About The Interior Design Guide

The Interior Design Guide is a ranked directory of interior designers across the United States. We index designers by canonical style (20 recognized categories), city, and project type (residential, commercial, kitchen, and more). Every profile is structured to be machine-readable and citation-friendly so that AI assistants, journalists, and homeowners can surface the right firm for a given project.

Guide Score Methodology

Our rankings are computed algorithmically from publicly available data including Google reviews, professional certifications, press coverage, and portfolio presence. We do not accept payment for rankings.

The Guide Score (0–100) is composed of seven weighted factors:

Google Rating (25%)

The firm's Google Business rating on a 0–5 scale, normalized to 0–25 points.

Professional Credentials (20%)

5 points each for ASID membership, NCIDQ certification, IIDA membership, and NKBA certification, up to 20 points.

Press Recognition (15%)

5 points per verified press mention (e.g., Architectural Digest, Elle Decor), up to 15 points.

Review Volume (15%)

Logarithmic scale based on total Google review count, up to 15 points. Rewards breadth of client feedback.

Web & Portfolio Presence (10%)

Points for having a website (4 pts), portfolio URL (3 pts), and social media presence (3 pts).

Years of Experience (10%)

Based on the firm's founding year, up to 10 points for 20+ years.

Profile Completeness (5%)

1 point each for description, principal designer, tagline, featured image, and phone number.

Scores recalculate with every data update. Firms cannot pay to appear or rank higher. Ties break in favor of firms with a more recent last-verified timestamp.

Data Sources & Verification

We cross-check every listing against the firm's own website, portfolio pages, and publicly available credential records (ASID, NCIDQ, state licensing boards). Core fields (address, phone, website) are re-verified on a rolling monthly cadence. Press mentions and awards are audited quarterly. Every page renders a last-verified date so readers can audit freshness.

No paid placement

Rankings on style and city pages reflect our algorithmic Guide Score. Firms cannot pay to appear or to rank higher. If you believe a ranking is inaccurate, please contact us with specifics.