Five years ago, the Center for an Urban Future published a report documenting the economic importance of the design sector to New York City’s economy. This data brief, published as the city’s fourth annual multi-disciplinary design week is getting underway at venues across the five boroughs, shows that the growth of the city’s design industries has only accelerated in recent years and that the fastest growth is now occurring in Brooklyn.

Between 2010 and 2014, the city added more than 5,000 jobs in architecture and design, a 23 percent increase. New York City was home to 27,037 jobs in architecture and design in 2014. This includes jobs in architecture, landscape architecture, interior design, industrial design, graphic design and other specialized design (including fashion, costume, and jewelry design).

Manhattan remains the city’s principal hub for design companies, boasting 89 percent of all jobs at architecture and design companies in the five boroughs. However, Brooklyn is experiencing the fastest growth. Employment at architecture and design companies in Brooklyn increased by 86 percent between 2010 and 2014, significantly outpacing the growth citywide (23 percent) and in Manhattan (19 percent).

Between 2010 and 2014, the number of graphic design jobs in the borough increased by 94 percent, from 285 to 552. During the same period, the number of graphic design jobs in Manhattan declined by 6 percent. In 2004, Brooklyn was home to just 3 percent of all graphic design jobs citywide; by 2014, it was up to 14 percent.

In architecture, the number of jobs in Brooklyn increased by 90 percent, from 387 to 737. Manhattan also experienced significant job growth in architecture, with employment rising by 28 percent.

Brooklyn also experienced a jump in the number of jobs in landscape architecture (a 376 percent increase – from 21 to 100), industrial design (90 percent – from 67 to 127), interior design (40 percent – from 167 to 234) and other specialized design (65 percent – from 124 to 204).

All data in this analysis comes from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW). Data is calculated through 2014, which is the most recent period for which QCEW data is available.