Best Interior Designer programs in California, ranked by enrollment
Plan, design, and furnish the internal space of rooms or buildings. Design interior environments or create physical layouts that are practical, aesthetic, and conducive to the intended purposes.
31 schools in California run programs that feed this job, graduating 797 people a year. The job pays a median of $80,230 in California across about 8,500 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).
Fields of study in California that lead to this job
Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level. Numbers are graduates per year in this state.
2 programs in California that lead to this job
Ranked by graduates per year in California (IPEDS completions). Graduate earnings and debt are national College Scorecard figures reported at the 4-digit CIP level, so specializations within one field share a figure. Each program also links to its own California page.
| # | Program | Graduates / yr | Share of pipeline | Schools | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Median debt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CIP 50.0408In California → | 735 | 92.2% | 30 | $31,611 | $26,000 |
| 2 | Interior Architecturemain feeder CIP 04.0501In California → | 62 | 7.8% | 3 | $44,811 | $23,250 |
Top 25 schools in California
Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 9 of the 31 schools in this state.
| # | School | Graduates / yr | Top feeder program | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Grad rate | Net price | Acceptance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Santa Monica College Santa Monica, CA Public · 1 feeder programs | 66 | Interior Design | — | 36% | — | — |
| 2 | San Francisco State University San Francisco, CA Public · 1 feeder programs | 60 | Interior Design | $34,845 | 50% | — | 96% |
| 3 | Saddleback College Mission Viejo, CA Public · 1 feeder programs | 55 | Interior Design | — | 48% | — | — |
| 4 | California State University - Sacramento Sacramento, CA Public · 2 feeder programs | 54 | Interior Architecture | $50,108 | 56% | — | 94% |
| 5 | Orange Coast College Costa Mesa, CA Public · 1 feeder programs | 52 | Interior Design | — | 48% | — | — |
| 6 | Canada College Redwood City, CA Public · 1 feeder programs | 50 | Interior Design | — | 47% | — | — |
| 7 | Interior Designers Institute Newport Beach, CA Private for-profit · 2 feeder programs | 50 | Interior Design | $52,768 | — | — | — |
| 8 | California State University - Long Beach Long Beach, CA Public · 1 feeder programs | 36 | Interior Design | $37,395 | 69% | — | 46% |
| 9 | California State University - Northridge Northridge, CA Public · 1 feeder programs | 34 | Interior Design | $36,736 | 57% | — | 93% |
| 10 | West Valley College Saratoga, CA Public · 1 feeder programs | 31 | Interior Design | — | 51% | — | — |
| 11 | Palomar College San Marcos, CA Public · 1 feeder programs | 29 | Interior Design | — | 38% | — | — |
| 12 | Mt San Antonio College Walnut, CA Public · 1 feeder programs | 27 | Interior Design | — | 45% | — | — |
| 13 | Design Institute of San Diego San Diego, CA Private for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 24 | Interior Design | $34,589 | 80% | $31,880 | 100% |
| 14 | Chaffey College Rancho Cucamonga, CA Public · 1 feeder programs | 23 | Interior Design | — | 36% | — | — |
| 15 | California State University - Fresno Fresno, CA Public · 1 feeder programs | 21 | Interior Design | $23,160 | 57% | — | 95% |
| 16 | Fullerton College Fullerton, CA Public · 1 feeder programs | 21 | Interior Design | — | 34% | — | — |
| 17 | San Diego Mesa College San Diego, CA Public · 1 feeder programs | 17 | Interior Design | — | 35% | — | — |
| 18 | Santa Rosa Junior College Santa Rosa, CA Public · 1 feeder programs | 17 | Interior Design | — | 37% | — | — |
| 19 | College of the Canyons Santa Clarita, CA Public · 1 feeder programs | 16 | Interior Design | — | 45% | — | — |
| 20 | Los Angeles Mission College Sylmar, CA Public · 1 feeder programs | 15 | Interior Design | — | 20% | — | — |
| 21 | Las Positas College Livermore, CA Public · 1 feeder programs | 13 | Interior Design | — | 53% | — | — |
| 22 | Santa Barbara City College Santa Barbara, CA Public · 1 feeder programs | 13 | Interior Design | — | 34% | — | — |
| 23 | American River College Sacramento, CA Public · 1 feeder programs | 12 | Interior Design | — | 37% | — | — |
| 24 | San Jose State University San Jose, CA Public · 1 feeder programs | 12 | Interior Design | — | 69% | — | 85% |
| 25 | Chabot College Hayward, CA Public · 1 feeder programs | 11 | Interior Design | — | 47% | — | — |
All 31 schools in California
Every school in California with a program that feeds this job, ordered by graduates per year. Earnings are shown for the ranked schools above; open a school profile for the rest.
| School | City | Control | Graduates / yr | Feeder programs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Santa Monica College | Santa Monica | Public | 66 | 1 |
| San Francisco State University | San Francisco | Public | 60 | 1 |
| Saddleback College | Mission Viejo | Public | 55 | 1 |
| California State University - Sacramento | Sacramento | Public | 54 | 2 |
| Orange Coast College | Costa Mesa | Public | 52 | 1 |
| Canada College | Redwood City | Public | 50 | 1 |
| Interior Designers Institute | Newport Beach | Private for-profit | 50 | 2 |
| California State University - Long Beach | Long Beach | Public | 36 | 1 |
| California State University - Northridge | Northridge | Public | 34 | 1 |
| West Valley College | Saratoga | Public | 31 | 1 |
| Palomar College | San Marcos | Public | 29 | 1 |
| Mt San Antonio College | Walnut | Public | 27 | 1 |
| Design Institute of San Diego | San Diego | Private for-profit | 24 | 1 |
| Chaffey College | Rancho Cucamonga | Public | 23 | 1 |
| California State University - Fresno | Fresno | Public | 21 | 1 |
What interior designers earn in California
What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.
U.S. median $67,190. California pays above the national figure.
1.00× means the state has its expected share of these jobs.
Metro areas in California
Job outlook
Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.
Growth and openings are national. The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish employment projections at state level, so these figures describe the occupation across the whole U.S., not this state alone.
How to get in
The full skills, tools, and day-to-day breakdown lives on the national Interior Designers page.
How to become a Interior Designer
Job zone 4 of 5 · SVP 7.0 to < 8.0- Typical entry education
- Bachelor's degree
Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.
A considerable amount of work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for these occupations. For example, an accountant must complete four years of college and work for several years in accounting to be considered qualified.
Employees in these occupations usually need several years of work-related experience, on-the-job training, and/or vocational training.
Top skills
The same job in other states
Where else this occupation employs the most people, and what it pays there.
Related careers in California
Every major mapped to this job
The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.
All 7 majors mapped to Interior Designers7 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
- 04.0402Healthcare Environment Design/Architecture
- 04.0501Interior Architecture
- 19.0604Facilities Planning and Management
- 19.0699Housing and Human Environments, Other
- 19.0904Textile Science
- 30.3701Design for Human Health
- 50.0408Interior Design
Common questions
Answers for people weighing interior designers programs in California.
What degree do you need to become an Interior Designer?+
Bachelor's degree is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Interior Design, which awarded 735 degrees in California in 2024-25, 92.2% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.
Which college majors lead to becoming an Interior Designer?+
The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 2 programs to this occupation. The largest are Design and Applied Arts, Interior Architecture. Together they graduate about 797 people a year in California.
How much do interior designers earn in California?+
The median is $80,230 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 19.4% above the U.S. median of $67,190. This is pay for people already working in the occupation, not the same thing as graduate earnings one year after finishing a degree.
Is demand for interior designers growing?+
BLS projects a +3.2% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, about as fast as average, with roughly 7,800 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.
How many schools offer programs for this career in California?+
31 institutions in California reported graduates from at least one of the 2 programs that feed this occupation in IPEDS 2024-25. Rankings on this page use graduates per year, because the federal data publishes no enrollment count by program.
What other job titles do interior designers work under?+
Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Designer, Interior Designer, Interior Design Consultant, Interior Design Coordinator among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 27-1025.
About the data on this page
Rankings use IPEDS completions 2024–25, degrees awarded per year. That is the closest federal measure of how many people a program puts into a career, because no federal dataset publishes enrollment by program. Wages and employment come from BLS OEWS May 2025, growth and openings from BLS Employment Projections 2024-34, and which majors lead to which jobs from the NCES CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk. Occupation descriptions, tasks, skills and tools are O*NET 30.3 (CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor/ETA).
BLS Occupational Employment & Wage Statistics
May 2025Wages, employment counts, location quotients and metro breakdowns.
BLS Employment Projections
2024–34Projected growth, annual openings and typical entry-level education.
IPEDS Completions
2024-25 (provisional)Graduates per year by program and institution — the ranking metric.
College Scorecard, Field of Study
2020-21 cohortsMedian graduate earnings one year after completion, and median debt.
Census Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes
latest availableGraduate earnings 1/5/10 years out, where the state participates.
NCES CIP 2020 and the CIP-to-SOC 2018 crosswalk
CIP 2020 / SOC 2018Which college programs officially lead to this occupation.
O*NET Database 30.3
30.3Tasks, skills, knowledge, tools, job zone and alternate job titles.
Official source →CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor / ETA
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