The city where you start your next CAD job will influence many parts of your life, from the girth of your paycheck and how much you pay for rent to your professional opportunities and who you can network with. Even though moving to a new place can be scary, you can mitigate big risks by researching locations before you’re ready to move. In this article, you’ll explore what factors indicate an ideal spot to set up shop as a CAD Designer. You’ll also get the chance to compare features of specific top-ranking cities back-to-back. 

What is a CAD Designer?

Using computer-aided design (CAD) software, CAD Designers produce technical drawings for advanced projects. In addition to two-dimensional surface drawings, CAD Designers also create three-dimensional models. Ultimately, CAD drawings and models make it easier for people in many industries to transform conceptual designs into functional objects, products, and spaces.

To help fulfill this end, CAD models may be used in many different ways, from visualization and analysis to manufacturing. The projects their models forward also involve various disciplines, including civil engineering and architecture, medical equipment, electronics, vehicles, fashion, and games. From among these subjects, CAD Designers typically select one area to specialize in for the duration of their careers. 

To ensure their models provide functional results, CAD Designers generally work alongside Architects, Engineers, Scientists, and other Designers. Outside of this, you’ll find CAD Designers working in relatively unique work environments. While most CAD Designers maintain a standard full-time work schedule, they’re often at liberty to choose between working in-person, remotely, or as independent freelancers. 

The businesses that commonly employ CAD Designers include:

  • Architecture firms
  • Civil engineering companies
  • Construction companies
  • Energy and utility companies
  • Fashion houses
  • Manufacturing facilities (especially those emphasizing mechanical, electronic, medical, and aviation manufacturing)
  • Tech companies

What Makes a City Good for CAD Designers?

Deciding where to build your CAD design career is a highly personal decision that involves evaluating many different factors. For instance, you may want to consider how location might affect your salary or how many CAD design opportunities are available in your city. Before moving to your new home, consider what town features are most important to you. Use these clarified priorities to identify cities that align more closely with your needs. 

Job Opportunities

Regardless of whether you have a job lined up in your new city, having other professional opportunities available is ideal should you need one later. Cities with large manufacturing, aviation, defense, and tech industries often have more work for CAD Designers. However, not every town has the same key industries. Choosing a city with a large sector related to your CAD niche can be a valuable investment in your future. 

For example:

  • Seattle, Washington is popularly known as the “aerospace capital of the world” for its contributions to airplane manufacturing. 
  • Austin, Texas is considered one of the top five most talented tech workforces. 
  • Los Angeles, California is an important manufacturer of robotics equipment. 
  • NYC, New York has over 7,500 tech companies. 
  • Chicago, Illinois is a hotspot for manufacturing medical devices. 

To make the most of your industry research, here are a few additional tips:

  • Use the US Bureau of Labor Statistics or a similar site to look up stats on how your industry will likely perform in the coming years. 
  • Pay attention to whether the available jobs are only available to a certain demographic. While some cities have plenty of opportunities available for workers at all levels, others may be too competitive for entry-level workers. 

High Salaries

The amount you earn can be influenced by many local factors, resulting in higher earnings from one location to the next. You can check the average salary for CAD Designers in a specific city using Indeed’s index. 

If you hope to maximize your salary, however, be aware that your overall earnings will also be impacted by your city’s cost of living. These expenses typically include: 

  • Food
  • Housing
  • Utilities
  • Gas
  • Healthcare
  • Insurance

In a city with a high cost of living, a high salary won’t go as far. 

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Strong CAD Designer Community

There are few things worse than moving to a new city and finding no common ground with other people living there. Participating in a local community that shares your interests in CAD design, engineering, and tech can help you feel at home in your new environment while providing professional networking opportunities. When you evaluate potential new homes, consider what community events are available there. Also, research whether your new city offers educational resources to help you progress in your career. 

Remote Job Opportunities

If you ultimately prefer the flexibility that comes with remote work, you may not need your city to be full of onsite job opportunities. In this case, you may find more value in choosing a city that offers a low cost of living. 

Remote CAD design jobs are often posted on platforms like CAD Crowd, Glassdoor, and Fiverr. As you search for remote-specific jobs, don’t completely discount location-based jobs. You’ll often find that many jobs that are listed for a particular location include remote work as an option. 

Top Cities for CAD Designers

Cleveland, OH

Despite being relatively unknown in the wider design world, Cleveland is a hidden gem for CAD Designers. In addition to its low cost of living, the city offers high CAD Designer salaries, averaging between $64,000 and $79,000. The city’s higher-than-average concentration of CAD Design job openings is spread across a variety of industries, including healthcare, manufacturing, and information technology. In addition, local universities offer high-quality design education along with opportunities to network and participate in a local design community.

Detroit, MI

Again and again, Detroit is popularly voted a top ten city for CAD Designers by recruitment experts (from the IT and engineering industries). This city has one of the highest concentrations of CAD job opportunities in the US (the same is also true of six other Michigan cities, including Modis, Niles, and Ann Arbor). Its key industries include several high-paying CAD fields (automotive and mobility manufacturing, defense, IT, and healthcare). While Detroit doesn’t offer the most competitive pay rate, it can provide long-term job stability through its sustained demand for CAD design. 

Woodland, CA

Like Michigan and Washington, California has a significant concentration of CAD design jobs when compared to other locations throughout the US. Woodlands beats out many other Californian cities when it comes to cost, with housing priced up to 194% less than in other cities. As an education-forward city with several colleges and universities offering CAD classes, Woodland is a great location to build up a new CAD design career. Top local industries include CAD-friendly fields like healthcare, manufacturing, and engineering. 

Everett, WA

While Seattle is the most well-known tourist destination in Washington, CAD Designers throughout the state earn roughly the same salary ($63,000 to $95,000), making it worthwhile to choose a city with a lower cost of living. On average living expenses in Everett are 17% lower than what you’d pay in Seattle, and thanks to proximity, you can still access the Sleepless City’s tech and design amenities. With the right traffic, it’s only a 55-minute drive to the Seattle Art Museum and the famous Pike’s Place Market. Everett is also situated right in between Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest and dozens of Puget Sound islands that are just a ferry ride away. 

Houston, TX

In all industries, jobs are opening up more readily in Houston than anywhere else in the US. This includes growth in fields like manufacturing, which are considered vital to CAD Design, but in danger of dying out in other regions of America. The city also offers a great selection of other industries where Engineers with CAD experience can find work, among them biomedicine, energy, and aerospace. Because Houston boasts lower-than-average housing costs, local CAD Designers will find it easier to make the most of their $62,000 to $98,000 salaries. 

Additional Cities to Consider

  • Bloomington, IL
  • Columbus, OH
  • Greenville, SC
  • Irvine, CA
  • Lynnwood, WA
  • North Las Vegas, NV
  • Mesa, AZ
  • Oakland, CA
  • Portland, OR
  • Reno, NV

Why Become a CAD Designer?

CAD Design is a rewarding career that offers the opportunity to contribute to important projects such as medical devices and defense. In addition to working on gratifying professional projects, CAD design will equip you with the skills to create your own 3D print projects and generate a secondary income stream. AutoCAD is ultimately a versatile skill that can be applied to many different projects. 

For the same reason, CAD design skills can get you a job in a variety of different industries. Because CAD Designers’ human touch creates more functional and precise models than a computer alone, CAD design will always be an important component in product manufacturing, architecture, and engineering. CAD Designer job openings have even been predicted to increase by 8% between 2016 and 2026, and while recent years indicate this may be an overestimate, CAD is still a thriving feature in many industries. In fact, CAD design skills can easily act as a natural segway into a more advanced career such as mechanical engineering or architecture.

How to Find a CAD Designer Job

Start by Preparing for Success

Give yourself a strong chance of success by starting your job search with solid qualifications. Because necessary skills can vary from one CAD design job to another, knowing where you want to end up can help you tailor your training and preparation to the right job. For example, you’d need different skills as a CAD Technician than you would as a Mechanical Engineer who emphasizes CAD. 

Despite this variability, there are several key application components that almost all CAD design jobs require. These include:

The experience required to get a CAD Designer job varies significantly from position to position, with basic entry-level roles even offering on-the-job training to beginners. For more complex CAD Designer job titles (such as Mechanical Engineer or Product Designer), you’ll need between two and five years of relevant experience. 

Search for Jobs Strategically

When you’re fully ready to start work, be sure to cast your search net wide. Rather than looking for jobs only in one place, you utilize multiple job markets for a better chance at finding work. For example, you can build digital authority for yourself using a personal portfolio website and job websites like LinkedIn, while simultaneously pooling advice from forum users on platforms like Reddit. 

According to experts, the following can help you find a CAD design job: 

  • Explore job sites that were created specifically for your industry, whether that’s design, engineering, IT, or even freelancing. 
  • Participate in professional organizations (such as the American Design Drafting Association, or ADDA).
  • Treat internships, classes, and volunteer projects as opportunities to solidify your portfolio and create long-term professional connections. 
  • Attend a wide variety of events, including both formal events (conferences, job fairs, and trade shows) and casual ones (local design get-togethers and Meetups).

Learn the Skills to Become a CAD Designer at Noble Desktop

Learn CAD Design in a confidence-boosting environment where experts can guide you through every step of mastering the leading CAD drafting software. Noble Desktop’s hands-on AutoCAD courses are offered in a traditional NYC classroom as well as in a flexible live online format. They come in a variety of levels (from beginner to advanced) to allow for maximum customization and always rely on task-oriented projects to teach skills. Additionally, all courses feature a small class size to ensure you receive plenty of one-on-one attention from your instructor. 

If you’re looking for a short introductory course or want to split your training into chunks, the AutoCAD Level I course will get you started on the right track. In this course, you’ll explore projects that will get you comfortable using precision drawing tools. You’ll learn how to use a variety of beginner features, from drawing templates to layers, blocks, layouts, annotations, and hatching. Before you’re finished, you’ll also learn how to edit and print your drawing. Because this class was designed as part of a series, you’ll be ready to move on to AutoCAD Level II (and later, Level III) when you graduate. 

To cover the same ground more quickly, you may prefer to sign up for the AutoCAD Bootcamp. In addition to covering all the beginner skills from AutoCAD Level I, this course covers intermediate skills from AutoCAD Level II. To create more complex images, you’ll learn how to utilize tracking points, construction lines, and external references. You’ll also learn how to integrate data tables into your drawings and customize layouts for specific projects. 

Want to master AutoCAD software comprehensively? The AutoCAD Masterclass includes skills from AutoCAD Levels I-III, allowing you to advance from beginner to pro in one course. After exploring beginner skills in the first unit of the course, you’ll start tackling intermediate skills in tandem with productivity strategies. In the last unit of the class, you’ll navigate a variety of advanced subjects, including user interface customization, dynamic blocks, text objects and tables, dynamic attributes, and publication. With these skills, you’ll be prepared to take on a variety of entry-level professional CAD projects. 

To receive the same comprehensive training and earn an official AutoCAD certification, sign up for the AutoCAD Certification Program. In addition to skills training, this course includes private tutoring and proctorship for The Autodesk Certified Professional in AutoCAD for Design & Drafting exam.