What Do Professional Web Designers Earn?

by Sarah Clark
sarah.clark@webdesignschoolreview.com
Web Design School Review Columnist

It’s the classic question: how much will this job pay? More importantly, can it support the lifestyle I want? Here’s how to find out if professional web designers earn the kind of salaries you’re after.

Expenses Versus Salaries

No matter how rosy a picture some politicians may paint of the economy, it’s gotten considerably more expensive to get the basics in life. The New York Times recently reported that some Kansans are spending as much as 50 percent of their income on rent—in the traditionally affordable Midwest. In many hot housing markets, home values have doubled in the last couple of years.

So, getting paid a reasonable salary has become increasingly important, particularly for anyone who has plans to buy a house one day and hopes to maintain a decent standard of living in retirement.

Median Pay of Professional Web Designers

How are professional web designers faring in the market? According to a 2006 joint survey by Aquent and the American Institute of Graphic Art (AIGA), web designers earned median annual salaries of $48,000. Those in the 75th percentile earned $55,000.

Median salaries aren’t the only important earnings metric. You’ll also want to consider how geography can affect your salary. According to the same survey, professional web designers in Boston earned higher median salaries than the national average, taking home about $60,000 a year. Those in the west south central part of the U.S., however, earned median annual salaries of only $40,000.

Design educators earned similar salaries; another salary survey by AIGA found that design educators fetched median annual salaries of $52,000.

Education Strategies for Web Site Design Jobs that Pay

Those salaries may not seem to cut it in some locales where the average cost of a house easily tops $300,000. Well, the good news is that web site designers can earn more if they work at a high level. These people often possess more than just web site design skills. They may have an advanced degree in fine art, or they may have 10 or more years of experience managing large-scale design projects. In other words, if you work your way up from web site design manager to head producer or director of a design firm or corporate design division, you can earn a higher salary. According to AIGA, those jobs can command more than $90,000 in annual salary.

Remember, most creative fields will tend to pay less competitively than accounting and banking jobs, for example. But many think it’s a sacrifice worth making—especially if you make it to the top of your field.

Sources

The Bureau of Labor Statistics
AIGA/Aquent Survey of Design Salaries 2006
AIGA Design Educator Salary Survey 2006

About the Author

Sarah Clark is a freelance writer specializing in postsecondary education and career development.

Posted at 3:40 PM on November 24, 2006

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