Interior designers rate their happiness above average.
At CareerExplorer, we conduct an ongoing survey with millions of people and ask them how satisfied they are with their careers. As it turns out, interior designers rate their career happiness 3.5 out of 5 stars which puts them in the top 30% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy interior designers are to similar careers in the industry. Take a look at the results below:
Salaries and satisfaction ratings in similar careers
| Career | Satisfaction | Avg Salary |
|---|---|---|
| Costume designer | 4.0 | $26k |
| Art director | 3.8 | $101k |
| Exhibit designer | 3.7 | $55k |
| Makeup artist | 3.7 | $135k |
| Fashion designer | 3.6 | $77k |
| Interior designer | 3.5 | $60k |
| Graphic designer | 3.4 | $51k |
| Nail technician | 3.1 | $29k |
| Architect | 3.1 | $80k |
| Hairdresser | 3.1 | $30k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are interior designers happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do interior designers find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as interior designers?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are interior designer’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are interior designers making the best use of their abilities?
Are interior designers happy with their salary?
Interior designers rated their satisfaction with their salaries 2.9/5. Interior designers tend to be quite unhappy with their salary, with very few reporting satisfaction with their pay.
We asked interior designers how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
2.9 out of 5 stars
1006 interior designers
12% of interior designers rated their compensation 5 stars
20% of interior designers rated their compensation 4 stars
30% of interior designers rated their compensation 3 stars
26% of interior designers rated their compensation 2 stars
12% of interior designers rated their compensation 1 stars
Do interior designers find their jobs meaningful?
On average, interior designers rate the meaningfulness of their work a 3.2/5. Most tend to be satisified with the level of meaning they find in their careers.
We asked interior designers how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
3.2 out of 5 stars
1024 interior designers
23% of interior designers rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
19% of interior designers rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
26% of interior designers rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
21% of interior designers rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
12% of interior designers rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as interior designers?
Interior designers rated their personality fit with their work an average of 4.0/5. The majority of interior designers find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked interior designers how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
4.0 out of 5 stars
1095 interior designers
36% of interior designers rated their career fit 5 stars
35% of interior designers rated their career fit 4 stars
21% of interior designers rated their career fit 3 stars
5% of interior designers rated their career fit 2 stars
3% of interior designers rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is an interior designer’s work environment?
As a whole, interior designers rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.7/5. A solid majority of interior designers enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as an interior designer.
We asked interior designers how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
3.7 out of 5 stars
1094 interior designers
28% of interior designers rated their work environment 5 stars
33% of interior designers rated their work environment 4 stars
24% of interior designers rated their work environment 3 stars
11% of interior designers rated their work environment 2 stars
4% of interior designers rated their work environment 1 stars
Are interior designers making the best use of their abilities?
Former interior designers on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 3.5/5. Most interior designers surveyed find that they manage to use their abilities to their fullest as an interior designer, which helps contribute to higher career satisfaction in the long term.
We asked interior designers how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
3.5 out of 5 stars
1103 interior designers
24% of interior designers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
30% of interior designers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
26% of interior designers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
14% of interior designers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
6% of interior designers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars