Set designer vs interior designer

The differences between set designers and interior designers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both a set designer and an interior designer. Additionally, a set designer has an average salary of $57,970, which is higher than the $52,482 average annual salary of an interior designer.

The top three skills for a set designer include set design, art direction and photography. The most important skills for an interior designer are revit, space planning, and sketch.

Set designer vs interior designer overview

	Set Designer	Interior Designer
Yearly salary	$57,970	$52,482
Hourly rate	$27.87	$25.23
Growth rate	3%	1%
Number of jobs	49,102	48,020
Job satisfaction	-	5
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 68%	Bachelor's Degree, 69%
Average age	42	42
Years of experience	4	4

Set designer vs interior designer salary

Set designers and interior designers have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Set Designer	Interior Designer
Average salary	$57,970	$52,482
Salary range	Between $35,000 And $94,000	Between $35,000 And $78,000
Highest paying City	New Windsor, NY	Sacramento, CA
Highest paying state	New Jersey	North Dakota
Best paying company	Stanley Black & Decker	German International School New York
Best paying industry	Education	Construction

Differences between set designer and interior designer education

There are a few differences between a set designer and an interior designer in terms of educational background:

	Set Designer	Interior Designer
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 68%	Bachelor's Degree, 69%
Most common major	Fine Arts	Interior Design
Most common college	Stanford University	Cornell University

Set designer vs interior designer demographics

Here are the differences between set designers' and interior designers' demographics:

	Set Designer	Interior Designer
Average age	42	42
Gender ratio	Male, 49.5% Female, 50.5%	Male, 21.0% Female, 79.0%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 2.8% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 10.0% Asian, 11.4% White, 70.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4%	Black or African American, 1.5% Unknown, 4.1% Hispanic or Latino, 7.6% Asian, 4.6% White, 82.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1%
LGBT Percentage	12%	23%

Differences between set designer and interior designer duties and responsibilities

Set designer example responsibilities.

Develop UNIX shell scripts to automate file manipulation and data loading process.
Develop marketing and brand awareness initiatives through social media outlets; create and manage company Facebook and Houzz profiles.
Used PL/SQL for writing procedures and triggers.
Trouble-Shout, reload and reject records using DTS, SQL scripts.
Create stored procedures, functions, packages, views and triggers using PL/SQL.
Project entail building a Halloween store set for the movie team in Cleveland area.

Interior designer example responsibilities.

Establish and manage firm's account on NYC DOB website; fulfill office duties and manage office.
Lead the development of BIM modeling content for the architecture team as a direct report to the executive and lead architects.
Project management, interior design, transition planning, and furniture specification for military healthcare projects.
Participate on leer certified projects.
Put together client invoices in QuickBooks.
Design email using HTML and inline CSS/CSS3.

Set designer vs interior designer skills

Common set designer skills

Set Design, 36%
Art Direction, 17%
Photography, 9%
CAD, 6%
Graphic Design, 6%
Concept Development, 5%

Common interior designer skills

Revit, 12%
Space Planning, 8%
Sketch, 6%
Design Concepts, 6%
Customer Service, 6%
FF, 5%

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Set Designer
Set Designer vs Interior Designer

Updated January 8, 2025

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