GRAPHIC DESIGN SALARIES AND JOB OUTLOOK

GRAPHIC DESIGN SALARIES AND JOB OUTLOOK

Graphic Design Salaries

Salaries for graphic designers are variable across the country, based on factors including experience, education, type of employer and geographical location. According to the BLS, the median national annual wage for graphic designers in 2014 was $45,900, while the top 10 percent of graphic designers earned over $77,490. Graphic designers with the highest salaries are generally those with advanced training and who work for specialized design firms. Payscale.com reports that the cities of San Francisco, Washington D.C. and New York pay the highest salaries, with San Francisco graphic artists earning a median wage of $54,711. Self-employed designers earn up to $20,000 more per year than those working in other settings, according to Payscale.

The BLS reports the top paying states and 2014 mean annual salaries of graphic designers as:

STATE	SALARIES
District of Columbia	$72,820
New York	$60,560
Connecticut	$58,940
California	$58,940
Maryland	$58,440

Use the map below to compare graphic design salary estimates by state:

Graphic Design Job Growth, Prospects And Outlook

Job rates for graphic designers are expected to grow by 7 percent during the 2012-2022 decade, according to the BLS. This growth rate is smaller than the national average for all jobs during the projection period, for a number of reasons. Due to the rapid development and deployment of digital media, the market for graphic designers in print media has severely slowed, making designers that can work both in digital and print more attractive. The BLS says jobs with “newspaper, periodical, book and directory publishers” will decline by 16 percent during the decade. On the flip side, jobs for graphics professionals in computer systems design and related services will find a strong 35 percent increase in job openings, especially in fields of web-based graphics production, portable devices and video entertainment. Competition for new jobs, the BLS predicts, will be stiff. In all, 17,400 new openings in the profession are anticipated over the projection decade.

The greatest number of regional hires are anticipated (in order) in the Northeast, Sunbelt, West Coast and Midwest. The BLS sites the following states with the largest growth potential and current greatest number of professionals in the graphic design field:

• CALIFORNIA
• NEW YORK
• TEXAS
• FLORIDA
• ILLINOIS

Top cities for employing graphic designers, according to The Atlantic Magazine’s City Lab, are:

• San Francisco
• New York
• Los Angeles
• Minneapolis
• Seattle
• Denver
• Portland
• Washington, D.C.
• Salt Lake City
• Boston

Select a state below for more information about employment and job growth for graphic designers