How much does a graphic designer earn?

Written by Jacob Cass on Friday, December 21, 2007 – 12:37 pm

Cash

This is another question that I hear a lot of students asking, along with designer job definitions. My tutor directed me to this American (Sorry you Aussies) website called Designer Salaries which tells you exactly how much each type of designer earns based on a survey of 11 000 firms conducted by AIGA over the whole of the USA over the past seven years.

How much do designers get paid?

Check out the Designer Salaries website - 2008 results out now.

  • Highly Recommended: View the 42 page comprehensive (but very readable) 2007 Salary Survey Report. (PDF)
  • View Short Report: Click image below.
  • Designer Salaries
  • Flash Chart: Also worth checking out is this flash based chart that shows exactly how much each type of designer has been earning over the past seven years. It seems to be missing the years from the top of the chart but it goes from year 2000 to year 2007.
  • Salary Calculator: It also has a salary calculator which is useful in determining how much you would earn if you worked in a certain state and with a certain sized agency.

Update:

You will also find these links useful.




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Posted in Design For Students, Graphic Design


20 Responses to “How much does a graphic designer earn?”

  1. By LaurenMarie - Creative Curio (79 comments) on Dec 29, 2007 | Reply

    Oh yes, I had this question a lot when I was in school, too. And none of the professors really wanted to answer it!

    A List Apart recently conducted a survey strictly for Web-related jobs.

  2. By Jacob Cass (429 comments) on Jan 7, 2008 | Reply

    Thats pretty useful, thanks for pointing that out Lauren.

    I think professors have a better salary then some designers. For example, the head of our design school at uni earns $500 000 a year. Eek.

  3. By LaurenMarie - Creative Curio (79 comments) on Jan 7, 2008 | Reply

    Geeez, is that in Australian dollars? I was so curious about what that is in USD that I looked up the exchange rate on Google. He makes $440,750, which is still pretty close to the AD. I can’t believe that! You must go to pretty prestigious school. Maybe you should take over for him when you graduate ;)

  4. By Jacob Cass (429 comments) on Jan 7, 2008 | Reply

    Yeah that is Australian dollars and it isn’t even a prestigious university, if anything its just my local Uni (about 12 mins away). The next closest uni is about 2 hours away so whatever that means I do not know, but it’s not ‘prestigious’. And I don’t really see myself taking over him, its not something I would like to do, especially looking at his office, I don’t think you can even see a bit of wall or desk with the amount of work he has.

  5. By Marko Novak (2 comments) on Jan 10, 2008 | Reply

    OMG I’m so underpaid that’s not even funny anymore.

    Marko Novak’s last blog post..Google makes me angry again

  6. By Jacob Cass (429 comments) on Jan 10, 2008 | Reply

    Marko, if you are talking about the Uni Professer, just to let you know, I believe he 100% deserves that pay because he works his arse off and he has done great things for the University. I once came into his office to have a talk about gaining credit for one of my uni courses and I ended up talking to him for about 30mins (and only 5mins of that was about my course)… He is true to his staff and values everyone as a different person - whatever level they may be at. This is what I believe deserves the pay check. And another thing - It has taken him 60 years to get there :P Marko, have you ever thought about upping your rates?

  7. By Marko Novak (2 comments) on Jan 10, 2008 | Reply

    I work for a web development company and my work includes web design, web development, print. I code mostly in PHP, ASP, ASP.NET.

    I’m from Slovenia, so I guess it’s normal to expect lower salary here. But I don’t get more than third of the lowest salary on the list.

    Marko Novak’s last blog post..Google makes me angry again

  8. By Jacob Cass (429 comments) on Jan 11, 2008 | Reply

    Wow… Isn’t that like below the poverty line. For someone so skilled and talented you should be earning way more than that. Slovenia, sounds interesting - what’s it like there?

  9. By Sarah (9 comments) on Mar 17, 2008 | Reply

    Wow, makes me think that maternity leave from advertising might be made more lucrative than my regular employ. ;)

    In your opinion, is it absolutely necessary for a designer to have the formal design education regardless of experience, skill, or on-the-job training? And if so, why?

  10. By Jacob Cass (429 comments) on Mar 17, 2008 | Reply

    No of course not! It is not about where you studied or how you learnt it, it’s about what you produce. There are many successful self taught designers out there!

  11. By David Sparks (3 comments) on Mar 18, 2008 | Reply

    very very helpful. thank you

  12. By stronghold crusader extreme (1 comments) on Mar 26, 2008 | Reply

    Very nice :) btw very good tips i will use them.

  13. By James Kurtz III (4 comments) on Jun 24, 2008 | Reply

    Thanks for the useful post!

    James Kurtz IIIs last blog post..Brands as a Personal Journal

  14. By Debanshu (1 comments) on Jul 6, 2008 | Reply

    Hi,I am so happy i spent my weekend reading from blogs such as yours.I am a Computer Science student in india,in a very “prestigious” college…lol.

    I have always found a certain attraction to design,but your blog and reading through all the graceful comments here by several people was inspiring way differently.

    I am interning till July 15 at a space agency.
    Will be back home then.All this stuff makes me feel more passionately towards designing than ever.Hopefully i will have gained start up skills by the time my college starts.Get my feet wet ,you know :P

    Keep up this awesome work all of you.You are an inspiration to me.

    Regards
    Debanshu

  15. By zb_rider (1 comments) on Aug 5, 2008 | Reply

    Interestingly, as LaurenMarie says, my profs simply would not give us a straight answer re pay scales. I said it would be nice to earn 50K and my prof (literally) laughed in my face for lowballing. He gave the impression we would earn way more and that he made triple that.

    I always felt it was a very irresponsible approach and leads directly to phenomenal student loans racked up with the idea that we can make bank and pay them off no problem.

    Having worked in the industry for 6 years+ I am happy to report I am making the 50 i wanted. My student loan is another matter.

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