | 8.2% |
| $40K–$50K | 9.0% |
| $50K–$60K | 10.2% |
| $60K–$70K | 8.5% |
| $70K–$80K | 11.7% |
| $80K–$90K | 12.5% |
| $90K–$100K | 5.0% |
| $100K–$110K | 13.0% |
| $110K–$120K | 5.2% |
| $120K–$130K | 4.0% |
| $130K–$140K | 2.2% |
| $140K–$150K | 1.8% |
| $150K–$160K | 0.8% |
| $160K–$170K | 1.0% |
| $170K–$180K | 4.0% |
| $180K–$190K | 0.2% |
| $200K–$210K | 1.0% |
| $210K–$220K | 0.2% |
Midpoint of each posting's pay range, hourly pay × 2,080 hours; at most 20 postings per employer; US, October 2026.
| Median | Middle 50% | Postings | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Postings that state an annual salary | $92,000 | $75K–$115K | 293 |
| All pay postings, annualised | $80,000 | $57K–$102K | 462 |
For comparison, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the national median annual wage of Interior Designers (27-1025) at $67,000 (May 2025). Postings advertise pay; the BLS measures what people earn, across all employers and levels.
What is the starting salary for an interior designer?
Figure withheld: fewer than 250 US postings list pay. How we decide.
Highest-paying interior designer jobs
Specializations with at least 250 postings that state pay.
| Specialization | Median pay | Postings with pay | Employers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Design Consultant | $78,000 | 258 | 57 |
Skills employers ask for in interior designer job postings
| Skill | Share of postings |
|---|---|
| Communication | 50% |
| Revit | 21% |
| Microsoft Office | 21% |
| Organizational skills | 20% |
| Autocad | 19% |
| Attention to detail | 14% |
| Interpersonal skills | 12% |
| Adobe creative suite | 12% |
| Interior design | 12% |
| Space planning | 12% |
Skills named in the posting text; at most 20 postings per employer; US, October 2026. Methodology.
Skills that set interior designers apart
- Revit50.5× as often as in all postings · 21%
- Space planning595.1× as often as in all postings · 12%
- Interior design556.4× as often as in all postings · 12%
- Autocad19.3× as often as in all postings · 19%
- Sketchup187.7× as often as in all postings · 11%
- Adobe creative suite56.1× as often as in all postings · 12%
- Enscape313.2× as often as in all postings · 7%
- Growth mindset28.2× as often as in all postings · 11%
- Photoshop38.8× as often as in all postings · 10%
- Indesign46.7× as often as in all postings · 7%
- Good communication skills17.8× as often as in all postings · 9%
- Creative21.1× as often as in all postings · 8%
Skills named in at least 5% of these postings and at least 3 times as often as in job postings overall.
Have a interior designer job posting in front of you? See which of its skills your resume is missing.
What does an interior designer do?
Employers post these jobs as Design Consultant, Sales Design Consultant, Senior Interior Designer, Sales Designer, Kitchen & Bath Designer and other titles. The largest specializations are Design Consultant (25%), Space Planner (under 1%), Lighting Designer (under 1%).
The closest official occupation is Interior Designers (27-1025.00). Its most important tasks:
- Design plans to be safe and to be compliant with the American Disabilities Act (ADA).
- Use computer-aided drafting (CAD) and related software to produce construction documents.
- Research health and safety code requirements to inform design.
- Confer with client to determine factors affecting planning of interior environments, such as budget, architectural preferences, purpose, and function.
- Advise client on interior design factors, such as space planning, layout and use of furnishings or equipment, and color coordination.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database, U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (CC BY 4.0).
How much experience do you need to be an interior designer?
Among 586 postings that state a minimum, the median is 3 years. 2% say 0 years and 14% ask for 1 year or less.
Minimum experience asked in 586 US interior designer job postings: median 3 years, and 14% ask for 1 year or less.
The figures as a table
| Minimum experience asked | Share of postings |
|---|---|
| 0 yr | 2% |
| 1 yr | 12% |
| 2 yrs | 22% |
| 3-4 yrs | 21% |
| 5-7 yrs | 20% |
| 8-9 yrs | 8% |
| 10+ yrs | 14% |
Postings that state a minimum (required or preferred); at most 20 postings per employer; US, October 2026.
We do not show a degree figure: in our checks, degree requirements in posting text were found too rarely to publish one. Why.
Other names for an interior designer: job titles employers use
| Job title | Employers using it |
|---|---|
| Interior Designer | 136 (25.3%) |
| Design Consultant | 86 (16.0%) |
| Sales Design Consultant | 68 (12.7%) |
| Senior Interior Designer | 53 (9.9%) |
| Sales Designer | 31 (5.8%) |
| Kitchen & Bath Designer | 22 (4.1%) |
| Sales and Design Consultant | 21 (3.9%) |
| Kitchen Designer | 13 (2.4%) |
| Interior Designer II | 13 (2.4%) |
| Designer Sales Consultant | 12 (2.2%) |
| Interior Design Intern | 11 (2.1%) |
| Project Interior Designer | 8 (1.5%) |
| Interior Design Consultant | 8 (1.5%) |
| Interior Design Project Manager | 7 (1.3%) |
| Interior Design Coordinator | 7 (1.3%) |
| Space Planner | 7 (1.3%) |
| Interior Design/Sales Consultant | 6 (1.1%) |
| Junior Interior Designer | 6 (1.1%) |
| Intermediate Interior Designer | 5 (0.9%) |
| Interior Architect | 5 (0.9%) |
Titles read in our audit and used by at least 3 employers.
Interior designer job titles compared
The titles people search for most, from the US job postings that use each exact title (October 2026).
| Job title | Open postings | Employers | Median pay | Median experience | Skills named most |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Design Consultant | 238 | 86 | – | – | communication, Microsoft Office, self-motivated |
Interior Designer compared with similar careers
| Career | Median pay | Median experience | Postings | Shares N of top 25 skills |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Interior Designer | $80K | 3 years | 3,409 | – |
| Architect | $110K | 6 years | 1,804 | 19 |
| Landscape Architect | – | – | 439 | 16 |
| CAD Designer | $84K | 3 years | 3,380 | 15 |
| Structural Engineer | $115K | 5 years | 3,900 | 14 |
Similar careers
| Career | Shares N of the top 25 skills | Median pay |
|---|---|---|
| Architect | 19 | $110K |
| Landscape Architect | 16 | – |
| CAD Designer | 15 | $84K |
| Structural Engineer | 14 | $115K |
| Fashion Designer | 12 | – |
| Graphic Designer | 14 | $84K |
Applying for interior designer jobs?
- Interior designer resume examples: one-page examples for these roles
- Match your resume to a job: paste a posting and see the skills your resume is missing
- Check your resume: see how an applicant tracking system reads it
- Find interior designer jobs: search open postings
Frequently asked questions
How much does an interior designer make?
Source and method
Open US job postings collected from employers' applicant tracking systems, de-duplicated, counted only when their job title was read in our audit. Shares count at most 20 postings per employer, and franchise locations of one brand count as one employer. Pay uses hourly and annual figures only; a figure is shown when leaving out the largest employer moves it by 10% or less. Every figure states its number of postings. Methodology and measured accuracy.
Accuracy check: we read 40 randomly chosen postings counted on this page in full; 36 of them were this career or a closely related one (October 2026).
Download the figures on this page (CSV): every number above with its count of postings. Aggregate figures are licensed CC BY 4.0; cite the page when you reuse them.