How much do graphic designers make in the United States?
Knowing how much a Graphic Designer makes in the United States is essential before embarking on a career in Graphic Design. It can also be very useful if you want to work as a designer in this country, but are not sure what salary you would receive. For this I have consulted multiple sources such as Payscale, Indeed, Glassdoor or Salary Explorer.
The average salary of a graphic designer in the United States is $3,464 to $5,120/month, that of someone who starts an internship is around $2,360 to $3,136/month and that of a good senior designer, between $4,458 and $8,140/month.
Salaries may differ depending on the industry, sector or project in which the graphic designer is integrated. To this we must add other variables such as the state in which you work, the years of professional experience, the quality of your portfolio or if you work for a company or are freelance.
How much do graphic designers make per year and per month in the US?
As a graphic designer goes from the traineeship to be hired in the United States, his first salary is considerably higher than the federal minimum wage (US federal minimum wage), which is $7.25 per hour based on the US Department of Labor. If you take into account that the workday in the US is 40 hours per week, it would be equivalent to about $1,160/month.
Either way, you should know that most states and some cities have higher minimum wages, so 90% of workers with a minimum wage actually earn more than $7.25 per hour, according to NPR, being more realistic to consider the figure of $11.80 per hour (equivalent to $1,888 / month).
The following table shows an estimate of the monthly and annual salary -in 14 pays- that a graphic designer can expect in the United States, based on their experience.
| Experience | Monthly salary | Annual salary |
|---|---|---|
| 0-2 years | $2,670 | $32,100 |
| 2-5years | $3,570 | $42,800 |
| 5 – 10years | $5,280 | $63,300 |
| 10-15years | $6,440 | $77,200 |
| 15-20years | $7,010 | $84,200 |
| 20+years | $7,590 | $91,100 |
Are there salary differences between genders?
According to a survey by Salary Explorer, in the United States, male graphic designers earn approximately 6% more than women. A percentage similar to that found in the rest of the professional areas of the country.
Is a graphic designer’s salary a good salary?
Although the starting salary of an American graphic designer may seem much higher than in countries like Mexico, Argentina or even Canada, the truth is that during the first years being economically independent is difficult in some cities where the cost of living is very high.
According to US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average annual spending per household in the United States stands at $63,036 per year. But it is an average and the truth is that some states like Iowa are much lower ($43,000/year), but there are also areas such as the New York Metropolitan Area, where it reaches $73,806/year.
This means that junior designers with less than 2 years of experience have to really tighten their belts, since they usually do not earn more than $32,100/year. As a solution, many American graphic designers often share an apartment and supplement their salary with freelance work or winning prizes in competitions, as almost all of us have done. But don’t worry, the situation improves in the following years.
A designer’s salary increases approximately 10% every 16 months.
The average salary increase in the United States is 8% every 16 months, in contrast, graphic designers usually see an increase of 10% in the same period of time.
After the first two years, a professional graphic designer already earns 89% more than the minimum interprofessional salary and 67% of the average annual expenditure per household. This means that if you split expenses with another person 50%, you already start to have a 17% profit margin. In the following years, things get even better.
How much do junior graphic designers make
Between 0 and 2 years of experience
Let’s remember that a graphic designer does not usually exceed $2,670/month in his first two years, but to compensate for the high costs of living, companies usually provide from the beginning food checks and other comforts that make this period somewhat more bearable.
Between 2 and 5 years
With 2 to 5 years of experience, your salary can increase up to 34% more, reaching $3,570/month or $42,800/year. From experience, I can tell you that this salary jump is usually due to the designer receiving an offer from another agency, studio, or company.
Between 5 and 10 years
After the first 5 years the salary of a designer increases on average by 48%, going on to earn $5,280 / month or $77,200/year in 14 payments, which is more than double the minimum interprofessional wage that we have considered more realistic ($1,888 / month). During this period there are also designers who already usually receive bonuses for performance, company shares, commissions and other extras that are added to their salary.
After 10 years of experience, your salary should be more than double the salary at which you started.
These bonuses are received depending on whether the designer or the company meets its objectives – usually annual – and their value depends on what has been previously negotiated between the two parties. As for the extras, they can be things as diverse as health insurance, gym subscriptions, daycare discounts or even company stock.
How much do good senior graphic designers make?
Senior designers make up about 25% of all graphic designers, and although there is no clear line defining what a senior graphic designer is, they are typically professionals with 10 years or more of experience.
With 10 to 20 years of experience
After 10 years of experience, your salary increase depends a lot on the company you work for and your professional career, but on average you can expect an increase of 22% compared to the previous period, reaching $7,010 / month or $84,200/year in 14 payments (26% above the average annual expenditure per household).
The extras and bonuses that are negotiated during this period are also usually proportionally higher, but in addition, many professionals receive paid offers to teach classes and courses outside of their working hours.
With more than 20 years of experience
The salary of a senior graphic designer would be more than 41% above the median salary in the United States ($56,516/year) and more than 3 times above the minimum interprofessional salary ($26,432/year), with values around $91,100/year, according to the sources consulted.
Designers with more than 20 years of experience and above all, a good portfolio and a good reputation in the industry, can reach $8,140/month and even exceed $9,000 if we add extras, bonuses and professional offers and outside their work in the agency or studio.
How much do freelance graphic designers make
Freelance graphic designers have different ways of getting paid for their work. It may even be the case that different customers are billed differently to accommodate their orders.
For example, sometimes they can bill by the hour, other times by piece or project and sometimes for long periods of time such as a week or a month, in which they usually move to the offices of an agency, client or design studio (if they don’t work remotely).
In any case, if you decide to be a freelancer, it is important that you take into account all the costs you have and the benefit you want to obtain, when determining your prices.
Charging by the hour
This type of billing is increasingly obsolete because customers do not usually accept it. There are designers who are very fast but there are also those who require much more time to effectively execute a job.
The problem is that clients do not know a priori what each one is like and do not want to risk project costs skyrocketing because the designer needs more time than expected.
If you want to have a reference of the cost per hour that you can charge, you can calculate it from what a graphic designer earns from your experience in a month and divide it by the number of working hours in the month.
For example, a designer with 4 years of experience, could take as a starting point the $40.25 / h that he would earn based on the $6,440 / month salary that corresponds to someone with his experience and then calculate how much he should add for the expenses of his activity, the desired benefit and the fact that he does not receive 14 payments a year.
Charging for periods of time
To charge for periods of time, it is practical to take as a starting point the monthly salary of a graphic designer with the same level of experience and determine a price for the days contracted.
For example, if we have 9 years of experience, and we are asked to go to work in a studio for 16 days, we would calculate the salary for a month of a designer with this experience ($5,280 / month) and we would divide it by the days of the month (30) and then multiply the result ($176) by the number of days we are going to work (16). The result would be $2,816 for 16 days, but to this value we should also apply the calculation of benefits, activity expenses, etc.
Charging by the piece or by the project
You can determine your price by piece or by project in different ways. You can choose to base yourself on the time it takes to execute the project or part and the costs that it may cause you, or you can choose to put a price based on the value that that part represents for the client.
In the first case it is easy to do the calculations, as we have done in the previous examples. Note thatis not easyestimate what it takes to make a project so consider adding a margin of error in your calculations of 15% or even 30% if the cost to the customer not excessively rises
If charging for value that the project represents for the client, you can obtain greater benefits, but you must also calculate that this value covers the expenses and the time that you are going to invest in the project.
The prices you put on your pieces will always be judged by the client based on your portfolio, your experience and the trust you transmit to your client. So the same price can be expensive or cheap for a client depending on who presents the quote.
