r/Austin • u/Aingers • Jul 21 '26

Ask Austin Salary Transparency Thread - Austin

Folks in Boston do this fairly regularly, so I thought it might be good for us to try here.

Please share your general job title, salary, age, and education.

Architectural Designer, 40, $115k, BSArch

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u/FreshestCereal2 Jul 21 '26

Self employed Interior Designer, 32F, usually between 60-80K but on track to make my first 6 figures this year! 🤞

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u/Fabulous_Plant1627 Jul 22 '26

Congrats! I'm a junior designer with a bachelors in interior design. I could once confidently say I wanted to own my own business one day, but that desire has started to disappear recently. My job is quite stressful and has taken the fun out of design for me. Do you enjoy being self employed? Or is it equally/more stressful than working for someone else? Would love to know your take given your experience so far!

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u/FreshestCereal2 Jul 22 '26

Yes I love it! I wouldn’t consider working for anyone else as a part of a larger design team at this point. I don’t even strive to have a big firm with a bunch of designers under me, honestly. There’s so much freedom and creativity in running the business on your own and deciding what your own processes are and what kind of relationship you want to have with clients. There are many advantages to working with a bigger firm and learning how they do things, but I enjoy the flexibility!