Graphic Designer Salary, Skills & Requirements (2026)
Advertised pay, starting pay, skills and experience from 2,204 US job postings by 1,449 employers. Data as of October 2026.
What US employers post for graphic designers: advertised pay, the skills and experience they ask for, and the job titles they use, from 2,204 open job postings (October 2026).
- The median advertised pay for graphic designers in US job postings is $84,000 a year (537 postings from 363 employers, October 2026).
- The middle half of those postings offer $59,000 to $120,000.
- The skills that most set graphic designer postings apart are Photoshop, Illustrator, adobe creative suite.
- Postings that state a minimum ask for a median of 3 years of experience.
Graphic Designer job postings in the US, October 2026
- $84,000
- Median advertised pay (537 postings)
- $59,000–$120,000
- Middle 50% of postings
- 2,204
- US job postings from 1,449 employers
- 3 years
- Median experience asked
How much does a graphic designer make?
The median advertised pay is $84,000 a year, from 537 US job postings by 363 employers that state pay. One in ten postings offers $162,000 or more.
Advertised pay in 537 US graphic designer job postings: median $84,000 a year, middle half $59,000 to $120,000.
- Median: $84,000
- 25th percentile: $59,000
- 75th percentile: $120,000
The figures as a table
| Annual pay | Share of postings |
|---|---|
| $10K–$20K | 0.2% |
| $20K–$30K | 0.6% |
| $30K–$40K | 4.9% |
| $40K–$50K | 12.8% |
| $50K–$60K | 6.8% |
| $60K–$70K | 6.4% |
| $70K–$80K | 14.0% |
| $80K–$90K | 9.8% |
| $90K–$100K | 7.0% |
| $100K–$110K | 6.6% |
| $110K–$120K | 5.5% |
| $120K–$130K | 2.6% |
| $130K–$140K | 6.2% |
| $140K–$150K | 3.4% |
| $150K–$160K | 2.3% |
| $160K–$170K | 3.6% |
| $170K–$180K | 0.8% |
| $180K–$190K | 1.3% |
| $190K–$200K | 0.6% |
| $200K–$210K | 0.4% |
| $210K–$220K | 1.3% |
| $220K–$230K | 0.2% |
| $230K–$240K | 0.6% |
| $250K–$260K | 0.6% |
| $260K–$270K | 0.4% |
| $270K–$280K | 0.2% |
Midpoint of each posting's pay range, hourly pay × 2,080 hours; at most 20 postings per employer; US, October 2026.
| Median | Middle 50% | Postings | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Postings that state an annual salary | $98,000 | $75K–$135K | 362 |
| All pay postings, annualised | $84,000 | $59K–$120K | 537 |
For comparison, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the national median annual wage of Graphic Designers (27-1024) at $63,000 (May 2025). Postings advertise pay; the BLS measures what people earn, across all employers and levels.
What is the starting salary for a graphic designer?
Figure withheld: fewer than 250 US postings list pay. How we decide.
Graphic designer levels and pay
Levels as they appear in job titles, ordered by the median experience asked.
| Level in title | Share of postings | Median experience asked | Median pay |
|---|---|---|---|
| No level in title | 81.1% | 3 years | $78,000 |
| Senior | 10.9% | 5 years | – |
Highest-paying graphic designer jobs
Specializations with at least 250 postings that state pay.
| Specialization | Median pay | Postings with pay | Employers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Graphic Designer (general) | $72,000 | 298 | 210 |
Graphic designer pay by state
Single-location US postings; states with at least 100 postings that state pay. States with pay-transparency laws (such as California, Colorado, New York and Washington) are over-represented among postings that state pay.
| State | Median pay | Middle 50% | Postings with pay | Share of postings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New York | $108,000 | $77,000–$139,000 | 100 | 14.7% |
| California | $102,000 | $75,000–$152,000 | 103 | 18.5% |
Skills employers ask for in graphic designer job postings
| Skill | Share of postings |
|---|---|
| Photoshop | 49% |
| Illustrator | 46% |
| Adobe creative suite | 40% |
| Communication | 40% |
| Indesign | 38% |
| Typography | 33% |
| Attention to detail | 31% |
| Figma | 22% |
| Organizational skills | 16% |
| Graphic design | 15% |
Skills named in the posting text; at most 20 postings per employer; US, October 2026. Methodology.
Skills that set graphic designers apart
- Photoshop201.3× as often as in all postings · 49%
- Illustrator278.6× as often as in all postings · 46%
- Adobe creative suite190.1× as often as in all postings · 40%
- Indesign261.6× as often as in all postings · 38%
- Typography440.7× as often as in all postings · 33%
- Figma129.7× as often as in all postings · 22%
- Graphic design229.5× as often as in all postings · 15%
- Layout235.2× as often as in all postings · 15%
- After effects280.5× as often as in all postings · 10%
- Color theory381.6× as often as in all postings · 9%
- Adobe creative cloud198.8× as often as in all postings · 9%
- Adobe illustrator256× as often as in all postings · 8%
Skills named in at least 5% of these postings and at least 3 times as often as in job postings overall.
Have a graphic designer job posting in front of you? See which of its skills your resume is missing.
What does a graphic designer do?
Employers post these jobs as Senior Graphic Designer, Brand Designer, Graphic Design Intern, Visual Designer, Production Artist and other titles. The largest specializations are Brand Designer (11%), Creative Director (6%), Motion Designer (5%), Graphic Design Intern (5%), Digital Designer (4%), Production Artist (3%).
The closest official occupation is Graphic Designers (27-1024.00). Its most important tasks:
- Key information into computer equipment to create layouts for client or supervisor.
- Review final layouts and suggest improvements, as needed.
- Determine size and arrangement of illustrative material and copy, and select style and size of type.
- Develop graphics and layouts for product illustrations, company logos, and Web sites.
- Create designs, concepts, and sample layouts, based on knowledge of layout principles and esthetic design concepts.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database, U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (CC BY 4.0).
How much experience do you need to be a graphic designer?
Among 1,053 postings that state a minimum, the median is 3 years. 2% say 0 years and 13% ask for 1 year or less.
Minimum experience asked in 1,053 US graphic designer job postings: median 3 years, and 13% ask for 1 year or less.
The figures as a table
| Minimum experience asked | Share of postings |
|---|---|
| 0 yr | 2% |
| 1 yr | 11% |
| 2 yrs | 19% |
| 3-4 yrs | 30% |
| 5-7 yrs | 29% |
| 8-9 yrs | 4% |
| 10+ yrs | 4% |
Postings that state a minimum (required or preferred); at most 20 postings per employer; US, October 2026.
We do not show a degree figure: in our checks, degree requirements in posting text were found too rarely to publish one. Why.
Other names for a graphic designer: job titles employers use
| Job title | Employers using it |
|---|---|
| Graphic Designer | 574 (39.6%) |
| Senior Graphic Designer | 73 (5.0%) |
| Brand Designer | 63 (4.3%) |
| Graphic Design Intern | 57 (3.9%) |
| Visual Designer | 53 (3.7%) |
| Production Artist | 40 (2.8%) |
| Motion Designer | 40 (2.8%) |
| Digital Designer | 38 (2.6%) |
| Graphic Artist | 37 (2.5%) |
| Graphics Designer | 29 (2.0%) |
| Senior Brand Designer | 29 (2.0%) |
| Junior Graphic Designer | 29 (2.0%) |
| Creative Lead | 22 (1.5%) |
| Sr. Graphic Designer | 22 (1.5%) |
| Marketing Designer | 20 (1.4%) |
| Senior Digital Designer | 16 (1.1%) |
| Graphics Specialist | 15 (1.0%) |
| Graphic Design Specialist | 15 (1.0%) |
| Marketing Graphic Designer | 14 (1.0%) |
| Senior Visual Designer | 13 (0.9%) |
Titles read in our audit and used by at least 3 employers.
Graphic Designer compared with similar careers
| Career | Median pay | Median experience | Postings | Shares N of top 25 skills |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Graphic Designer | $84K | 3 years | 2,204 | – |
| Fashion Designer | – | – | 159 | 13 |
| Video Editor | $76K | 3 years | 945 | 15 |
| Industrial Designer | – | – | 171 | 13 |
| UX Designer | $170K | 5 years | 2,418 | 11 |
Similar careers
| Career | Shares N of the top 25 skills | Median pay |
|---|---|---|
| Fashion Designer | 13 | – |
| Video Editor | 15 | $76K |
| Industrial Designer | 13 | – |
| UX Designer | 11 | $170K |
| Instructional Designer | 16 | – |
| Landscape Architect | 15 | – |
Applying for graphic designer jobs?
- Graphic designer resume examples: one-page examples for these roles
- Match your resume to a job: paste a posting and see the skills your resume is missing
- Check your resume: see how an applicant tracking system reads it
- Find graphic designer jobs: search open postings
Frequently asked questions
How much does a graphic designer make?
Source and method
Open US job postings collected from employers' applicant tracking systems, de-duplicated, counted only when their job title was read in our audit. Shares count at most 20 postings per employer, and franchise locations of one brand count as one employer. Pay uses hourly and annual figures only; a figure is shown when leaving out the largest employer moves it by 10% or less. Every figure states its number of postings. Methodology and measured accuracy.
Accuracy check: we read 20 randomly chosen postings counted on this page in full; 20 of them were this career or a closely related one (October 2026).
Download the figures on this page (CSV): every number above with its count of postings. Aggregate figures are licensed CC BY 4.0; cite the page when you reuse them.