A Graphic Designer Salary can be between $35,000 and $55,000 after a few years of experience. There’s a lot of variation depending on the location and type of business you are in. Freelance Graphic Designers’ day rates range from $75 to $400+. This value is based on the size of the project and the company involved. Many Graphic Designers have several income streams including full-time, freelance, and passive income all at the same time. This allows for flexibility and stability in an oftentimes unstable industry.
| Graphic Design Job | Low Income | Mid Income | High Income |
| Freelance | $75 per day | $250 per day | $400+ per day |
| Part-Time | £18k | $25k | $35k |
| Full-Time | $18k | $45k | $65k+ |
| Intern | Free | $15k | $20k |
| Junior | $18k | $22k | $25k |
| Mid | $25k | $35k | $45k |
| Senior | $45k | $55k | $65k |
| Lead | $55k | $65k | $85k |
| Passive | $100 | $10k+ | $100k+ |
| Corporate | $45k | $65k | $75k+ |
| Small Business | $18k | $25k | $35k |
| Start-up | $35k | $45k | $65k+ |
Freelance Designer
Working as a freelancer in Graphic Designer can be a stressful but highly profitable business. If you can keep a steady flow of work coming in from clients then you can easily earn up to $400 a day. I have found though that most clients have budgets that sit around the $250-$300 a day mark. It can be tempting to push to the upper end of the freelance day rate but by doing so you will find that you are working with massive companies such as Google, Twitter, Facebook, etc. Landing freelance gigs with these companies is defiantly possible and I have done it multiple times. But the competition from established Studios and Agencies becomes a lot higher and harder to navigate.
It can be better to go with a steady mid-income from mid-sized businesses that you can rely on each month.
Occasionally you will get a unicorn freelance job which will give you a massive amount of money to work on a project. For instance, I did a project for Google that lasted one year and it helped me buy a house! However, this kind of project is very rare and not something you can count on happening. Work towards getting a steady income stream rather than chasing big numbers.
Part-Time Designer
Part-time could be a salary or it could be freelance. As a freelancer, it can be an exceptional way to make money. If you are looking for work-life balance that leans more to life than it does to work then this could be for you. I have worked as a Part-Time freelancer for a start-up at $300 a day working two to three days a week. This was enough to pay my bills and I got to have extra long weekends every single week. I highly recommend looking for Part-Time Graphic Design work as it can be an excellent way to make money and work in the design industry.
Full-Time Designer
A full-time Graphic Designer has the most job security of all types listed. Starting at around $18k a year for entry-level full-time positions. With a few years of experience, you can boost that quickly up to $45k+. If you want to get a pay rise, one of the easiest ways I have found is to move jobs. Each time you move jobs you ask for £5k more than what your last salary was. Whether you get that full $5k depends on you, your experience, and the company you are moving to. But if you don’t ask, you don’t get it. I have made it a habit to move jobs every two years or so as it gives me the opportunity to boost my income and also find new projects to work on.
Internships Designer
Becoming an Intern Graphic Designer is a great way into the industry but it can be hard starting out salary-wise. You could start off as not being paid at all. Be careful in these situations and see if you can at least get your travel expenses covered. Otherwise, you are actually paying to have a job! I have seen Internships at places like Google offer $25k a year for interns, so it is possible to get a pretty good salary even at this level. I have a Graphic Design Intern guide here, which you can read to find out more.
Junior Designer
Entry-level salaries can range depending on your location and the type of company that you are working for. But I have seen entry-level start from $18k all the way to $25k. If you are looking at small to mid-sized companies then the salary expectation will be at the lower end. If you are looking at higher-end, big tech corporations such as Google or Facebook then you can get yourself towards the high end. In fact I have seen a junior graphic designer get their first job in Google and be on $45k but I would say this is particularly rare and not something that you should be aiming for. But it does show the range of income can be varied depending on where you look.
Mid Level Designer
Working as a mid-level Graphic Designer can see the biggest variation in salary or freelance day rate. When you have a few years under your belt of experience it is possible to push the limits of what you think you can earn and see if you can increase it. Also as a Mid-level designer, you should look at adding freelance to your working week as you can easily boost your monthly income by accepting one or two freelance projects. Another thing to keep in mind is passive income as this can also help boost your monthly income.
Senior Designer
At this level, I would expect you to have a couple of regular freelance clients that send you to work each month as well as a full-time position or even full-time freelance. This is a good position to be in as you can concentrate on what type of work-life balance you want to have and accept jobs based on those preferences. Having a full-time salary of around $55,000-$65,000 is expected. But in the right business, you could exceed this. If you concentrate on adding Passive income into your income streams then you could easily break $100,000 a year.
Lead Designer
Lead Designers can see a salary of around $65,000 – $75,000 and depend on the company and how long they have been there, they could go even higher.
Passive Income
All levels of designers should be spending some of their time looking at Passive income streams. This supplemental income can really help when work dries up for a period of time. Building your own personal brand goes hand in hand with this. You could sell asset packs, templates, action scripts, fonts, etc. It can take some time to properly figure out how to properly sell Passive Income assets but it will mean a trickle of income you can rely on without spending much time in maintaining it.