I tried searching for a map showing a diagram of the concentrations of industrial designers in the US, not much luck, Anyone seen a recent map like this, can you post the link? I though it would be NY, but I found a tidbit that Michigan has the highest as of 2008.
Thanks.
I don’t know about a map but this might give you sort of an idea. It’s coroflot portfolios by state.
First I have to say poor guys in North Dakota as well as South Dakota. If they are reading…You might want to move. If you look at this list it is really based around where the big schools are. I will speak for myself in knowing the GA is not that big of a hub for design, but SCAD is there and that is why there is a spike there. I do find CO interesting, as well as TX and Wisconsin (did not know abbreviation).
As far as the OP…I don’t think a map ever been made. It would be cool for you to make one for us. I would love to see the infographic.
JC
So MrtWills. How do I find this information . I looked on coroflot and could not find the link. I would like to network with the
Florida kids. Thanks in advance. Michael
US Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics has Industrial Designers grouped with Commercial Designers
They have a breakdown by State (May 2009 data) which supports Michigan as highest population. If you look at industry specifics you see that Automotive is a key factor here. California and New York are next, but would suspect entertainment/ media industry related.
Here is link to pull data look for 27-1021 under Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports and Media Occupations:
http://data.bls.gov/oes/occupation.do
awesome, thank you very much.
That data looks suspect to me. I find it very hard to believe that Tennessee, Oklahoma, Utah, Connecticut, and Missouri have more designers than Colorado. Oklahoma? Come on.
Of course it is suspect, its Government Data!! 
I’m surprised about MI (even with all the trans-designers). I thought CA/NY would have the most.
MI also has CCS, Wayne State ID , the new Lawrence Tech ID program, Mich State ID program, medical and appliance, furniture and tool design areas. Plus the automotive support ID.
It’s interesting to note that North Dakota has the lowest amount of industrial designers. Apparently, the unemployment rate there is 4.2% according to the latest data (google it 
). I guess that due to presence of other jobs in that area, creative people feel that they can work these jobs to finance their art activity. They don’t need to go to expensive design schools to learn how to make money from their creative desires, because they are already making money and they know that they can create whatever they want, without any design constraints. Those who genuinely want to become designers just move to other states where there’s more design.
Look at Oregon, there’s a comparatively high unemployment rate over there, and look how even artists are trying to make their work more design-like. There are not much ways to finance personal artistic activities , so if one wants to enjoy creating things while also making a living, one also needs to make work that’s more functional.
The same happened in Ireland, as during the good economic environment several years ago, there weren’t a lot of industrial designers around. When the economy turned upside down, the attitude towards design has changed dramatically, for the better.
I wouldn’t take those numbers as absolute fact for all designers. Those mostly have to do with where the schools are located, and since it’s a portfolio site, that’s who posting for the most part. I don’t think people in N. Dakota “don’t need to go to expensive design schools”, there are no design schools. It’s true they have the lowest unemployment rate but its also one of the lowest populations and the vast majority of jobs are agricultural. If you were to look at the statistics for N. Dakota you would see unemployment fluctuates throughout the year because those jobs are only around for a while, like harvest time.
Education for N. Dakota: 25.7% of the adult population has a Bachelor’s degree or higher. (Lower than average)
what are you theorizing?
wondering if it would be less competition for jobs in the areas where there are less id’ers.
less competitive yes, but most likely less opportunities as well, that’s why not as many ID folks there
