User experience designers salary: UX Designer Salary | Salary.com

Entry-Level UX Designer Salary: What to Expect

Whether you’re working on a four-year degree or thinking about signing up for a UI/UX design bootcamp, you might be wondering what you should expect out of an entry-level UX designer salary.

UI and UX designers are two of the most in-demand jobs in the United States right now. A web designer can work at all different types of companies in various industries and sizes. And, perhaps best yet, you can become a UX designer without getting a traditional 4-year degree.

If you’re looking to get into the lucrative field of tech design, there are dozens of bootcamps out there offering UI/UX design courses. Coding Dojo’s UI/UX design bootcamp can help you get an entry-level UX designer job after 16 weeks of learning.

Let’s explore what to expect in terms of an entry-level UX designer salary after you graduate.

What is UX Design?

Short for user experience design, UX design is the practice of designing a website, software, or platform to give every user the best experience possible.  

A UX designer or design team will factor in dozens of different perspectives when creating a layout and website design. Those include considering company branding, general design concepts, function, and usability for users coming from a wide variety of backgrounds and needs.

Entry-Level UX Designer Salary

Like any job title, salaries vary depending on experience and location. UX designers in San Francisco or New York City are going to be making more annually than a designer working out of an office in Kansas City or Charlotte.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many companies were forced to adapt to a remote-worn environment. While some larger corporations have returned to the office, plenty of start ups and smaller companies are staying remote and are open to hiring people who live throughout the United States.

That means workers in Kansas City or Charlotte have a better shot of getting a higher paying UX design job while also getting to work out of the comfort of their home.

For this purpose, we’ll look at the average entry-level UX designer salary from across the U.S.

Entry-Level UX Designer Salary Expectations

On average, entry-level UX designers in the U.S. make $91,000 per year, according to Glassdoor. That’s a little less than what competitor Salary.com says, which records the average U.S. salary as $99,600 per year.

It’s important to note, these average salaries are base salaries plus additional compensation, which can vary significantly by company, or not even exist at all. To account for that, we can look to the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics, who have the median UX designer salary as $77,000 per year.

Those are both significant salaries that many jobs don’t offer to their most experienced. Plus, as mentioned above, many tech jobs are now available to qualified people across the country. Let’s look at an example.

Using Chattanooga, Tennessee, the average entry-level UX designer salary is $91k and $89k according to Glassdoor and Salary. com, respectively. If a recent bootcamp or university grad in Chattanooga was hoping to make more in their first job, they can look at remote jobs offered by tech companies across the country.

According to BuiltIn, the average remote UX designer salary is $105,000, around a $15k increase for those designers in Chattanooga.

What are the Differences Between UX and UI Design?

While UX Design and user interface design are usually grouped together and done by the same people, there are differences between the two.

Essentially, UI design is a facet of UX design. UI designers focus broadly on interface and layout. There are three main types of interfaces that users interact with:

• Graphical User Interface (GUI)
• Voice-Controlled Interface
• Gesture-Based Interface

In that way, UI design is mostly focusing on the visual appeal and ease of use. On the other hand, UX design considers all of these factors while also focusing on how the user interacts with a brand or product while also making it accessible to everyone.

What is Design Accessibility?

One thing that web design hasn’t always been is accessible to every user. In the last decade, UX designers have put accessibility and usability for all at the top of mind. That includes considering every possible user who may try to use your site or software, particularly including people with disabilities, like being hard of hearing or seeing.

There are dozens and dozens of different factors to consider, oftentimes called a lens of accessibility. Those lenses are:

• Lens of Animation and Effects
• Lens of Audio and Video
• Lens of Color
• Lens of Controls
• Lens of Font
• Lens of Images and Icons
• Lens of Keyboard
• Lens of Layout
• Lens of Material Honesty
• Lens of Readability
• Lens of Structure
• Lens of Time

All of these include plenty of different considerations, including color choices for people who are colorbrind, audio features for those who are deaf, image description tags for people who are blind, any flashing features that could cause seizures, and so much more. Read more about the lenses of accessibility here: 

These things shouldn’t just be considered to help all people, although that is the most important part of design for accessibility. Even Google and other search engines punish websites that don’t strive to exist for every possible user.

Entry-Level UX Designer Jobs

Besides salary, what type of jobs should entry-level UX designers expect?

The most common title for an entry-level designer is, you guessed it, UX designer. Many companies do expect their designers to do both, so UX/UI designer is also a very popular title. Other common job titles you can expect to see are product designer, web designer, and marketing designer.

Beyond that, if you work your way up the ladder to oversee a design team or perhaps an entire department, you can expect to hold titles like designer manager, art director, vice president of design, and chief creative officer. This puts the ceiling of job titles well over half a million dollars depending on the company and industry.

UX Designer Job Demand

How in-demand are UX designers? According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the country is expected to see a 13% growth over the next decades, which is significantly faster than average.

On Indeed.com alone right now, there are 7, 500 full-time job listings for a UX designer. Of those, there are just under 3,000 remote jobs listed. When looking at all available jobs, there are currently 12,800 available with 5,800 of them being remote.

This is just another good indicator that no matter where you live, there’s a UX design job for you. All you need to do is acquire the skills.

What does a UX Designer salary look like in 2023?

UX design is a well-paid profession. Just below, you’ll find out not only what sort of money you can make as a UX designer in several places around the world – you’ll also learn what drives UX salaries up and down.

We’ve analysed UX designer salary data from all over the world, using a variety of sources like Payscale, Glassdoor, and Indeed.

Average UX Designer salaries – At a glance

For more detail and insight on these UX salary figures, visit our country-specific guides below:

UX Designer Salary in Ireland in 2023

UX Designer Salary in the UK in 2023

UX Designer Salary in the USA in 2023

UX Designer Salary in Canada in 2023

UX Designer Salary in Australia and New Zealand in 2023

How much you make in UX design depends on a variety of factors. These include everything from where you work and what you do, right through to how much experience you have and who you work for.

What affects a UX designer salary?

1. Demand

UX designers have never been in greater demand. More electronic devices, more screens, more connectivity all means there are now more interfaces and software to design. It is one of the world’s fastest growing careers, with no signs of slowing down.

In their Top Jobs of 2022 report, Indeed ranks product designer 9th on their list of 20 in-demand jobs, reporting 128% growth in the number of job postings between 2019 and 2022. At the same time, the US Bureau of Labour Statistics predicts that jobs for UX designers will grow at 8% over the next decade — much faster than average.

2. Experience

Even for people starting out in the industry, UX has a better paid starting salary than many other sectors. Glassdoor reports that the average salary for a junior UX designer in the UK is £32,957. In the US, the average salary for a junior UX designer is $94,560.

Payscale research on Ireland noted that the average starting salary of €29,000 for UX designers there is higher than entry-level positions in traditional professions like accountants, and very similar to engineering and banking.

In Ireland, the average starting salary of €29,334 for UX designers (as reported by Payscale) there is higher than entry-level positions in traditional professions like accountants, and very similar to engineering and banking.

Staying in Ireland, Payscale also shows that for UX designers with 1-43 years of experience, the average salary is €37,153A mid-career UX designer with 53-95 years of experience earns an average salary of €45,470. With more than 7 years of experience, UX designers can earn upwards of €60,000.

3. Location

Big cities pay better and that is no surprise. In a UK survey on Payscale, London comes out on top, reporting 13% more than the national average. Across the Atlantic, UX designers in San Francisco earn around 29% more than the national average. Higher-than-average salaries are also more likely in Seattle (15% more) and New York (8% more).

Research is still emerging on how remote working impacts pay. In their 2022 State of Tech Salaries report, Hired found that remote workers earned more than on-site workers in 15 out of 17 global markets.  

In more specific UX terms, Builtin tells us that in the US, the average salary for a remote UX designer is $117,925, which is higher than the average $92,894 they quote for UX designer salaries in the country as a whole.

4. Employer

The tech and creative industries are where many UX designers work. And when it comes to paying their UX people, it’s worth noting how much they offer and who comes top of the list.

In the US, Payscale reports that salaries are highest at Apple Computer, Inc. where the average pay is $137,569. Cinco Systems Inc and Amazon also offer high salaries for their UX designers who earn around $121,917 and $117,446, respectively. At the lower end of the scale, Capital One Financial Corp pays around $76,596 while UX designers at United Airlines typically earn about $80,000 per annum. Keep in mind that companies that are not in the tech sector often pay less for UX roles and United Airlines is most likely an example of this.

Serious about a career in UX?

The Professional Diploma in UX Design is a university-backed course that’s designed to get you job-ready. Learn more below.

Vacancy UX/UI designer, work at VTB, in Moscow — getmatch

Vacancy in the archive
The company is no longer looking for an employee. See similar offers

MoscowMoscow, Polezhaevskaya metro station, Russia

Specialization

Product Design

Level

Middle-to-Senior

VTB Bank is a backbone Russian bank, the parent company of VTB Group, one of the leaders in the international financial services market. Job openings for UX/UI Designer. nine0006

Why we recommend

• Opportunity to build a career in a leading bank in Russia.
• The ability to make independent decisions on the choice of approach to design.
• The ability to bring your ideas to perfection without lengthy and complex approvals.
• Ambitious tasks that will not only reveal your talents, but will make you the center player of the team.
• The chance to create the perfect product.

What to do

• Design user interface.
• Conduct qualitative and quantitative research to obtain analytical results, evaluate or optimize services.
• Create sketches, mockups and interactive prototypes and test them with clients.
• Suggest solutions to improve the user experience using input from your cross-functional team.
• Be an active member of the bank’s design community, share knowledge and experience with other designers. nine0021

Looking for

• Experience as a UX/UI designer in product cross-functional teams.
• Portfolio (projects for the development of interface design for mobile and web applications – from concept preparation to product delivery; if there is no portfolio, readiness to show one of the projects).
• Ownership of Figma.
• Understanding current trends in visual interface design.
• Developed communication skills, the ability to negotiate and build partnerships with people who differ in terms of knowledge and competence. nine0021
• Ability to offer multiple solutions and defend the best with arguments.
• Higher education.

What they offer

• Ability to make independent decisions on the choice of approach to design.
• The ability to bring your ideas to perfection without lengthy and complex approvals.
• Ambitious tasks that will not only reveal your talents, but will make you the center player of the team.
• The chance to create the perfect product. nine0021
• Vocational training and development.
• Voluntary medical insurance, preferential terms of crediting.
• Sports life and corporate events.
• Opportunity to build a career in a leading bank in Russia.
• Geographical location – office at Polezhaevskaya metro station, moving to Moscow City next year.

Tatyana Kozhevnikova Recruitment Specialist

About VTB

Sector

Banks / Fintech

B2B Designer

Salary is hidden, but corresponds to your subscription

Moscow, St. Petersburg, relocation (CIS, Europe) or full remote – to choose from

Mobile application designer (Investment)

, Salary hidden but corresponds to your subscription

Moscow or St. Petersburg – your choice

Team leader (Design system)

Salary is hidden, but corresponds to your subscription

Moscow, Saint-Petersburg or full remote – your choice

Designer at Nimax.Services | vacancy in St. Petersburg – Digital agency Nimax

Who are we looking for and what to do?

Copied

We are looking for a designer to design and work on the visual part of web services. We cross technology and good design. We believe that even the internal systems of companies should be convenient and pleasant. For complex projects, we create visual systems and document them in interface guidelines. We analyze user behavior based on metrics and surveys and suggest what can be improved further. nine0006

We will be glad to see designers of a confident middle level and above. We are considering candidates from other cities.

Our approach to work

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• We participate in competitions and festivals, but do not make it an end in itself. We focus on the client’s business tasks and value for the end user. At the same time, we do not forget about our design culture and monitor the visual quality of everything we create.
• At the start, we are preparing a strategic base to build user experience on its basis. Conducting interviews and researching the audience. We collect CJM according to the key user scenario. We compare the solution with the market and competitors. We form a functionality map and the composition of the minimum version. nine0021
• After drawing the main scenario in the design, we conduct interviews with potential users to check how long the path to the goal takes, whether everything is clear, whether there are difficulties.
• We are collecting the specification gradually, starting from the analytics stage. We fix the agreements after the completion of the design. Prior to the start of development, priorities and implementation complexity can be changed, and thus affect the assessment.
• If possible, we launch the product in small parts. After the first launch, we continue to work in sprints of two weeks or a month. We form a backlog and select tasks based on the value for the project and the user. nine0021
• We arrange joint assaults with the client, we constantly involve them in interaction.
• Prior to launch, the team determines the metrics that are important to the project. We are also always glad to have the opportunity to conduct high-quality research and collect feedback directly from users. If the project remains with us on support, we are constantly working on improving the performance and convenience of the functionality.

Team

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The work takes place in a team of experienced project managers and specialists. Everyone is on staff, remote work is minimized for the sake of team interaction: decisions are made jointly, you need to immediately discuss how to make layouts, program effects and animation. The client is part of the team, we involve him in decision-making and turn him into an ally. nine0006

The web direction is not the only one in the company. Projects often come from the branding department with great corporate identity. The direction of advertising helps us to make services that are easy to promote.

Projects

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We help launch web services, internal company automation systems and startups. Our clients are medium-sized businesses embarking on the path of digitalization or launching innovative projects. We worked with YIT, Pizza Hut, Food TV channel, K-rauta, Mail.ru, Yota, Bank St. Petersburg, MKB, a service for accounting for migration documents, a service for tracking customs clearance and transportation statuses, etc. nine0006

See recent works in portfolio:

Home management service for AAG holding

Service for YIT concern

Branding and service concept of Bank St. Petersburg

ERP for multi-business management

Office and company C020