Plan the inside of buildings so they work, pass code and look right. A 4-year degree, two years of practice and a national exam. Not decorating.
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Pay, the path, pros and cons and the facts on one printable page. Good for a wall or a guidance counsellor.
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What you earn and what it costs to get there.
Registered, mid-career
$62,000
Junior
$45,000
Senior or principal
$92,000
Job Bank's national median works out to about $60,000 a year. Commercial work (offices, hospitals, hotels) pays more than residential. Toronto, Vancouver and Calgary have the most jobs. Owners of small residential studios earn anywhere from very little to well above this range.
$42,000 to $52,000
Junior designer or design assistant
Low for a 4-year degree. Contract furniture dealers sometimes pay juniors a bit more than design firms do.
$80,000 to $95,000
Senior designer or project lead at a commercial firm, 10 or more years in
Healthcare and workplace design lead the way. Sales roles at furniture dealers can go higher with commission.
Tuition, fees, exams and kit. Not rent, food or travel
The low end is teaching yourself the drawing software, building a portfolio and starting as a design assistant or in a kitchen, flooring or furniture showroom. The basic drawing tools are free and a short decorating course covers most of the rest. The high end is the four year degree, the three part national qualifying exam and a first year of association dues, which is what you need to call yourself a registered interior designer and to win commercial work. The cheap door is harder because there is no credential for anyone to check, so you win every job on pictures of work you have already done, and larger firms will not interview you.
A typical university bill. The exam and dues are small next to the degree.
Health and dental
Standard at firms of any real size.
Pension
Rare. Government, university and hospital employers only.
Trade discounts
Furniture, fabric and lighting at trade prices.
Site and showroom travel
Part of the job, some of it out of town.
The exact path from high school to qualified.
A degree, two years of supervised work, then a three-part exam and registration.
High school
Grades 11 and 12
Visual arts, technological design and math. Build a portfolio; most programs ask for one.
Degree
4 years
A 4-year interior design degree accredited by CIDA (Council for Interior Design Accreditation). TMU (Toronto Metropolitan University, formerly Ryerson), Humber, Sheridan, Algonquin, Kwantlen Polytechnic University in BC, Mount Royal University in Calgary, Manitoba.
Supervised work
2 years
About 2 years of full-time work under a registered interior designer or architect, logged in set categories. This is a normal paid job.
NCIDQ (the national interior design exam)
1 to 2 years
Three sections: fundamentals, professional practice and an implementation section (called the practicum until 2026) where you solve code and space-planning problems on screen.
Registration
After the exam
Join ARIDO (Association of Registered Interior Designers of Ontario) or your provincial association. Now you can use the registered title.
Visual arts
Colour, drawing, composition. Your portfolio starts here.
Technological design or drafting
Plans and sections, the language of the job.
Math
Area, budgets, lighting calculations.
English
You present and write specs constantly.
Business
Most designers end up managing budgets and clients.
Interior design is not licensed in Canada, but it is not decorating. Designers handle fire exits, accessibility, finishes that meet code, and drawings that get permits for interior work. In Ontario, ARIDO (Association of Registered Interior Designers of Ontario) members hold the protected title under a provincial act; other provinces protect a registered title through their own associations. Registration needs the NCIDQ (the national interior design exam) and moves between provinces through IDC (Interior Designers of Canada).
Look for accreditation by CIDA (Council for Interior Design Accreditation).
Ontario
TMU (Toronto Metropolitan University, formerly Ryerson), Humber, Sheridan, Algonquin, Conestoga, Fanshawe.
BC
Kwantlen Polytechnic University.
Alberta and Manitoba
Mount Royal University, Manitoba (master's).
Quebec
Université de Montréal, in French.
Things you don't need, but that help.
Revit and BIM (building information modelling)
Commercial firms expect it. Residential studios are catching up.
Healthcare design
Hospitals and clinics are steady, well-funded and technical.
LEED (a green building rating system) or WELL (a building wellness standard)
Asked for on corporate and institutional work.
Lighting design
A specialty most designers only half know.
Kitchen and bath
The most technical and best-paid corner of residential work.
A portfolio
Drawings, models, before-and-after photos. Gets you into school and into your first job.
A retail job at a furniture, paint or tile store
You learn materials and how to talk to clients.
Sketching
Fast drawings in front of a client win trust.
A construction site visit
Ask a builder. You will design better once you have seen a wall opened up.
Contract furniture dealers, the companies that fit out offices with desks and chairs, hire a lot of interior designers to plan spaces for their clients. The pay is often better than at a design firm and sales commission is possible, but it is less pure design and more product. Plenty of designers move between dealers and firms over a career.
Day to day, pros and cons, where you'd work.
Commercial: a space plan for a 200-person office, finishes that pass fire code, a coordination call with the electrical engineer about outlets, a furniture budget spreadsheet. Residential: a meeting in the client's home, a showroom visit, sourcing tile and fixtures, a call with the contractor about a delay. Both: a lot of email and chasing samples that have not arrived.
The good
The hard parts
Things people don't tell you.
The NCIDQ (the national interior design exam) is written by an American council and accepted across Canada and the US. Pass it once and you can register in most provinces and states.
The implementation section (the old practicum) hands you floor plans and asks you to solve code, accessibility and space-planning problems on a computer, against the clock.
Registered interior designers can hold a BCIN (Building Code Identification Number), so their drawings for interior work can go straight to the city for a building permit without an architect's stamp.
Last checked September 2026. Pay figures are typical full-time annual amounts in Canadian dollars, based on Government of Canada Job Bank wage data and published salary grids. They vary by province, employer and experience. Tuition is for domestic students.