Hi and welcome to this exciting UI Designer Salary article!
In this article, we will explore the average UI Designer Salary by state, factors affecting a UI Designer’s salary, plus the salary outlook of the UI design sector.
By the end of this comprehensive article, you will be able to make intelligent UI Designer career decisions.
In particular, we will focus on the following key areas:
- The average salary of a UI Designer by state, city, and employer
- Factors affecting a UI Designer’s salary
- Tips to increase a UI Designer’s salary
- UI Designers’ salary outlook
Let’s dive right in!
UI Designer Salary Overview
The User Interface (UI) Designer is a vital member of the web development sector responsible for developing interactive and user-friendly digital interfaces.
UI Designers work closely with UX Designers, UI Artists, Front End Developers, and other web design professionals to improve the user experience of digital products.
Due to the specialized skills and duties, UI Designers earn above-average annual salaries.
Please continue reading as we delve deep into the UI Design Salary topic.
Working as a User Interface Designer is exciting and highly rewarding due to the competitive salaries in this profession.
Whether you’re a full-time or part-time UI Designer, you should expect to receive competitive yearly salaries.
UI Designers make between $50,000 to $150,000 annually depending on their years of experience, location, industry, company, job title, and skill levels.
As a Visual Designer in a design team, you should also expect to receive additional bonuses and other cash incentives.
Check out the national average UI Designer’s salaries:
| Salary site | Annual salary |
| Glassdoor.com | $79,513 |
| Indeed.com | $85,216 |
| Payscale.com | $66,390 |
| Ziprecruiter.com | $108,314 |
| Zippia.com | $105,308 |
Let’s take a deeper look at the estimated salary ranges of UI Designers.
UI Designer Salary
This section will evaluate the average UI Designers’ salaries based on different parameters:
UI Designer Salary by state
Here is a comprehensive breakdown of UI Designers’ salaries in different states:
| State | Zippia.com |
| Alabama | $60,255 |
| Alaska | $69,872 |
| Arizona | $90,325 |
| Arkansas | $70,679 |
| California | $116,632 |
| Colorado | $86,260 |
| Connecticut | $74,747 |
| Delaware | $82,000 |
| District of Columbia | $96,631 |
| Florida | $78,574 |
| Georgia | $66,118 |
| Hawaii | $66,252 |
| Idaho | $72,653 |
| Illinois | $72,842 |
| Indiana | $64,574 |
| Iowa | $63,639 |
| Kansas | $69,048 |
| Kentucky | $65,742 |
| Louisiana | $82,638 |
| Maine | $59,474 |
| Maryland | $81,167 |
| Massachusetts | $83,606 |
| Michigan | $68,730 |
| Minnesota | $78,280 |
| Mississippi | $75,962 |
| Missouri | $69,390 |
| Montana | $76,260 |
| Nebraska | $68,656 |
| Nevada | $100,982 |
| New Hampshire | $74,168 |
| New Jersey | $93,249 |
| New Mexico | $76,288 |
| New York | $94,945 |
| North Carolina | $75,255 |
| North Dakota | $74,374 |
| Ohio | $72,813 |
| Oklahoma | $66,183 |
| Oregon | $87,752 |
| Pennsylvania | $74,286 |
| Rhode Island | $84,613 |
| South Carolina | $66,006 |
| South Dakota | $62,211 |
| Tennessee | $68,879 |
| Texas | $79,989 |
| Utah | $79,338 |
| Vermont | $73,853 |
| Virginia | $84,207 |
| Washington | $128,959 |
| West Virginia | $86,578 |
| Wisconsin | $78,922 |
| Wyoming | $66,545 |
Continue reading to learn of the highest paying cities for UI Designers in America.
Highest paying cities for UI Designers
Check out the average salaries of UI Designers in different cities:
| City | Zippia.com | Indeed.com | Payscale.com | Glassdoor.com |
| Washington | $96,707 | $98,670 | $65,000 | $74,845 |
| Boston | $83,427 | $97,255 | $75,434 | $81,570 |
| New York | $95,422 | $98,715 | $70,987 | $87,783 |
| Austin | $80,384 | $88,255 | $80,185 | $83,600 |
| Atlanta | $65,933 | $89,562 | $67,234 | $81,962 |
| San Francisco | $126,189 | $103,943 | $96,313 | $94,497 |
| Denver | $86,019 | $90,755 | $60,000 | $81,610 |
| Los Angeles | $113,733 | $93,460 | $75,762 | $85,876 |
| Seattle | $129,608 | $95,696 | $80,673 | $101,300 |
| Chicago | $73,028 | $92,519 | $68,138 | $91,112 |
Read on to understand how education levels affect the average salaries of UI Designers.
UI Designer average salary by education level
Check out the average salaries of UI Designers based on their levels of education:
| Education level | Zippia.com |
| Associate Degree | $99,715 |
| Bachelor’s Degree | $108,277 |
| Masters Degree | $117,825 |
Experience is a significant determinant of a UI Designer’s salary.
Read on to learn about the annual salaries of UI Designers based on years of experience.
UI Designers’ salary by experience level
Check out the User Interface Designer Salary estimates based on experience levels:
| Experience level | Payscale.com | Glassdoor.com |
| Entry-level | $54,624 | $74,432 |
| Early career | $63,349 | $81,458 |
| Mid-career | $69,879 | $87,854 |
| Late career | $83,362 | $98,522 |
| Experienced(Senior UI) | $80,750 | $107,839 |
Continue reading to learn of the top-paying UI Designer companies.
UI Designer Salary by the employer
Here are some of the top-paying companies for UI Designers:
Glassdoor.com
| Company | Annual salary |
| $118,545 | |
| Apple | $111,086 |
| Zynga | $102,652 |
| IBM | $101,452 |
| Capital One | $96,714 |
| Verizon | $93,434 |
| CVSHealth | $92,958 |
| Ciber | $91,809 |
Indeed.com
| Company | Annual Salary |
| Apple | $179,278 |
| Intuitive Surgical | $169,558 |
| $143,826 | |
| Intuit | $125,331 |
| Samsung Electronics | $125,104 |
Payscale.com
| Company | Annual salary |
| Adage Technologies | $73,625 |
| IBM | $67,000 |
| University of Missouri-Columbia | $62,400 |
Zippia.com
| Company | Annual salary |
| Airbnb | $164,832 |
| $151,706 | |
| PayPal | $145,217 |
| Optimizely | $142,752 |
| Apple | $139,823 |
| BlackBoard | $138,996 |
UI Designers go by different professional job titles depending on their UI design specialty and company.
Read on to learn about the average UI Designer salary by job title.
UI Designer Salary by job title
Check out the average base salary for a UI Designer based on job title:
| Job Title | Glassdoor.com | Indeed.com | Payscale.com |
| UI Designer | $79,498 | $85,216 | $66,390 |
| Visual Designer | $68,912 | $66,191 | $66,337 |
| Content Strategist | $65,868 | $66,466 | $63,801 |
| UI Graphic Designer | $50,179 | $58,825 | $47,829 |
| UI Writer | $60,795 | – | – |
| Motion Designer | $70,564 | – | $60,688 |
| Product Designer | $75,972 | $76,453 | $86,835 |
Let’s now analyze what factors affect the average UI Designer’s salary.
Factors affecting the UI Designer’s salary
Various factors affect a User Interface Designer’s salary.
Among the main factors affecting a UI Designers’ salary are skill levels, education, location, and company.
Here are the main reasons that affect a UI Designer’s salary:
Years of experience
Relevant UI experience is a critical factor affecting the average UI Designer’s salary.
Typically a UI Designer with over ten years of experience will earn at least $5,000 to $15,000 more than an entry-level UI Designer.
The main reason employers value experience is that experienced UI Designers can complete UI design tasks in a shorter time with fewer errors compared to newbies.
Additionally, the unique UI skills developed over a long time contribute to the high wages for UI Designers.
Location
It’s a fact that UI professionals earn higher average salaries in some areas compared to others.
Reasons that influence geolocational UI Designer include:
- The average cost of living
More urban areas and cities tend to have a higher cost of living which directly translates to higher UI Designer salaries.
- Customer numbers
Locations with higher numbers of clients tend to attract higher rates for UI Designers compared to areas with lower UI services demand.
Industry
User Interface Designers work across various industries, including web development, entertainment, tourism, and gaming.
Each of these industries offers a UI Designer a unique salary range based on the industry’s overall size and profits.
Some of the most lucrative industries for UI Designers include gaming, manufacturing, technology, and advertising.
Skill levels
Skills mean a lot in the creative space.
UI Designers with unique and hard-to-master skills often earn much higher salaries than less skilled UI Designers.
Some of the most in-demand UI Designers’ skills include:
- Prototyping
- Wireframing
- Adobe
- Usability testing
- Agile
- Application development
- Information Architecture
- Visual design
Company Type
UI Designers work with various companies and employers, from startups to established companies.
Each of these companies offers a different UI salary range depending on the company’s policy, budgets, objectives, and goals.
UI Designers in large companies and corporations often receive higher salaries than UI Designers plying their trade in a startup scene or smaller companies.
Education levels
UI education is not a mandatory requirement when joining the UI industry though it carries a lot of weight, especially when applying for UI jobs.
Generally, UI Designers with relevant UI education tend to earn higher salaries than those without formal UI education.
UI education allows UI Designers to confidently deal with UI design projects due to a proper understanding of complex UI design principles.
A bachelor’s or master’s degree in graphic design, interaction design, fine arts, computer science, and industrial design will significantly increase your earnings.
Popular Universities offering UI design-related bachelor’s and master’s programs include Stanford University, Oregon State University, and Arizona State University.
Job Titles
UI Designers often wear multiple hats and go by various professional titles depending on the company they work for, their UI specialty, and education levels.
The different UI Designing titles often make quite varying salaries.
High-paying UI Designer job specialties include Motion Graphic Designers, UI Analysts, UI Architects, Product Designers, Content Strategists, and UI Developers.
Continue reading for tips on how to increase the UI Designer’s salary.
Tips to increase UI Designer Salary
Earning a high base salary plus competitive additional cash compensation is the goal of any professional UI Designer.
Here are a few ways to increase your UI Designer earnings:
Earn extra certifications
Earning extra UI certifications is a sure way of improving your UI Designer earnings.
Consider taking additional courses in app development, graphic design, and visual design.
Alternatively, you can enroll in a UI Bootcamp to equip you with solid and relevant UI design education.
Popular online Bootcamps and UI design courses include Udemy, IronHack, Coursera, Google, Springboard, Brainstation, Thinkful, and CareerFoundry.
Improve your UI skillset
UI Designers need to possess different skills to be effective in the UI design field.
Consider growing your UI skill set to earn a higher salary.
Some of the must-have UI design hard skills include:
- Wireframing, user flows, prototyping, mockups
- Primary computer languages (HTML, CSS, Java)
- UI design tools (Adobe suite, Figma, Invision Studio, Framer, UXPin)
- Content management system
- Project management system(Agile, Dribble, Basecamp)
- Application development
UI Designers often work with large teams and need to possess soft skills.
Here are the top UI Designer soft skills that will help increase your UI Designers’ salary.
- Collaboration
- Communication
- Empathy
- Time management
- Professionalism
- Curiosity
- Creativity
Earn UI experience
Earning relevant and high-quality UI design experience is a sure way of improving your earning potential as a UI Designer.
UI experience improves your competitiveness in the job market, giving you greater bargaining power during UI design job interviews.
On average, UI Designers with several years of experience earn considerably higher salaries than less experienced Designers.
A good way of earning relevant UI design experience is by securing entry-level UI design jobs in busy and successful UI agencies or companies.
Additionally, attending UI design symposiums, seminars, Bootcamps, and competitions are viable ways of growing your UI design experience.
Relocate
Moving to a higher-paying state or city is an excellent way to ensure you earn a higher UI Designer Salary.
High-paying cities for UI Designers include Washington, California, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, and the District of Columbia.
Some of the highest paying cities for UX/UI Designers include San Francisco, Seattle, Redmond, San Diego, Boston, Chicago, and New York.
Check out the average UI Designer Salary in these high-paying cities compared to the national average.
UI Designer Salary San Francisco
| Salary site | Annual salary |
| Glassdoor | $93,058 |
| Indeed.com | $103,943 |
| Glassdoor.com | $93,013 |
| Ziprecruiter | $111,783 |
UI Designer Salary Chicago
| Salary site | Annual salary |
| Glassdoor.com | $84,750 |
| Indeed.com | $92,915 |
| Comparably.com | $78,875 |
UI Designer Salary New York
| Salary site | Annual salary |
| Glassdoor.com | $93,576 |
| Indeed.com | $88,297 |
| Comparably.com | $93,475 |
| Salary.com | $82,399 |
UI Designer Salary NYC
| Salary site | Annual Salary |
| Glassdoor.com | $86,733 |
| Salary.com | $82,399 |
| Zippia.com | $95,422 |
From the above salary data, it’s evident that location affects the average UI Designer significantly.
Identify high-paying UI Designer jobs
One of the surest proof ways of increasing your UI Designer earnings is targeting only high-paying UI design jobs that meet your target.
To secure high-paying UI design jobs, consider using job boards.
Popular online job boards that can aid your search for high-quality UI design jobs include Ziprecruiter, Zippia, Payscale, Glassdoor, and Comparably.
Additionally, you can use professional UI Designer social media groups and forums to learn about competitive UI design jobs.
Popular sites where you can learn about excellent UI Designer positions include Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Pinterest.
Some of the professional UI Designer groups that can aid your job search include:
- Dribbble
- Design Hangout
- The Interaction Design Foundation Community
Start a UI Design Side Hustle
UI Designers have the opportunity to start lucrative side hustles that significantly increase their earning potential.
Popular UI design side hustles include:
- Teaching UI design classes
- Creating digital products
- Launch a podcast
- Starting a UI design blog
- Start a youtube channel
- Freelance
- Create UI design courses
- Set up a UI design workshop
Consider starting a UI design side hustle since they’re excellent ways of earning an extra buck while maintaining your main design job.
Bargaining during job interviews
Job interviews are an excellent avenue to bargain for a higher UI Designer Salary.
During the UI design, the job interview, bargain for a higher wage by highlighting the benefits and advantages you’ll provide the employer.
Here are a few nifty tricks to increase your bargaining power during interviews:
- Create a personalized resume and cover letter
- Highlight your skills and experiences
- Offer the employer a salary range
- Practice how to answer interview questions concerning salaries
- Discuss the salary topic at the end of the interview
- Defend your salary request
Continue reading to compare the average UI Designers’ salary vs. other digital design careers.
UI Design Salary Comparison
UI Designers earn above-average salaries due to the specialized nature of their jobs.
Let’s analyze how the average UI Designers’ salary compares against other design professionals.
UX Designer Salary
A UX Designer is responsible for creating user-friendly and efficient user interfaces.
Check out the average User Experience Designer Salary:
| Salary site | Annual salary |
| Glassdoor.com | $77,114 |
| Salary.com | $98,715 |
| Payscale.com | $76,194 |
Interface Developer
An Interface Developer is responsible for creating and developing effective user software that improves user experience.
Check out the average Interface Developer Salary:
| Salary site | Annual salary |
| Salary.com | $102,785 |
| Glassdoor.com | $99,942 |
| Ziprecruiter.com | $98,981 |
| Zippia.com | $72,496 |
UI Artist
The UI Artist is responsible for creating high-quality graphics and images in a User Interface.
Check out the average UI Artist’s Salary:
| Salary site | Average Salary |
| Salaryexpert.com | $85,682 |
| Glassdoor.com | $63,438 |
| Salary.com | $90,448 |
| Ziprecruiter.com | $83,000 |
UX Researcher
A UX Researcher is responsible for developing, administering, evaluating, and interpreting UX design data.
Check out the average UX Researcher’s salary:
| Salary site | Annual salary |
| Payscale.com | $88,914 |
| Salary.com | $82,026 |
| Glassdoor.com | $105,451 |
Graphic Designer
A Graphic Designer uses different visual design elements, including text and images, to create attention-grabbing designs for advertisements, magazine covers, and billboards.
On average Graphic Designers earn the following salaries:
| Salary site | Annual salaries |
| BLS | $54,680 |
| Indeed.com | $58,956 |
| Salary.com | $51,424 |
| Payscale.com | $47,787 |
UI Designers’ Salary Outlook
The UI Designer Salary outlook is promising due to the increasing demand for UI design services.
As more companies increase their budgets for their digital design departments, UI Designers will continue enjoying competitive salary packages in the coming years.
Now would be an excellent time to join this rapidly growing profession.
To increase your earnings as a UI Designer, consider improving your UI design education skills and experience.
Conclusion on UI Designer Salary
UI Designers are a vital part of the digital design industry, helping to improve the accessibility and usability of digital products.
This fascinating career is perfect for creative people who enjoy creating products that help their users.
We hope that our comprehensive UI design salary article has answered all your quotations allowing you to make better career decisions.
Please keep reading for our expert answers to our reader’s frequently asked questions.
Cheers.
FAQs on UI Designer Salary
How much do UI Designers make?
The average User Interface salary varies greatly depending on the location, skill levels, experience, industry, and UI design specialty.
Check out the average UI Designer Salary:
– Glassdoor.com – $79,482 p.a
– Salary.com – $95,951 p.a
– Indeed.com – $85,216 p.a
– Ziprecruiter – $108,314 p.a
What is the salary for a junior UI Designer?
A Junior UI Designer with 1-3 years will often earn the following salaries:
– Indeed.com – $57,181 p.a
– Glassdoor.com – $69,525 p.a
– Salary.com – $66,215 p.a
The differences in salaries for Junior UI Designers largely depend on their location, industry, specialty, and company.
What is the average salary of a UI Designer?
UI Designers earn between $50,000 and $150,000 annually depending on the location, industry, experience, and company.
High-paying states for UI Designers include New York, California, Washington, Oregon, the District of Columbia, and Rhode Island, while the highest-paying cities include Seattle, Boston, San Francisco, New York, and Austin.
Is UI Designer a good career?
Yes, UI design is an excellent career option for creatives.
The core reasons you should consider a career in UI design include the following:
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– Excellent work-life balance
– High UI design salaries
– High job satisfaction
– Long and stable career opportunities
– A wide variety of jobs
– Fantastic working environment
What are the typical UI Designers’ roles and responsibilities?
A UI Designer is responsible for the following:
– Brainstorming, designing, and creating functional UI designs
– Define UI design project timelines, budgets, and deliverables
– UI design presentation
– Conduct user research
– Communicate with the design team, management, and clients
– Test the effectiveness of UI designs
– Optimize and restructure existing UI designs
What is a UI Designer’s Salary?
The average UI Designer’s salary varies depending on experience levels, education, location, industry, and company.
Here are the UI Designers’ salary estimates:
– Ziprecruiter.com – $108,314 p.a
– Indeed.com – $85,216 p.a
– Payscale.com – $66,390 p.a
– Zippia.com – $105,308 p.a
What is the average salary for UX Designers in Florida?
Florida offers some of the most competitive salaries for UX Designers in the country.
Check out the average UX Designer Salary in Florida:
Salary site Annual salary
Salary.com $87,506
Glassdoor.com $69,075
Payscale.com $82,500
Ziprecruiter.com $93,571
Salaryexpert.com $87,479
What is the UI Designer hourly rate?
The UI/UX Designer space offers some of the highest hourly rates for Digital Designers.
The average UI Designers’ hourly rates range from $30 to $60.
Check out the average UI Designers hourly rate:
– Junior UX Designer – $25-$50
– Mid-level UX Designer – $35-$65
– Senior UX Designer – $60-$80
