Salaries

Design & Creative Salaries.

38 roles. 81 cities.

National salary data. Last updated April 2026.

38 roles trackedSan FranciscoNew YorkLos AngelesSeattle
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Highest Paying

$185,000

AI Creative Director

Industry Median

$105,000

AI Sound Design Specialist

Entry Level

$38,000

UX Design Intern

The salary figures on this page are computed estimates, not observed wages. Each one is a national role baseline scaled by a Bureau of Economic Analysis Regional Price Parity cost-of-living multiplier (2025 index) and rounded to the nearest $1,000. No published wage percentile is consulted and no wage survey response enters the calculation, so an Orbyt estimate must not be cited as a Bureau of Labor Statistics figure or as measured pay. The published wage data Orbyt holds is Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, and Department of Labor H-1B Labor Condition Application filings, which record a filed minimum visa base wage rather than market pay. Where BLS publishes a wage for the occupation a role maps to, it is shown on that role's page as a separate benchmark, labelled with its occupation code, metro area and the number of employed workers it covers. Last updated August 2026.

The design & creative industry includes 38 tracked roles with national median salaries ranging from $38,000 to $185,000. The highest-paying role is AI Creative Director at $185,000 national median. Design and creative roles shape the experiences users have with products and brands.

About design & creative salaries

Design and creative roles shape the experiences users have with products and brands. From UX designers crafting interfaces to motion designers producing video content, this industry values both aesthetic skill and the ability to drive measurable engagement. AI is transforming creative workflows, creating new hybrid roles that command premium pay.

All design & creative roles by salary

#RoleMedianRange
1AI Creative Director$185,000$140,000 to $240,000
2UX Design Manager$171,000$134,000 to $216,000
3Product Design Manager$171,000$134,000 to $216,000
4AI UX Designer$150,000$115,000 to $195,000
5Human-AI Collaboration Designer$145,000$108,000 to $192,000
6AI UX Researcher$138,000$105,000 to $182,000
7AI Prompt Designer$133,000$99,000 to $174,000
8Motion Planning AI Engineer$133,000$99,000 to $174,000
9Synthetic Media Engineer$133,000$103,000 to $169,000
10AI Video Engineer$133,000$99,000 to $174,000
11AI Video Understanding Engineer$133,000$99,000 to $174,000
12AI Image Generation Engineer$133,000$99,000 to $174,000
13AI Interaction Designer$132,000$100,000 to $175,000
14Conversational UX Designer$130,000$98,000 to $172,000
15AI Creative Technologist$128,000$95,000 to $165,000
16Product Designer$122,000$92,000 to $158,000
17AI Video Production Specialist$115,000$85,000 to $155,000
18AI Video Generation Specialist$113,000$78,000 to $162,000
19UX Designer$105,000$80,000 to $135,000
20AI Sound Design Specialist$105,000$78,000 to $142,000
21UI/UX Designer$105,000$82,000 to $137,000
22UX/UI Designer$105,000$82,000 to $137,000
23Motion Designer$100,000$73,000 to $136,000
24AI Image / Video Artist$100,000$69,000 to $141,000
25Synthetic Media Specialist$100,000$73,000 to $136,000
26AI Avatar/Digital Human Designer$100,000$69,000 to $141,000
27Architect$97,000$76,000 to $123,000
28Game Designer$82,000$62,000 to $112,000
29AI Content Strategist$77,000$53,000 to $109,000
30Content Strategist$77,000$56,000 to $105,000
31Brand Strategist$77,000$56,000 to $105,000
32Video Producer$74,000$56,000 to $98,000
33Copywriter$72,000$53,000 to $98,000
34AI Copywriting Specialist$72,000$50,000 to $102,000
35Podcast Producer$66,000$50,000 to $88,000
36Interior Designer$63,000$50,000 to $81,000
37Graphic Designer$61,000$47,000 to $79,000
38UX Design Intern$38,000$30,000 to $49,000

Top cities for design & creative

Cities ranked by average median salary across all 38 design & creative roles.

#CityAvg MedianCOL Index
1San Jose, CA$151,9741.38x
2San Francisco, CA$149,1051.35x
3Honolulu, HI$143,2371.30x
4New York, NY$140,0791.28x
5Seattle, WA$136,9211.24x
6Washington DC, DC$136,6581.25x
7Boston, MA$134,6051.22x
8Arlington, VA$134,5261.22x

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