I am in the beginning stages of my design career and am interested in relocating to another city. Besides New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles. What other major cities are good for interior design as far as jobs”

(submitted by Danielle M.)

I don’t know what kind of design you are looking to practice, but if you want to do high-end, large-scale projects of any sort – whether they be corporate, hospitality, residential, retail, or healthcare – your best bet is to go to the major design centers. They include the ones you mention, but I would add the following to your list as well: San Francisco, Dallas, Boston, Miami.

A good reference point is Interior Design magazine’s annual Top 100 Interior Design Giants. As you can see from this list, however, there are large firms doing exciting work all over the country – you don’t just have to be in a big city. However, those cities with design districts tend to be hot beds of design activity.

In almost any city over 300,000 people, you are going to find some design job opportunities, however. Look at both large and small firms, as well as other venues: showrooms, furniture dealerships, custom homebuilders, in-house design team within a large corporation, design workshops / custom fabricators, etc. It just depends on what you want to do.

Manufacturers are always looking sales representatives, who may be assigned to call on architects and designers, end-users (corporate facility managers), and / or dealers. These jobs are usually based out of larger cities, but require some territory travel.

The economy is strong enough at the moment that you could probably find a job almost anywhere, but the options tend to be better in larger metropolitan areas.

I hope this helps. The best of luck with your search!