Real salary data
What Graphic Designers actually earn in 2026.
The median for Graphic Designer is $110,420 across 3010 real salary records (H-1B visa filings and tech job postings), updated Aug 10, 2026.
01 / By source
Real salary bands, by source.
Bands come from 3010 real records. Each source has a different bias, disclosed below.
Density curve fitted to the observed quartiles (log-normal). $68,661–$152,150 contains the middle 50% of records in the best-represented source; the shape between them is an approximation.
| Source | Records | 25th pct | Median | 75th pct |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| H-1B visa filings | 3,010 | $68,661 | $110,420 | $152,150 |
- H-1B visa filings (DOL) — over-represents visa-eligible roles (typically high-skill, high-wage)
Salary data updated Aug 10, 2026. Bands are percentiles, not averages; n is the number of underlying records.
02 / By city
What Graphic Designers earn, by city.
Real records; cities with at least 10 observations.
| City | Records | Range (p25–p75) | Median |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York, NY | 531 | $72,000 – $158,000 | $105,000 |
| San Francisco, CA | 246 | $116,000 – $184,750 | $152,140 |
| Seattle, WA | 223 | $117,800 – $153,900 | $137,800 |
| Sunnyvale, CA | 108 | $125,000 – $173,300 | $146,000 |
| Mountain View, CA | 101 | $137,000 – $190,000 | $163,620 |
| Brooklyn, NY | 91 | $66,570 – $122,500 | $87,000 |
| Los Angeles, CA | 72 | $61,048 – $105,648 | $85,000 |
| Bellevue, WA | 62 | $95,454 – $154,375 | $137,400 |
| San Jose, CA | 59 | $119,766 – $218,220 | $172,000 |
| Chicago, IL | 51 | $58,500 – $109,200 | $75,432 |
| Santa Clara, CA | 49 | $104,000 – $165,000 | $137,600 |
| Austin, TX | 35 | $87,255 – $160,000 | $117,803 |
03 / By state
What Graphic Designers earn, by state.
| State | Records | Range (p25–p75) | Median |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA | 1,128 | $89,300 – $173,900 | $137,600 |
| NY | 714 | $67,184 – $148,800 | $96,554 |
| WA | 317 | $115,500 – $154,500 | $137,800 |
| TX | 141 | $60,000 – $117,800 | $84,510 |
| NJ | 93 | $66,600 – $126,000 | $83,200 |
| GA | 80 | $51,251 – $91,025 | $63,500 |
| IL | 74 | $53,250 – $90,000 | $69,125 |
| MA | 59 | $60,778 – $140,000 | $85,000 |
| VA | 56 | $71,941 – $143,801 | $99,362 |
| FL | 45 | $52,000 – $85,000 | $62,500 |
| PA | 30 | $58,540 – $123,275 | $90,838 |
| MD | 27 | $66,851 – $83,026 | $70,000 |
04 / Context
How Graphic Designers pay compares with similar roles.
| Profession | Risk | Median | Outlook |
|---|---|---|---|
| Advertising and Promotions Manager | Medium | $130,000 | -2.2% (2024–34) |
| Art Director | Medium | $150,213 | +4.2% (2024–34) |
| Commercial and Industrial Designer | Low | $91,135 | +3.2% (2024–34) |
| Content Writer | High | $89,013 | +3.6% (2024–34) |
| Copywriter | High | $89,013 | +3.6% (2024–34) |
05 / Next step
How to move up the pay band.
The skills below appear most often in higher-paid roles:
- udemyBecome a Graphic Designer, Think Like a Graphic DesignerIntermediate
- udemyFrom Graphic Designer to Motion DesignerIntermediate
- udemyAD 7 Create a Half-Drop Repeat Pattern in Affinity DesignerIntermediate
- udemyDisplay Advertising Mastery - Banner Ad - Google Display AdsIntermediate
- udemyHow to Become a Fashion Designer and Launch Your Own BrandIntermediate
- udemyBrand Strategy Bootcamp: Develop Actionable Brand StrategiesBeginner
- udemyGraphic Design Using AI: COMPLETE Graphic Design ApplicationIntermediate
- udemyGraphic Design, Video Editing & Motion Graphic Design CourseIntermediate
06 / FAQ
Salary questions, answered.
01Why are the bands different from the BLS median?
The BLS median covers all Graphic Designer in the US. These bands come from real records with known biases — H-1B filings skew to visa-eligible (high-skill) roles and tech postings skew to tech employers — so they sit above the national median. We disclose the source of every band.
02How often is this data updated?
The dataset refreshes weekly from live job postings and quarterly from new H-1B disclosures.