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Program ranking · CIP 50.04 bachelor's · College Scorecard · Mar-Jul 2026 retrievals

Best Colleges for Interior Design

Using U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard field-of-study data retrieved March-July 2026, these colleges rank highest on median earnings for Interior Design (CIP 50.04) bachelor's completers. Rankings use earnings only - not prestige, selectivity, or editorial judgment - and require at least 25 completers so tiny suppressed cohorts do not dominate the list.

$138,588
Highest interior design earnings
100
Colleges ranked
$53,871
#100 cutoff

The list in one line

Every college on this list reports at least $53,871 median earnings for Interior Design bachelor's (CIP 50.04) completers. Carnegie Mellon University leads at $138,588.

According to the U.S. Department of Education's College Scorecard.

$138,588
#1 - Carnegie Mellon University
$53,871
#100 - the cutoff to make this list
25+
completers required per school
648
US schools offering this CIP

Earnings are field-of-study medians for federally aided completers who were working and not enrolled; see methodology for horizon and lag details.

Top 15 interior design programs by median completer earnings

Interior Design bachelor's (CIP 50.04) · higher is higher early-career pay

median earnings

What this shows Design and applied arts medians swing with portfolio-heavy fields and coastal metros - compare completer counts before treating pay as a program-quality signal.

Source U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard Field of Study As of Mar-Jul 2026 retrievals

The full top 100

# School Name StateMedian EarningsMedian DebtCompleters
1 Carnegie Mellon University PA $138,588 $24,500 31
2 Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus GA $95,697 $26,354 75
3 University of Washington-Seattle Campus WA $89,193 $12,250 38
4 University of Southern California CA $89,022 $18,000 55
5 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute NY $87,358 $25,000 41
6 Northeastern University MA $87,336 $25,500 53
7 University of Notre Dame IN $83,414 $19,250 28
8 Chapman University CA $78,121 $23,823 32
9 Art Center College of Design CA $76,093 $31,000 228
10 Florida State University FL $73,888 $22,625 46
11 Boston University MA $72,809 $21,000 25
12 Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University VA $72,213 $23,900 70
13 University of Cincinnati-Main Campus OH $71,605 $25,500 219
14 Syracuse University NY $71,527 $27,000 100
15 The University of Texas at Austin TX $69,846 $18,000 48
16 Western Washington University WA $69,715 $19,833 60
17 Washington State University WA $69,224 $24,604 28
18 Laguna College of Art and Design CA $68,934 $27,000 84
19 Seattle Pacific University WA $68,547 $25,000 35
20 Texas Christian University TX $68,313 - 52
21 Wentworth Institute of Technology MA $68,160 $27,000 65
22 Ohio State University-Main Campus OH $68,151 $21,694 42
23 Miami University-Oxford OH $67,981 $26,000 59
24 Bellevue College WA $67,797 - 41
25 Rhode Island School of Design RI $67,771 $27,000 91
26 Washington University in St Louis MO $67,771 $19,089 62
27 University of Delaware DE $67,742 $26,000 35
28 California State University-Long Beach CA $66,435 $16,500 114
29 University of California-Santa Cruz CA $66,333 - 114
30 Drexel University PA $66,294 $27,000 169
31 University of California-Los Angeles CA $66,259 $19,000 38
32 Clemson University SC $66,150 $23,250 84
33 Marist University NY $66,010 $26,644 44
34 University of Wisconsin-Madison WI $65,874 $17,875 31
35 University of Arkansas AR $65,780 $22,750 71
36 University of Florida FL $65,656 $19,839 51
37 University of Oklahoma-Norman Campus OK $65,646 $26,250 41
38 University of Oregon OR $65,573 $28,000 31
39 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign IL $65,186 $18,178 100
40 University of Houston TX $64,612 $24,000 51
41 Endicott College MA $64,559 $27,000 50
42 Baylor University TX $63,522 $25,750 25
43 University of Minnesota-Twin Cities MN $62,414 $22,500 123
44 Weber State University UT $62,281 $20,500 34
45 University of California-Davis CA $62,209 $14,924 244
46 Woodbury University CA $62,092 $27,000 34
47 Metropolitan State University of Denver CO $61,654 $28,500 63
48 High Point University NC $61,635 - 62
49 Illinois State University IL $61,628 $24,375 30
50 Auburn University AL $61,609 $25,125 138
51 Texas State University TX $61,539 $23,000 103
52 Quinnipiac University CT $61,419 $26,000 37
53 North Carolina State University at Raleigh NC $61,382 $19,500 65
54 College for Creative Studies MI $61,222 $26,000 86
55 Kansas State University KS $61,150 - 36
56 Bradley University IL $60,888 - 32
57 Fashion Institute of Technology NY $60,882 $23,033 592
58 Temple University PA $60,782 $26,000 58
59 The University of Alabama AL $60,546 $26,000 27
60 Oregon State University OR $60,434 $21,500 104
61 Suffolk University MA $60,159 $27,000 39
62 Pratt Institute-Main NY $59,792 $26,000 273
63 Thomas Jefferson University PA $59,731 $27,000 57
64 San Francisco State University CA $59,678 $15,000 194
65 Arizona State University Campus Immersion AZ $59,641 $20,702 182
66 University of Kansas KS $59,441 $26,000 74
67 California College of the Arts CA $59,238 $27,000 99
68 University of Illinois Chicago IL $59,188 $22,881 79
69 Purdue University-Main Campus IN $58,917 $19,500 65
70 Western Michigan University MI $58,634 $27,000 64
71 Belmont University TN $58,314 $12,500 43
72 Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus PA $58,105 $25,625 37
73 University of North Texas TX $57,753 $22,269 119
74 University of Wisconsin-Stout WI $57,718 $26,000 144
75 Rutgers University-New Brunswick NJ $57,313 $27,000 32
76 East Carolina University NC $57,255 $24,750 30
77 Central Connecticut State University CT $57,214 $21,500 26
78 Sam Houston State University TX $57,019 $29,000 29
79 Oklahoma Christian University OK $56,958 $27,000 31
80 The New School NY $56,838 $25,000 476
81 Kean University NJ $56,666 $24,004 92
82 Kent State University at Kent OH $56,540 $25,000 250
83 Montclair State University NJ $56,176 $25,375 86
84 Portland State University OR $56,158 $23,100 107
85 Otis College of Art and Design CA $55,891 $27,000 123
86 California State Polytechnic University-Pomona CA $55,744 $20,825 105
87 Utah Valley University UT $55,728 $12,500 147
88 West Virginia University WV $55,669 $25,000 50
89 Marymount University VA $55,646 $25,750 38
90 Stevenson University MD $55,419 $27,000 29
91 University of North Carolina at Greensboro NC $55,394 $25,500 49
92 DePaul University IL $55,213 $27,000 97
93 Indiana University-Bloomington IN $54,630 $20,500 46
94 Champlain College VT $54,561 $26,870 47
95 Saint Edward's University TX $54,297 $26,000 35
96 Bowling Green State University-Main Campus OH $54,274 $27,000 59
97 Central Michigan University MI $54,254 $27,500 55
98 University of Central Oklahoma OK $53,927 $15,875 30
99 Farmingdale State College NY $53,896 $17,250 43
100 California State University-Sacramento CA $53,871 $15,750 57

About This Ranking

Schools are ranked by College Scorecard field-of-study median earnings for Interior Design (CIP 50.04) bachelor's completers. Only operating schools with at least 25 completers and a published median are included. Ties break toward larger completer cohorts. For the full program profile - including every reporting school and national distribution - see Interior Design (bachelor's). Methodology lives on our methodology page.

Caveats and limitations

"Best" here means highest reported median earnings for the stated CIP scope - not teaching quality, licensure pass rates, clinical placement strength, or fit for any one student. College Scorecard groups interior design with other design and applied arts majors under CIP 50.04 - this list ranks Design and Applied Arts bachelor's programs, the published proxy for interior-design cohorts. Interior architecture (CIP 04.05) and fine-arts studio majors (CIP 50.07) are ranked separately when demand warrants.

Figures cover federally aided completers only, use Treasury-linked earnings, and describe a lagged cohort. Regional pay scales and graduate-school paths both move the median without proving a causal school effect.

This ranking is for informational purposes only and does not constitute academic or career advice. Earnings do not predict any individual graduate's outcome.

Every figure on PlainCollege is rendered directly from the U.S. Department of Education's College Scorecard data, no number is typed in by an editor. Rankings are computed directly from College Scorecard field-of-study data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error on this page. Review the public data changelog. Data current as of Mar-Jul 2026 retrievals.