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Pay · 27-1027

Set and Exhibit Designers earn $75,240 a year at the midpoint

Pay in this work stretches a long way: the lowest tenth earn about $41,750, the highest tenth about $135,410, and the middle sits at $75,240.

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$75,240median a year · United States
$36.17an hour $83,160average 10,630people
Nine in ten people in this work earn between the two ends. The shaded part is the middle half — where most people are.
$52,83025th $75,240median $104,03075th
$41,75010th percentile $135,41090th percentile
$52,830a year at the 25th percentile, nearer a first job
$105,030best-paying state · California
$38,700lowest-paying state · Arkansas
+40%top state against the national median
  • Read the spread, not the middle. The median is the midpoint across everyone in the occupation, most of them years into the work. A beginner starts nearer the 10th to 25th percentile, which is why the spread is published alongside it.
  • What the figure counts. The figure counts base pay plus tips, commissions and production bonuses. It leaves out the self-employed, unpaid family workers, private household workers, and the value of benefits or profit sharing.
  • Where you live moves it more than your resume does. National figures. A state or metro area can sit far from the national number, and that gap is usually larger than any difference a resume makes.
  • Not in these numbers. Growth and annual openings are not in this dataset. They come from the separate Employment Projections tables, where an opening is a modelled ten year average and not a posted vacancy.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, 2025. Retrieved through the BLS Public Data API on 2026-08-13. bls.gov/oes “BLS.gov cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from BLS.gov.”

State matters a lotThe same job pays $105,030 in California and $38,700 in Arkansas — a gap of $66,330 a year.

Set and exhibit designer earnings, from starting pay to the best-paid 10%

Pick the job, where you work and how long you have done it. The range comes from the published wage percentiles for that job.

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An estimate from survey percentiles, not an offer. Employer, industry, shift and credentials move pay within and beyond this range. Full wage page for this job →

Neighbouring work, and what it pays

Occupations in the same group of the federal classification — the usual next steps, or the ones beside this one.

Set and Exhibit Designers$75,240
Fashion Designers$80,960+$5,720 Merchandise Displayers and Window Trimmers$39,390−$35,850 Floral Designers$37,360−$37,880

Place 256 of 788 by median pay

Better paid than 68% of the occupations in the survey.

  1. 254 Film and Video Editors $75,420
  2. 255 Education Teachers, Postsecondary $75,350
  3. 256 Set and Exhibit Designers $75,240
  4. 257 Camera Operators, Television, Video, and Film $74,990
  5. 258 Public Relations Specialists $74,750

Examples

Resumes made for this kind of work.

Real sheets, filled in end to end — for this job and the ones beside it.

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Resumes for set and exhibit designers

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  • Developed set designs, based on evaluation of scripts, budgets, research information, and available locations.
  • Prepared rough drafts and scale working drawings of sets, including floor plans, scenery, and properties to be constructed.
  • Prepared preliminary renderings of proposed exhibits, including detailed construction, layout, and material specifications, and diagrams relating to aspects such as special effects or lighting.

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This page includes information from the O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. The owner of tiersi.com has modified all or some of this information. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications.

Set and exhibit designer wages in each state

The 21 states where the most people do this work, of 26 with a published figure: their medians range by 2.36 times. Figures are the 2025 survey.

State Median a year Where most start 10th to 90th Employed
California $105,030 $47,400 $47,400 — $162,820 2,690
Maryland $80,540 $47,110 $47,110 — $114,340 420
Washington $77,230 $53,880 $53,880 — $164,070 170
District of Columbia $76,900 $47,600 $47,600 — $118,290 190
New Jersey $76,380 $47,400 $47,400 — $112,570 220
Massachusetts $74,540 $51,870 $51,870 — $123,640 230
Indiana $72,200 $44,540 $44,540 — $93,700 110
Georgia $67,210 $29,330 $29,330 — $122,060 310
Minnesota $66,090 $49,290 $49,290 — $84,670 150
Oregon $62,770 $47,140 $47,140 — $92,220 280
Florida $60,750 $45,670 $45,670 — $101,030 740
Connecticut $60,680 $49,120 $49,120 — $105,530 70
Pennsylvania $59,670 $46,430 $46,430 — $114,970 120
Virginia $58,650 $41,600 $41,600 — $104,010 120
Texas $56,930 $36,480 $36,480 — $111,450 210
Ohio $54,560 $23,760 $23,760 — $92,020 290
Missouri $51,610 $33,530 $33,530 — $74,850 290
Michigan $50,910 $31,200 $31,200 — $73,710 140
Nevada $50,860 $34,930 $34,930 — $101,950 180
Arizona $46,280 $38,660 $38,660 — $109,380 70
Utah $44,540 $21,100 $21,100 — $96,150 340

No estimate is published for 8 states: the survey withholds a figure when too few employers report it. Nothing has been filled in for them.

Set and exhibit designer pay rate, hourly to annual

Starts at this job’s median. Change the rate or the hours; a full-time year is 40 hours for 52 weeks.

$75,234a year

Questions people ask most

What is a set and exhibit designer’s yearly income?

A set and exhibit designer makes a median of $75,240 a year (2025 survey). The middle half earn between $52,830 and $104,030.

What is a set and exhibit designer’s hourly pay rate?

The median pay rate is $36.17 an hour; the average is $83,160 a year.

What is the starting pay for a set and exhibit designer?

Starting pay is usually near the 25th percentile, $52,830 a year, and sometimes as low as the 10th, $41,750.

Which state pays set and exhibit designers the most?

California, with a median of $105,030 a year.

How many people work as set and exhibit designers?

About 10,630 in the United States — number 256 of 788 occupations by median pay.

Work that pays nearly the same

Median pay within $200 of what set and exhibit designers earn — $75,240 a year — but not always the same spread.

See all 788 occupations