The Datum Report

Occupation 3421 · Associate professional occupations

Interior designers

Half of full-time interior designers in the UK earn more than £36,485 a year, and half earn less.

Interior designers plan, direct and undertake the creation of designs for interior spaces, procure materials and oversee implementation of the plans.

How people enter it

Employers often require a relevant degree, although entry may be possible with a foundation course or HNC/HND.

What the work involves

• liaises with client to determine the purpose, cost, and scope of the project, which may include the entire building or one room such as the kitchen or bathroom
• prepares designs to meet the client's needs and draws up sketches for consideration by the client
• advises on colours and the materials to be used,
• establishes estimated costs, specifies materials and provides detailed drawing of the agreed design
• sources fixtures, furniture and other necessary materials
• hires staff and oversees project progress
• ensures building and safety regulations are adhered to

Also called

Design consultant (interior design) · Interior decorator · Interior stylist · Kitchen designer

What it pays

How pay has changed

Median gross annual pay for interior designers, full-time employees, 2023 to 2025. Each point is that year's ASHE April snapshot as published — revisions are not backfilled into earlier years, and a year ONS withheld is a gap rather than a joined line.

ONS, ASHE Table 14 - occupation by four-digit SOC (national). Table

Year-on-year change

The change from each year to the next, in per cent, computed from the figures in the chart above — so the two cannot disagree.

ONS, ASHE Table 14 - occupation by four-digit SOC (national). Table

Pay by region

Median gross annual pay for full-time employees, ranked, against the UK figure. 8 of 11 regions are published: ONS withholds a cell where the survey sample cannot support it, and those are shown as gaps rather than dropped — an absent region is not a region without the work in it.

ONS, ASHE Table 14 - occupation by four-digit SOC (national). Period 2025. Table

Every regional figure

ONS does not publish occupational pay below region. Cells the survey could not support are shown as withheld, with its reason — adding a region split to a specific occupation leaves roughly a tenth of cells publishable.

Common questions

Classified alongside this

Clothing, fashion and accessories designers · Design occupations n.e.c.