Shaping the inside of homes, offices, hospitals, hotels, and even yachts so they're beautiful, safe, and useful.
Top pay: highest pay, longest training
Interior Design Firm Principal: Owns or leads an interior design firm, landing big clients and steering the creative direction of every project. Typical pay $120k.
Hospitality Design Director: Leads the interior design of hotels, resorts, restaurants, and casinos. Typical pay $130k.
Yacht and Private Jet Interior Designer: Designs luxurious interiors for superyachts and private jets, where every inch and pound matters. Typical pay $110k.
Mid pay: solid pay, degree or apprenticeship
Interior Designer: Designs the inside of homes, offices, stores, and other buildings so they're beautiful, functional, and safe. Typical pay $63k.
Workplace Interior Designer: Designs offices and corporate headquarters, planning how people work, meet, and move. Typical pay $72k.
Healthcare Interior Designer: Designs hospitals, clinics, and senior living facilities that are calming, clean, and safe. Typical pay $75k.
Kitchen and Bath Designer: Specializes in designing kitchens and bathrooms, planning cabinets, counters, plumbing, and appliances. Typical pay $62k.
Architectural Lighting Designer: Designs how buildings, museums, bridges, and stores are lit, using light to create mood and save energy. Typical pay $85k.
Retail Store Planner: Plans the layout of stores so shoppers can find things and want to buy them. Typical pay $78k.
Model Home Merchandiser: Furnishes and decorates model homes so home builders can sell new houses. Typical pay $60k.
Contract Furniture Designer: Plans office layouts and specifies desks, chairs, and workstations for companies through a commercial furniture dealer. Typical pay $62k.
Sustainable Interiors Consultant: Helps design teams choose healthy, low-carbon materials and earn green building certifications for interiors. Typical pay $80k.
Rug Designer: Designs the patterns and colors of rugs and carpets for homes, hotels, casinos, and airports. Typical pay $68k.
FF&E Procurement Specialist: Buys and tracks every bed, lamp, chair, and rug for new hotels and offices, getting thousands of items made, shipped, and installed on time. Typical pay $72k.
Starter: fastest way in
Interior Decorator: Chooses furniture, colors, art, and accessories to make rooms look great, without structural changes. Typical pay $45k.
Home Stager: Arranges furniture and decor in homes for sale so they photograph well and sell faster. Typical pay $42k.
Color Consultant: Advises homeowners, builders, and companies on color schemes for buildings, rooms, and products. Typical pay $48k.
Interior Design Assistant: Supports interior designers by preparing drawings, ordering samples, and tracking furniture orders. Typical pay $45k.
Drapery & Window Treatment Specialist: Sews custom curtains, shades, and upholstered headboards and installs them in homes and hotels. Typical pay $42k.
Closet & Custom Storage Designer: Designs custom closets, pantries, and garage storage systems and sells them to homeowners. Typical pay $50k.
Virtual Staging Artist: Digitally adds furniture and decor to photos of empty homes so real estate listings look lived-in. Typical pay $40k.
Design Materials Librarian: Runs the library of fabric, stone, wood, and finish samples at a design firm and helps designers find the right materials. Typical pay $50k.
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.