Commercial and Industrial Designers

Pay and outlook

Median annual wage, May 2025

$83,910

Half earn more, half earn less

Middle half earn

$66,450 – $109,050

25th to 75th percentile

People employed, May 2025

33,490

Wage and salary jobs (OEWS)

Projected change, 2025–35

+2.4%

Growing slower than all jobs (0% to under 3.5%)

Openings a year (projected)

2,800

New jobs plus replacing people who leave

Typical education to enter

Bachelor's degree

BLS

• All figures are for the United States as a whole. Pay varies a lot by state and city.
• Wages are for everyone working in the occupation in May 2025, at every career stage. They are not starting salaries or figures for new graduates.
• Growth and openings are BLS projections for 2025–35. They are estimates, not promises. Openings include jobs that open up when people retire or change occupation, not just new jobs.

What the work involves

Design and develop manufactured products, such as cars, home appliances, and children's toys. Combine artistic talent with research on product use, marketing, and materials to create the most functional and appealing product design.

Main tasks

• Prepare sketches of ideas, detailed drawings, illustrations, artwork, or blueprints, using drafting instruments, paints and brushes, or computer-aided design equipment.
• Modify and refine designs, using working models, to conform with customer specifications, production limitations, or changes in design trends.
• Evaluate feasibility of design ideas, based on factors such as appearance, safety, function, serviceability, budget, production costs/methods, and market characteristics.
• Confer with engineering, marketing, production, or sales departments, or with customers, to establish and evaluate design concepts for manufactured products.
• Present designs and reports to customers or design committees for approval and discuss need for modification.
• Research production specifications, costs, production materials, and manufacturing methods and provide cost estimates and itemized production requirements.
• Direct and coordinate the fabrication of models or samples and the drafting of working drawings and specification sheets from sketches.
• Investigate product characteristics such as the product's safety and handling qualities, its market appeal, how efficiently it can be produced, and ways of distributing, using, and maintaining it.

Description and tasks from the O*NET® 31.0 Database.

Getting in

Typical education to enter (BLS)

Bachelor's degree

O*NET Job Zone 4

Considerable preparation

Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.

Fields of study that lead here

From the federal CIP–SOC crosswalk, which links 5 programmes to this occupation. A link means the programme prepares people for this kind of work. It doesn't mean the programme is required, or that it's the only route.

Related careers

Related occupations from the O*NET database, in its order.

• Mechanical Drafters

  $71,550 median · -6% projected

• Model Makers, Metal and Plastic

  $63,340 median · -17.3% projected

• Fabric and Apparel Patternmakers

  $62,750 median · -15% projected

• Patternmakers, Metal and Plastic

  $58,000 median · -22.8% projected

• Fashion Designers

  $80,960 median · +0.1% projected

• Industrial Engineers

  $102,440 median · +12.4% projected