Designing buildings and spaces, from houses and hospitals to ships and theme parks.
Top pay: highest pay, longest training
Principal Architect / Firm Partner: Leads an architecture firm, wins big projects, and has the final say on design quality. Typical pay $165k.
Healthcare Architect: Designs hospitals, clinics, and labs where every hallway and outlet affects patient care. Typical pay $120k.
Facade / Building Envelope Consultant: Designs and troubleshoots the outer skin of buildings: glass walls, cladding, and waterproofing. Typical pay $120k.
Mid pay: solid pay, degree or apprenticeship
Architecture Professor: Teaches design studios and architecture history at a college while often running a small practice. Typical pay $104k.
Architect: Designs buildings, from houses to airports, balancing beauty, safety, budget, and code. Typical pay $97k.
Naval Architect: Designs ships, submarines, yachts, and offshore platforms instead of buildings. Typical pay $100k.
Themed Entertainment Designer: Designs theme park lands, rides, escape rooms, and immersive attractions. Typical pay $90k.
Architectural Designer: Does design and drawing work inside an architecture firm while working toward (or instead of) a license. Typical pay $72k.
Interior Designer: Plans the inside of buildings: layouts, materials, lighting, and furniture that meet code. Typical pay $64k.
Residential Home Designer: Designs custom houses, additions, and remodels, which many states allow without an architect's license. Typical pay $62k.
Architectural Visualization Artist: Turns architectural drawings into photo-real images, animations, and VR tours of buildings not yet built. Typical pay $65k.
Exhibit Designer: Designs museum galleries, trade-show booths, and visitor centers. Typical pay $63k.
Architectural Specification Writer: Writes the detailed project manual that tells builders exactly which materials, products and methods to use in a building. Typical pay $95k.
Architectural Hardware Consultant: Specifies every lock, hinge, closer and access-control device for every door in large buildings, keeping them safe, accessible and up to fire code. Typical pay $80k.
Theater Planning Consultant: Helps architects design theaters and concert halls so every seat can see and hear, and the stage, rigging and lighting work. Typical pay $92k.
Laboratory Planner: Plans the layout of research labs, from fume hoods and benches to the air and gas lines scientists need to work safely. Typical pay $100k.
Justice Architect: Designs courthouses, jails, police stations and juvenile centers that must be secure, fair and humane at the same time. Typical pay $95k.
Liturgical Design Consultant: Helps congregations design or renovate worship spaces, from altar and font placement to lighting, art and seating. Typical pay $75k.
Starter: fastest way in
Architectural Model Maker: Builds tiny, precise physical models of buildings and cities for presentations and competitions. Typical pay $48k.
Kitchen & Bath Designer: Designs kitchens and bathrooms for homeowners and remodelers, picking cabinets, counters, and layouts. Typical pay $54k.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.