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Interior Designers pay in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN and San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA
The May 2025 BLS OEWS median for Interior Designers is $76,570 per year in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN. It is $87,460 per year in San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA. Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN is 12.5% below San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA on the published median.
Both rows use SOC 27-1025 and the same annual wage metric. Median means the middle of each area's published wage spread. It is not one worker's pay. The larger median is not proof that one place gives a better job or a better result. It is one wage fact from one source period.
BLS lists 2,250 wage and salary jobs in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN and 1,810 in San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA. Those are survey job counts, not open posts. Read pay, job scale, local share, and price level as separate facts before you make a choice.
Evidence: bls-oews-may-2025 · Rule: same-soc-same-metric-pair · nominal-median-gap · employment-not-openings