The Hourly Pay Scale for a Floral Designer

Making Arrangements

• Bouquets, deliveries, wreaths and event decorations were designed by the country’s 47,850 floral designers as of May 2010. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Occupational Employment and Wages report for that month, the median hourly rate for a floral designer was $11.35. Floral designers’ pay scales ranged from $8.14 per hour at the 10th percentile to $17.23 at the 90th percentile.

Industry Growth

• Florists more than three times the number floral designers than of all other bureau categories combined. The hourly rate for designers employed by florists was $11.86, just over the median. Grocery stores, which employed the second-largest number of floral designers, paid $12.59 in hourly mean wages. Floral designers employed by home furnishings stores earned the highest hourly rates, of $17, followed by those in the company management industry at $16.83 and the traveler accommodation field, earning $16.17.

States with Flower Power

• Maryland’s floral designers earned the highest hourly rate in the country, taking in $14.59 in hourly mean wages. Connecticut’s designers weren’t far behind, with second-place hourly rates of $14.29. Massachusetts placed third, with floral designer hourly rates of $14.13. Employers in New York paid floral designers $14.11, with New Jersey’s flower arrangers taking fifth place with hourly rates of $14.04.

Finding Employment

• States with the highest employment levels for floral designers didn’t always show a correlation with having the highest hourly rates for the profession. Texas, home to the bureau’s top employment level for the field, paid under the country’s median rate with $10.98 per hour for floral designers. New York, with the fourth-highest salary, had the second-highest employment level. California, home to the third-highest employment level, paid an above-average hourly rate of $13.47. Florida, in fourth place for employment level, fell below the country’s rate by a few cents at $11.66. Illinois beat the country’s rate by a few cents, with an hourly rate of $11.90 for its fifth-highest employment level.