UX Designer Salary, Skills & Requirements (2026)
Advertised pay, starting pay, skills and experience from 2,418 US job postings by 1,245 employers. Data as of October 2026.
What US employers post for UX designers: advertised pay, the skills and experience they ask for, and the job titles they use, from 2,418 open job postings (October 2026).
- The median advertised pay for UX designers in US job postings is $170,000 a year (644 postings from 369 employers, October 2026).
- The middle half of those postings offer $138,000 to $210,000.
- The skills that most set UX designer postings apart are Figma, interaction design, Sketch.
- Postings that state a minimum ask for a median of 5 years of experience.
UX Designer job postings in the US, October 2026
- $170,000
- Median advertised pay (644 postings)
- $138,000–$210,000
- Middle 50% of postings
- 2,418
- US job postings from 1,245 employers
- 5 years
- Median experience asked
How much does a UX designer make?
The median advertised pay is $170,000 a year, from 644 US job postings by 369 employers that state pay. One in ten postings offers $240,000 or more.
Advertised pay in 644 US UX designer job postings: median $170,000 a year, middle half $138,000 to $210,000.
- Median: $170,000
- 25th percentile: $138,000
- 75th percentile: $210,000
The figures as a table
| Annual pay | Share of postings |
|---|---|
| $40K–$50K | 0.8% |
| $70K–$80K | 1.2% |
| $80K–$90K | 1.7% |
| $90K–$100K | 3.9% |
| $100K–$110K | 5.3% |
| $110K–$120K | 3.6% |
| $120K–$130K | 4.2% |
| $130K–$140K | 5.0% |
| $140K–$150K | 7.8% |
| $150K–$160K | 8.4% |
| $160K–$170K | 6.1% |
| $170K–$180K | 7.6% |
| $180K–$190K | 9.0% |
| $190K–$200K | 6.5% |
| $200K–$210K | 3.4% |
| $210K–$220K | 7.1% |
| $220K–$230K | 3.7% |
| $230K–$240K | 3.9% |
| $240K–$250K | 2.0% |
| $250K–$260K | 1.9% |
| $260K–$270K | 1.4% |
| $270K–$280K | 2.0% |
| $280K–$290K | 1.1% |
| $290K–$300K | 0.6% |
| $300K–$310K | 0.2% |
| $310K–$320K | 0.3% |
| $320K–$330K | 0.2% |
| $330K–$340K | 0.5% |
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 | $172,000 | $143K–$212K | 569 |
| All pay postings, annualised | $170,000 | $138K–$210K | 644 |
For comparison, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the national median annual wage of Web and Digital Interface Designers (15-1255) at $104,000 (May 2025). Postings advertise pay; the BLS measures what people earn, across all employers and levels.
What is the starting salary for a UX designer?
Figure withheld: fewer than 250 US postings list pay. How we decide.
UX designer levels and pay
Levels as they appear in job titles, ordered by the median experience asked. Senior UX designers have a median advertised pay of $169,000 a year.
| Level in title | Share of postings | Median experience asked | Median pay |
|---|---|---|---|
| No level in title | 59.0% | 4 years | $156,000 |
| Senior | 25.9% | 5 years | $169,000 |
Highest-paying UX designer jobs
Specializations with at least 250 postings that state pay.
| Specialization | Median pay | Postings with pay | Employers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Product Designer | $181,000 | 316 | 202 |
UX 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| California | $188,000 | $156,000–$226,000 | 129 | 28.5% |
| New York | $182,000 | $156,000–$214,000 | 115 | 18.4% |
Skills employers ask for in UX designer job postings
| Skill | Share of postings |
|---|---|
| Figma | 43% |
| Communication | 35% |
| Interaction design | 17% |
| HTML | 16% |
| CSS | 16% |
| Sketch | 14% |
| Product design | 12% |
| Prototyping | 11% |
| JavaScript | 11% |
| Information architecture | 11% |
Skills named in the posting text; at most 20 postings per employer; US, October 2026. Methodology.
Skills that set UX designers apart
- Figma247.2× as often as in all postings · 43%
- Interaction design447.2× as often as in all postings · 17%
- Sketch389.1× as often as in all postings · 14%
- Information architecture333.1× as often as in all postings · 11%
- Product design195.8× as often as in all postings · 12%
- User research328.1× as often as in all postings · 10%
- Visual design313.6× as often as in all postings · 10%
- CSS40.3× as often as in all postings · 16%
- Prototyping132.8× as often as in all postings · 11%
- HTML32.2× as often as in all postings · 16%
- UX165.9× as often as in all postings · 10%
- Usability testing351.5× as often as in all postings · 9%
Skills named in at least 5% of these postings and at least 3 times as often as in job postings overall.
Have a UX designer job posting in front of you? See which of its skills your resume is missing.
What does a UX designer do?
Employers post these jobs as Senior Product Designer, Product Designer, UX Designer, UI/UX Designer, Staff Product Designer and other titles. The largest specializations are Product Designer (35%), UX Designer (29%), UI/UX Designer (10%), User Experience Designer (9%), Design Manager (6%), Human Factors Engineer (under 1%), Accessibility Specialist (1%).
The closest official occupation is Web and Digital Interface Designers (15-1255.00). Its most important tasks:
- Identify problems uncovered by testing or customer feedback, and correct problems or refer problems to appropriate personnel for correction.
- Design, build, or maintain Web sites, using authoring or scripting languages, content creation tools, management tools, and digital media.
- Write supporting code for Web applications or Web sites.
- Perform Web site tests according to planned schedules, or after any Web site or product revision.
- Collaborate with web development professionals, such as front-end or back-end developers, to complete the full scope of Web development projects.
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 UX designer?
Among 1,429 postings that state a minimum, the median is 5 years. Under 1% say 0 years and 4% ask for 1 year or less.
Minimum experience asked in 1,429 US UX designer job postings: median 5 years, and 4% ask for 1 year or less.
The figures as a table
| Minimum experience asked | Share of postings |
|---|---|
| 0 yr | under 1% |
| 1 yr | 3% |
| 2 yrs | 10% |
| 3-4 yrs | 30% |
| 5-7 yrs | 40% |
| 8-9 yrs | 8% |
| 10+ yrs | 7% |
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 UX designer: job titles employers use
| Job title | Employers using it |
|---|---|
| Senior Product Designer | 225 (18.1%) |
| Product Designer | 154 (12.4%) |
| UX Designer | 153 (12.3%) |
| UI/UX Designer | 105 (8.4%) |
| Staff Product Designer | 72 (5.8%) |
| Senior UX Designer | 58 (4.7%) |
| UX/UI Designer | 56 (4.5%) |
| Lead Product Designer | 46 (3.7%) |
| Web Designer | 44 (3.5%) |
| User Experience Designer | 43 (3.5%) |
| Principal Product Designer | 31 (2.5%) |
| Experience Designer | 30 (2.4%) |
| Lead UX Designer | 28 (2.2%) |
| UI Designer | 28 (2.2%) |
| Senior UI/UX Designer | 26 (2.1%) |
| UX Architect | 23 (1.8%) |
| Founding Product Designer | 21 (1.7%) |
| Sr. UX Designer | 20 (1.6%) |
| Interaction Designer | 19 (1.5%) |
| Sr. Product Designer | 16 (1.3%) |
Titles read in our audit and used by at least 3 employers.
UX designer job titles compared
The titles people search for most, from the US job postings that use each exact title (October 2026).
| Job title | Open postings | Employers | Median pay | Median experience | Skills named most |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Product Designer | 172 | 154 | – | – | Figma, communication, product design |
Product Designer vs UX Designer
| Product Designer | UX Designer | |
|---|---|---|
| Open US postings | 172 | 282 |
| Employers | 154 | 153 |
| Median advertised pay | – | – |
| Median experience asked | – | – |
| Skills that stand out | – | – |
UX Designer compared with similar careers
| Career | Median pay | Median experience | Postings | Shares N of top 25 skills |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| UX Designer | $170K | 5 years | 2,418 | – |
| Graphic Designer | $84K | 3 years | 2,204 | 11 |
| Instructional Designer | – | 3 years | 805 | 9 |
| Industrial Designer | – | – | 171 | 10 |
| Video Editor | $76K | 3 years | 945 | 9 |
Similar careers
| Career | Shares N of the top 25 skills | Median pay |
|---|---|---|
| Graphic Designer | 11 | $84K |
| Instructional Designer | 9 | – |
| Industrial Designer | 10 | – |
| Video Editor | 9 | $76K |
| Software Engineer | 7 | $164K |
| E-commerce Manager | 6 | – |
Applying for UX designer jobs?
- UX 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 UX designer jobs: search open postings
Frequently asked questions
How much does a UX 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 19 randomly chosen postings counted on this page in full; 18 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.