Highest-paying Cities for Commercial and Industrial Designers

The top 100 highest paying cities for commercial and industrial designers (ranked by average annual salary) are listed in Table 1. The entry level salary (as measured by the salary of the lowest 10% paid earners) and the number of employment of commercial and industrial designers in those cities are also shown in the table. As shown in the table, with a annual salary of $126,740, Santa Cruz-Watsonville, California is the highest paying city for commercial and industrial designers. It is followed by San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, California (average annual salary $117,100). The salary and employment information is computed from data published by U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) in April 2023 [1]. For more salary information of commercial and industrial designers in a specific city, use the links in the table.

Table 1. 100 Highest-paying cities/areas for Commercial and Industrial Designers

Rank	City/Area	Average Salary i	Entry Level Salary i	# of Empl. i
1	Santa Cruz-Watsonville, California	$126,740	$55,450	60
2	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, California	$117,100	$61,670	970
3	Durham-Chapel Hill, North Carolina	$113,420	$66,030	50
4	Des Moines-West Des Moines, Iowa	$110,710	$64,150	290
5	Baton Rouge, Louisiana	$110,080	$60,190	120
6	San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, California	$107,220	$66,880	400
7	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, Washington	$106,040	$72,360	280
8	North Central Texas nonmetropolitan area, Texas	$98,030	$72,970	120
9	Taunton-Norton-Raynham, Massachusetts	$95,930	$50,850	30
10	Trenton-Ewing, New Jersey	$93,770	$56,530	40
11	New Orleans-Metairie-Kenner, Louisiana	$93,620	$46,960	80
12	Detroit-Warren-Livonia, Michigan	$89,470	$54,900	2,010
13	West Central Kentucky nonmetropolitan area, Kentucky	$88,660	$53,280	40
14	Southwest Maine nonmetropolitan area, Maine	$88,340	$49,070	40
15	Naples-Marco Island, Florida	$88,130	$53,290	30
16	Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, Washington	$88,050	$66,880	180
17	San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos, California	$87,120	$56,410	360
18	Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, Massachusetts	$86,910	$60,380	850
19	Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, California	$86,710	$57,280	50
20	Greensboro-High Point, North Carolina	$86,620	$48,400	150
21	Canton-Massillon, Ohio	$85,890	$47,010	80
22	Pascagoula, Mississippi	$85,340	$63,020	70
23	Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, Washington	$85,290	$49,710	320
24	Buffalo-Niagara Falls, New York	$84,750	$46,690	130
25	Lexington-Fayette, Kentucky	$84,250	$53,560	30
26	Sacramento-Arden-Arcade-Roseville, California	$83,520	$47,550	150
27	Boulder, Colorado	$83,250	$56,400	120
28	Niles-Benton Harbor, Michigan	$83,170	$54,830	110
29	Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, Connecticut	$83,130	$47,230	60
30	Jackson, Mississippi	$82,580	$56,170	40
31	New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, New York	$81,990	$45,550	2,140
32	Detroit-Livonia-Dearborn, Michigan	$81,810	$56,160	730
33	Greenville-Mauldin-Easley, South Carolina	$81,750	$55,160	180
34	Minneapolis-St Paul-Bloomington, Wisconsin	$81,600	$53,720	800
35	Richmond, Virginia	$81,320	$46,560	120
36	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, California	$81,220	$45,500	2,770
37	Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, Pennsylvania	$80,770	$51,070	300
38	Warren-Troy-Farmington Hills, Michigan	$80,700	$54,380	1,900
39	Bend, Oregon	$80,150	$40,380	50
40	Waterloo-Cedar Falls, Iowa	$80,060	$55,460	40
41	Danbury, Connecticut	$79,990	$38,190	30
42	Ann Arbor, Michigan	$79,630	$50,180	70
43	Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, California	$79,620	$48,090	100
44	Providence-Fall River-Warwick, Rhode Island	$79,150	$43,590	390
45	St Louis, Missouri	$78,690	$60,370	170
46	Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, Virginia	$78,560	$43,980	80
47	Poughkeepsie-Newburgh-Middletown, New York	$78,560	$52,460	30
48	Springfield, Massachusetts	$78,430	$45,350	90
49	Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, Connecticut	$78,140	$38,310	80
50	Phoenix-Mesa-Glendale, Arizona	$77,810	$49,500	180
51	Spartanburg, South Carolina	$77,670	$45,850	50
52	Kansas City, Missouri	$77,320	$45,960	110
53	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, District of Columbia	$76,970	$48,590	270
54	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania	$76,890	$52,940	70
55	Raleigh-Cary, North Carolina	$76,690	$52,010	50
56	Worcester, Massachusetts	$76,480	$50,800	70
57	Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, Pennsylvania	$76,200	$48,730	40
58	Southwestern Virginia nonmetropolitan area, Virginia	$75,790	$36,900	50
59	Denver-Aurora-Broomfield, Colorado	$75,580	$56,870	220
60	Santa Rosa-Petaluma, California	$75,280	$40,540	40
61	Northeast Iowa nonmetropolitan area, Iowa	$75,240	$51,100	40
62	Binghamton, New York	$74,820	$58,420	40
63	Louisville-Jefferson County, Kentucky	$74,530	$38,670	50
64	Fort Collins-Loveland, Colorado	$74,010	$44,680	60
65	Madison, Wisconsin	$74,000	$47,310	50
66	San Antonio-New Braunfels, Texas	$73,990	$46,140	80
67	Reading, Pennsylvania	$73,970	$54,500	40
68	Columbus, Ohio	$73,890	$44,600	320
69	Syracuse, New York	$73,790	$38,750	60
70	Boise City-Nampa, Idaho	$73,780	$46,700	50
71	Reno-Sparks, Nevada	$73,640	$55,070	40
72	Framingham, Massachusetts	$73,400	$50,370	40
73	Nassau-Suffolk, New York	$73,210	$32,950	170
74	Columbia, South Carolina	$73,020	$53,200	n/a
75	Cincinnati-Middletown, Ohio	$73,000	$43,680	300
76	Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, Texas	$72,990	$47,900	240
77	West Northwestern Ohio nonmetropolitan area, Ohio	$72,870	$40,970	50
78	Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, Massachusetts	$72,550	$49,950	350
79	Grand Rapids-Wyoming, Michigan	$72,420	$43,380	380
80	Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux, Louisiana	$72,410	$31,300	n/a
81	Southeast Iowa nonmetropolitan area, Iowa	$72,240	$55,520	160
82	Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers, Missouri	$71,990	$42,650	70
83	Hagerstown-Martinsburg, West Virginia	$71,890	$34,380	50
84	San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City, California	$71,850	$47,130	450
85	Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis, Wisconsin	$71,710	$46,000	140
86	Burlington-South Burlington, Vermont	$71,670	$52,840	110
87	Northwest Iowa nonmetropolitan area, Iowa	$71,520	$57,750	40
88	Akron, Ohio	$71,430	$49,100	100
89	Rochester, New York	$71,360	$34,080	70
90	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	$71,360	$42,900	70
91	Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, California	$71,300	$41,330	310
92	Birmingham-Hoover, Alabama	$70,800	$43,180	n/a
93	Baltimore-Towson, Maryland	$70,760	$38,170	170
94	Other Ohio nonmetropolitan area, Ohio	$70,740	$42,790	90
95	Edison-New Brunswick, New Jersey	$70,590	$40,840	140
96	Western Central North Carolina nonmetropolitan area, North Carolina	$70,360	$41,280	30
97	Stockton, California	$70,160	$41,090	50
98	New York-White Plains-Wayne, New York	$70,090	$43,160	1,920
99	Chattanooga, Tennessee	$69,990	$44,670	80
100	Beaumont-Port Arthur, Texas	$69,960	$40,990	110

See also: 💰 Highest paying industries for commercial and industrial designers.