Interior Designers in Wisconsin
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$50,322
after federal, FICA and Wisconsin tax
Tax takes
$12,418
19.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$54,053
Wisconsin costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Wisconsin — 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
$62,740
Kept after tax
$50,322
Worth in national money
$54,053
State rank
27
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Wisconsin is 27 of 49 states for interior designers, with a middle wage of $62,740. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Against other work in Wisconsin, this sits in the middle: 217 of 491 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Here is where Wisconsin does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $62,740 you keep $50,322, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $54,053 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $70,280, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Wisconsin ranks 27 of 49 for interior designers at $62,740. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Interior designers ranks 217 of 491 occupations in Wisconsin by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- After federal, FICA and Wisconsin income tax, retained pay for interior designers on $62,740 is $50,322. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $54,053 in national-average terms. ⚠️ That figure is purchasing power, not a wage, and nobody is paid it; it is what the take-home buys. The mean of $70,280 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Interior Designers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $35,740 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $62,740 |
| Top tenth earn over | $99,940 |
| This salary | $62,740 |
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 Wisconsin | $50,322 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $52,592 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$68 |
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 | $59,915 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$82 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Wisconsin earn less than $62,740. The published range is $35,740 up to $99,940, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In Wisconsin the take-home figure of $50,322, from $62,740, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 217 of 491 occupations here.
- One number stands for prices across all of Wisconsin, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $54,053, the adjusted value of that $62,740 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 217 of 491 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for interior designers in Wisconsin the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $35,740 to $99,940. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for Wisconsin is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $50,322 from $62,740. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 217 of 491 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Wisconsin, so $54,053 — the adjusted value of that $62,740 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 217 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $70,280 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $35,740, the highest tenth $99,940, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Wisconsin sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $54,053 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and Wisconsin adds its own income tax on top — which is why $50,322 of this wage survives to your account.
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 Wisconsin is $70,280. 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 ($35,740) and the ninetieth ($99,940) 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.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Wisconsin's regional price parity is at or below the national average, so nominal wages understate purchasing power. Take-home deflated by the state price level is $54,053 in national-average terms. The adjustment uses an all-items index and does not isolate housing.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $50,322 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Wisconsin 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.