Thinking about building a career as a user experience (UX) designer? Great idea! UX design as an industry is growing faster than ever with an increasing demand for user-friendly products and services.
If you're just getting started in UX design or a senior designer looking for a change, you're probably wondering about the average total compensation for UX designers across the globe. Look no further — here’s your complete, up-to-date UX designer salary guide.
As expected, calculating the income of a UX designer depends on multiple factors, such as UX and UI design skills, as well as prior experience in the field.
In this guide, we’ll cover UX design, product design, and UI designers’ average salaries for 2024 and the general characteristics of each job position that greatly affect the average salary.
But first, how much do UX designers earn?
UX designer average salary
In 2022, the UX designer role reached the 24th spot on Glassdoor’s list of 50 Best jobs in America, making it one of the most popular jobs in the digital design industry. According to LinkedIn, UX design is one of the top five in-demand skills. UI/UX and user research skills are incredibly useful tools that are applicable across many disciplines, not just UX design!
We can take Glassdoor’s statistics as an example to determine the standard income for UX designers based in the United States — approximately $98,327 (including bonuses, tips, shared profits, etc.).
Since the demand for UX designers is on the rise, many companies offer much higher average salaries, particularly larger tech companies in San Francisco and New York. It's not uncommon for senior designers at companies like Amazon, Meta, or Google to earn salaries upwards of $200,000 per year. Due to ongoing skills shortages, many tech companies are also offering 100% remote jobs and even location-agnostic salaries in an effort to attract the best design talent globally.
Don't get too excited though! UX designers’ average total compensation is almost always connected to various factors, such as experience, user research skills, education, company location, workplace type (i.e., office, remote, hybrid, freelance), etc.
UX designer salaries by experience level
The first thing we need to consider when discussing the common UX designer salary is a designer’s previous experience in the user experience industry. The most common classification of UX designer job positions according to expertise and prior knowledge or education is:
- Junior UX designer (1–3 years of expertise)
- Mid-level UX designer (3–5 years of expertise)
- Senior UX designer (5–7 years of expertise)
The easiest way to determine UX designers’ median income and average salary is by classifying the data according to experience level. Below you can learn more about the average income of junior, mid-level, and senior UX designers based in the United States:
- Junior UX designers: Average salary is approximately $95,106. Average additional cash compensation, including commission, bonuses, or tips, can vary and depend on the hiring company, but the average for entry-level UX designers is $9,071.
- Mid-level UX designers: The latest figures available show that in the United States, Junior UX designers’ average salary is approximately $114,118. Additional cash compensation, including commission, bonuses, or tips, can vary, but the average is $10,769.
- Senior UX designers: As expected, senior UX designers in the US have considerably higher salaries and additional bonuses than junior and mid-UX designers. The statistics show that the average yearly pay for a senior-level job as a UX designer is $156,046. On top of their annual income, they also get a lot more in the form of additional cash compensation (usually bonuses and stock options) — about $40,568 on average.
In the past few years, many businesses started offering remote job positions, making it much easier for user experience designers to get hired by any company anywhere in the world, regardless of their location. According to Indeed, remote UX designers make an average salary of $118,233, including additional cash compensation in the form of bonuses, profit sharing, tips, commissions, etc.
The design field is known for being quite open to this possibility, and thousands of companies are offering 100% remote jobs in the UX design industry.
Also, some UX designers prefer to work remotely as freelancers instead of being employed by a single company. Working freelance opens up an opportunity for user experience designers to choose their clients and set specific rates, which means that, in some cases, freelance user experience designers might make more money than those employed by a single company.
Glassdoor’s statistics show that a freelance UX designer’s total pay is about $134,341, and the average base salary is $99,608.
UX designer salaries based on location
Another aspect that can help us determine the average UX designer’s salary is the location of their hiring company. That basically means that the average annual salary is heavily connected to your employer’s business location. As you’d probably guess, larger cities (such as San Francisco and New York) and countries with a higher living standard generally offer more UX designer job openings and a higher average salaries.
Below, you can easily spot the difference between the average income of UX designers in several locations worldwide:
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 🇮🇪 Ireland
London is the home of approximately 40,000 tech companies. Plus, some of the best multinational businesses, such as Google a nd Meta, have headquarters in Dublin, so it’s no wonder there’s a huge interest in UX designer job positions in the UK and Ireland.
These are the average UX designer salaries for 2022 in three of the biggest cities in the UK and the capital of Ireland:
London:
- Junior UX designer: £38,000–£54,000
- Mid-level UX designer: £43,000–£65,000
- Senior UX designer: £47,000–£71,000
Manchester:
- Junior UX designer: £31,000–£41,000
- Mid-level UX designer: £36,000–£47,000
- Senior UX designer: £38,000–£51,000
Edinburgh:
- Junior UX designer: £32,000–£42,000
- Mid-level UX designer: £35,000–£47,000
- Senior UX designer: £39,000–£52,000
Dublin:
- Junior UX designer: €41,000–€53,000
- Mid-level UX designer: €48,000–€61,000
- Senior UX designer: €53,000–€68,000
🇺🇸 United States
In the United States, the number of tech companies could be as high as 585,000, so the demand for UX designers is also high.
Here’s the average income of UX designers in four major US cities.
Boston:
- Junior UX designer: $82,000–$111,000
- Mid-level UX designer: $93,000–$127,000
- Senior UX designer: $100,000–$138,000
San Francisco:
- Junior UX designer: $101,000–$139,000
- Mid-level UX designer: $110,000–$153,000
- Senior UX designer: $120,000–$168,000
Austin:
- Junior UX designer: $84,000–$114,000
- Mid-level UX designers: $91,000–$124,000
- Senior UX designer: $98,000–$134,000
New York:
- Junior UX designer: $80,000–$121,000
- Mid-level UX designer: $93,000–$142,000
- Senior UX designer: $99,000–$152,000
🇨🇦 Canada
Just like the US, Canada is also home to large tech and e-commerce businesses, and the need for UX designers is constantly growing. These are the average income statistics for two major Canadian cities:
Toronto:
- Junior UX designer: CA$65,000–CA$84,000
- Mid-level UX designer: CA$70,000–CA$92,000
- Senior UX designer: CA$77,000–CA$101,000
Vancouver:
- Junior UX designer: CA$65,000–CA$84,000
- Mid-level UX designer: CA$73,000–CA$95,000
- Senior UX designer: CA$77,000–CA$101,000
🇦🇺 Australia and 🇳🇿 New Zealand
Australia’s well known for developing a very successful startup ecosystem, and it’s currently in 8th place worldwide in that regard. Also, several large multinational tech brands that offer various job titles in the design field, such as Airtasker and Canva originate from Australia.
Big tech companies like Microsoft and Google also have their own teams based in Auckland, New Zealand. Plus, the accounting software company Xero is native to New Zealand.
Check out the statistics for UX designers’ average income in Australia and New Zealand:
Sydney:
- Junior UX designer: AUD$82,000–AUD$117,000
- Mid-level UX designer: AUD$91,000–AUD$129,000
- Senior UX designer: AUD$97,000–AUD$136,000
Melbourne:
- Junior UX designer: AUD$79,000–AUD$110,000
- Mid-level UX designer: AUD$86,000–AUD$121,000
- Senior UX designer: AUD$94,000–AUD$131,000
Auckland:
- Junior UX designer: NZD$67,000–AUD$92,000
- Mid-level UX designer: NZD$79,000–AUD$112,000
- Senior UX designer: NZD$90,000–NZD$140,000
After reviewing the standard income of UX designers, let’s learn more about the yearly income of product designers.
Product designer average salary
Like UX and UI design, product design is one of the most popular fields in the tech industry. Most designers who build a career in product design have a background in UI UX design, user research, industrial design, web development, and engineering.
Right now, product design is one of the highest-paid jobs in the UI UX industry, and it’s been voted as the most attractive job amongst Gen Z.
The latest data available on Glassdoor shows that US-based product designers make about $95,991 annually. The average income is about $81,157, and the additional pay (bonus, tips, profit sharing, commission, etc.) is approximately $14,834.
Here’s the yearly average income of US-based product designers considering their experience level:
- Junior product designer: $84,993
- Mid-level product designer: $95,298
- Senior product designer: $102,536
For a deeper dive into how much product designers make, check out our product design salary guide.
UI designer average salary
The same factors that affect the average income of UX and product designers also apply to user interface (UI) designers. As we said, the average salary depends on location, expertise, and prior education, but also the business or company type and its annual profit.
Below you can see the general statistics about the average UI designer salary in several countries on different continents, categorized by experience level:
Junior UI designer
- 🇮🇪 Ireland: €45,000
- 🇬🇧 United Kingdom: £35,000
- 🇫🇷 France: €33,414
- 🇩🇪 Germany: €38,509
- 🇳🇿 New Zealand: $67,500
- 🇦🇺 Australia: $90,554
- 🇺🇸 United States: $75,000
- 🇨🇦 Canada: $54,900
Mid-level UI Designer
- 🇮🇪 Ireland: €54,207
- 🇬🇧 United Kingdom: £62,500
- 🇫🇷 France: €40,700
- 🇩🇪 Germany: €57,777
- 🇳🇿 New Zealand: $90,678
- 🇦🇺 Australia: $110,002
- 🇺🇸 United States: $99,648
- 🇨🇦 Canada: $77,500
Senior UI designer:
- 🇮🇪 Ireland: €65,000
- 🇬🇧 United Kingdom: £80,610
- 🇫🇷 France: €45,116
- 🇩🇪 Germany: €61,430
- 🇳🇿 New Zealand: $141,926
- 🇦🇺 Australia: $150,442
- 🇺🇸 United States: $121,768
- 🇨🇦 Canada: $107,500
Where to find UX design jobs?
A career in UX design can be rewarding and creative. Here's some of our favorite places to find the best UX designer jobs:
For UX design jobs:
For remote UX design jobs:
Conclusion
Becoming an experienced UX designer takes a lot of time and work, but it’s definitely worth it. The tech industry offers so many possibilities for UX designers, and the profession’s continuously in demand, so a career in this field is an excellent choice.
After all, the average UX designer’s salary shows that once you gain expertise and experience, you can certainly expect a significant paycheck rise, as well as a better position.
If you’re just beginning to explore the UX design field and want to learn more about it, check out this video and keep an eye on our blog for all things design and Figma.
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