Nashville, TN (population: 605,197) has three interior decorating schools within its city limits. Watkins College of Art & Design, the highest ranked school in the city with an interior decorating program, has a total student population of 412. It is the 259th highest ranked school in the USA and the 4th highest in the state of Tennessee (#1 is Vanderbilt University).
Interior Decorating students from Nashville schools who go on to become interior decorators, interior designers, interior design professors, interior design coordinators, etc. have a good chance at finding employment. For example, there are 46,010 people working as interior designers alone in the US, and their average annual salary is $51,990. Also, Fashion designers make on average $74,410 per year and there are about 15,780 of them employed in the US today.
Nashville lies in Davidson county, which is one of the 26 counties in Tennessee. Overall, the Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin area has 719,830 total employed workers according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, with a 0.7% unemployment rate, $19.13/hr average worker wage, and a $39,790 average annual salary.
Of the 3 interior decorating schools in Nashville, none have a student population over 10k. After taking into account tuition, living expenses, and financial aid, The Art Institute of Tennessee-Nashville comes out as the most expensive ($30,998/yr) for interior decorating students, with Watkins College of Art & Design as the lowest, reported at only $18,876/yr.
| Name | State | Population | # of Schools | Avg School Rank | Total Programs | Distance from Nashville |
| Franklin | TN | 61,515 | 6 | 35.3023 | 121 | 16.9 miles |
| Gallatin | TN | - | 1 | 14.7314 | 31 | 24.0 miles |
| Lebanon | TN | - | 6 | 33.1353 | 162 | 27.4 miles |
| Murfreesboro | TN | 109,230 | 4 | 32.6865 | 176 | 31.1 miles |
| Dickson | TN | - | 1 | 26.7533 | 18 | 34.6 miles |
| Clarksville | TN | 121,429 | 6 | 21.4206 | 150 | 41.7 miles |
| Shelbyville | TN | - | 2 | 24.186 | 25 | 50.8 miles |
| Bowling Green | KY | 56,941 | 5 | 29.5084 | 365 | 58.5 miles |
| Tullahoma | TN | - | 1 | 18.8406 | 13 | 64.4 miles |
| Athens | AL | - | 7 | 24.5606 | 224 | 95.2 miles |