Interior Designers in California
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$61,902
after federal, FICA and California tax
Tax takes
$18,328
22.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$54,985
California costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in California — roughly, since only five points along the band are published.
One filer, standard deduction, no dependants and nothing paid in before tax — the same household the rest of this page uses, so the comparison holds. City and school-district income taxes are not included.
Median here
$80,230
Kept after tax
$61,902
Worth in national money
$54,985
State rank
3
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. California pays interior designers a middle wage of $80,230, ranking 3 of 49 states and sitting about 19.41% above the national middle.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Interior designers ranks 191 among 492 occupations California publishes pay for.
- California is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $80,230 the take-home is $61,902; in national-average money that behaves like $54,985. The average comes to $89,740, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- California's median for interior designers is $80,230, about 19.41% above the national figure and 3 of 49 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Position 191 of 492 in California places interior designers in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- Take-home for interior designers in California, on $80,230, is $61,902; deflated by the state's price level, $54,985. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $89,740 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Interior Designers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $50,940 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $80,230 |
| Top tenth earn over | $131,770 |
| This salary | $80,230 |
Positions between the published tenth, quarter, half, three-quarter and ninetieth points are estimated by straight line.
The same pay, somewhere else
The state median for this job
| Take-home in California | $61,902 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $65,272 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$12,185 |
State income tax and state price levels only. No city income tax, and no housing market.
What you would need there
The state median for this job
| To match take-home only | $75,441 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$16,445 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 113 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in California earn less than $80,230. The published range is $50,940 up to $131,770, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind California's $61,902, worked from $80,230. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 191 of 492.
- One number stands for prices across all of California, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $54,985, the adjusted value of that $80,230 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 191 of 492 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for interior designers in California the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $50,940 to $131,770. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The California take-home of $61,902, on $80,230 for work ranking 191 of 492 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 191 of 492 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for California, so $54,985 — the adjusted value of that $80,230 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 191 of 492 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $89,740, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $50,940 and the top tenth $131,770 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
A larger wage in a dearer place is not automatically more. Adjusted for local prices, this pay behaves like $54,985 of national purchasing power.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and California's own levy, $61,902 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 49 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
How does the published median differ from the mean for this occupation?
The median is the midpoint of the distribution; the mean for this occupation in California is $89,740. Wage distributions are right-skewed, so the mean exceeds the median wherever a minority earn substantially more. BLS publishes both because substituting one for the other misstates a typical worker's pay.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($50,940) and the ninetieth ($131,770) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
California's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $54,985 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $61,902 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and California income tax for a single filer with no adjustments. The state layer is levied in addition to the federal one; only its rate and base differ between states.
Why does this occupation lack published estimates in every state?
BLS suppresses estimates failing disclosure or reliability criteria. This occupation has published state-level estimates in 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.