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.

Compiled by PlainCollege , College outcomes data analysis

$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.

Carnegie Mellon University

$138,588
Georgia Institute of Tec…

$95,697
University of Washington…

$89,193
University of Southern C…

$89,022
Rensselaer Polytechnic I…

$87,358
Northeastern University

$87,336
University of Notre Dame

$83,414
Chapman University

$78,121
Art Center College of De…

$76,093
Florida State University

$73,888
Boston University

$72,809
Virginia Polytechnic Ins…

$72,213
University of Cincinnati…

$71,605
Syracuse University

$71,527
The University of Texas at

$69,846

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.

The full top 100

#	School Name	State	Median Earnings	Median Debt	Completers
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.