Research Summary. After extensive research by the Zippia data science team, we identified these details of art director salary by state for the United States:
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Washington has the highest art director salary of $116,811
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South Carolina has the lowest art director salary of $50,992
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The national average salary for art directors is $88,367
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The national hourly pay for art directors is $42.48
You can read more on the specific methodology.
Background
Without fail, in surveys across basically every demographic, the number one most important aspect of a job for most people is the salary — how much do art directors get paid where I live?
And while there are many things to go into how much you, specifically, can expect to make, there’s really good data for average salaries for art director by state across America broken down by seniority level. So while your city may be slightly different than the state average, these averages give you a rough sense of what to expect for your salary.
The state with the best salary for art directors after this adjustment? That would be Washington.
Here’s a quick snapshot of the top ten states for art director salaries:
Let’s take a look at how we got here and a full ranking of all the states.
Highest-Paid Art Directors By State
| Rank | State | Average Art Director Salary | 10th Percentile | 90th Percentile |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Washington | $116,811 | $74,000 | $183,000 |
| 2 | California | $110,627 | $69,000 | $175,000 |
| 3 | Oregon | $108,462 | $69,000 | $170,000 |
| 4 | Iowa | $104,474 | $71,000 | $153,000 |
| 5 | Kansas | $101,123 | $67,000 | $150,000 |
| 6 | New Jersey | $99,556 | $66,000 | $149,000 |
| 7 | New York | $95,885 | $63,000 | $144,000 |
| 8 | Idaho | $95,837 | $60,000 | $151,000 |
| 9 | Alaska | $95,624 | $62,000 | $146,000 |
| 10 | Maine | $95,126 | $64,000 | $141,000 |
| 11 | Vermont | $90,667 | $60,000 | $135,000 |
| 12 | Connecticut | $89,185 | $59,000 | $133,000 |
| 13 | Minnesota | $88,390 | $60,000 | $129,000 |
| 14 | North Dakota | $88,166 | $59,000 | $129,000 |
| 15 | Massachusetts | $87,365 | $58,000 | $130,000 |
| 16 | Wyoming | $84,182 | $55,000 | $128,000 |
| 17 | Nevada | $82,753 | $51,000 | $132,000 |
| 18 | Montana | $82,621 | $53,000 | $128,000 |
| 19 | Illinois | $79,944 | $53,000 | $118,000 |
| 20 | New Hampshire | $77,932 | $52,000 | $116,000 |
| 21 | North Carolina | $76,487 | $49,000 | $117,000 |
| 22 | South Dakota | $74,322 | $50,000 | $109,000 |
| 23 | Mississippi | $74,135 | $47,000 | $115,000 |
| 24 | Ohio | $73,888 | $49,000 | $110,000 |
| 25 | Hawaii | $72,969 | $57,000 | $92,000 |
| 26 | Tennessee | $72,774 | $47,000 | $110,000 |
| 27 | Rhode Island | $72,391 | $48,000 | $108,000 |
| 28 | Virginia | $71,727 | $47,000 | $109,000 |
| 29 | Georgia | $71,593 | $45,000 | $111,000 |
| 30 | Louisiana | $71,191 | $44,000 | $114,000 |
| 31 | Delaware | $68,672 | $45,000 | $103,000 |
| 32 | Wisconsin | $67,188 | $45,000 | $99,000 |
| 33 | Michigan | $66,672 | $44,000 | $99,000 |
| 34 | Colorado | $65,840 | $43,000 | $100,000 |
| 35 | Utah | $65,717 | $41,000 | $103,000 |
| 36 | Texas | $65,480 | $40,000 | $104,000 |
| 37 | Missouri | $65,354 | $44,000 | $96,000 |
| 38 | Arizona | $64,831 | $40,000 | $103,000 |
| 39 | Pennsylvania | $64,326 | $42,000 | $96,000 |
| 40 | New Mexico | $63,624 | $40,000 | $101,000 |
| 41 | Nebraska | $61,868 | $42,000 | $90,000 |
| 42 | Florida | $60,202 | $37,000 | $97,000 |
| 43 | West Virginia | $60,023 | $39,000 | $90,000 |
| 44 | Indiana | $59,578 | $40,000 | $88,000 |
| 45 | Maryland | $58,553 | $38,000 | $87,000 |
| 46 | Oklahoma | $58,294 | $38,000 | $88,000 |
| 47 | Kentucky | $56,720 | $37,000 | $84,000 |
| 48 | Arkansas | $53,915 | $35,000 | $81,000 |
| 49 | Alabama | $51,473 | $33,000 | $80,000 |
| 50 | South Carolina | $50,992 | $32,000 | $79,000 |
Methodology: Art Director Salary By State
To better understand art director pay by state, Zippia has aggregated data across a multitude of channels including the BLS, FLC, and OPM. We then supplement that data with actual listed salaries from job posts. Finally, the data science team calculates a weighted average of these inputs to create an average pay for art directors by state.
We took the average annual salary data for art directors from these estimates and ranked every state on this criteria with the state with the highest salary ranking as highest average salary for art directors.
Art Director Salary By State FAQs
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What is the highest-paid state for art directors?
The highest-paid state for art directors is Washington with an average salary of $116,811 per year.
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What city pays art directors the most?
San Francisco, CA pays art directors the most with an average salary of $123,660 per year.
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What is the worst state for art directors?
The worst state for art directors is South Carolina with an average salary of $50,992 per year.
Author
Chris Kolmar is a co-founder of Zippia and the editor-in-chief of the Zippia career advice blog. He has hired over 50 people in his career, been hired five times, and wants to help you land your next job. His research has been featured on the New York Times, Thrillist, VOX, The Atlantic, and a host of local news. More recently, he's been quoted on USA Today, BusinessInsider, and CNBC.
