How many interior designers are there in the US?  If possible, how
many are there in the fifty largest US cities?  If possible, what is
the breakdown of individual professionals working alone, vs. small
firms of <5 people, vs. larger firms?

Extra credit for basic financial data describing market size.  (ie.
"Last year Americans spent $N million dollars on commercial and
residential interior design services.")

Please include names and dates of information sources.

maxfurni-ga,


The US Bureau of Labor Statistics has a variety of resources that
provide information on Interior Designers in the US.


http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos293.htm
Interior designers

--Interior designers held about 65,000 jobs in 2004. 

--Approximately 3 out of 10 were self-employed. 

--About 2 out of 10 wage and salary interior designers worked in
specialized design services.

--Another 1 out of 10 worked in architectural and landscape
architectural services. The remaining of interior designers provided
design services in furniture and home-furnishing stores, building
material and supplies dealers, and residential building construction
companies.

--Employment of interior designers is expected to grow about as fast
as average for all occupations through 2014.



http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes271025.htm
Interior Designers

The above link provides a number of details about Interior Designers,
including geographical distribution, and the industries in which they
work...check the link for tables on the following:


--Industries with the highest levels of employment in this occupation

--Top paying industries for this occupation

--States with the highest concentration of workers in this occupation

--Metropolitan areas with the highest concentration of workers in this occupation

and a number of other break-outs.



http://online.onetcenter.org/link/summary/27-1025.00
Summary Report for:
27-1025.00 - Interior Designers


This page offers a very detailed description of the job of an Interior
Designer, in terms of skills, backbround, and so on.

At the very bottom of the page is an opportunity to select "State &
National" information.  By selecting a state, you can get more local
ifnormation.

For information, the Interior Design page for New York is here:


http://www.acinet.org/acinet/occ_rep.asp?optstatus=011000000&soccode=271025&stfips=36&search=Go
INTERIOR DESIGNERS: NEW YORK 

and shows that there were 2,990 Interior Designers in New York in
2002, and this number is expected to grow to 3,250 by 2012.




All told, these data get you much of the information you asked about
-- total number of interior designers, along with the number who are
self-employed vs those working for firms (no breakout of firm size is
available, I'm afraid).  There is also detailed salary and geographic
information by state and for some cities as well.

I trust this fully meets your needs.  However, if there's anything
else I can do for you, don't hesitate to ask.  Just post a Request for
Clarification, and I'm at your service.


Cheers,

pafalafa-ga


search strategy -- Used bookmarked sites for job statistics.