Design Manager Salary

Average Yearly Salary

Updated May 18, 2020

$97,000

$61,000

$97,000

$154,000

Design managers in the United States make an average salary of $97,171 per year or $46.72 per hour. People on the lower end of that spectrum, the bottom 10% to be exact, make roughly $61,000 a year, while the top 10% makes $154,000. As most things go, location can be critical. California, New Mexico, Hawaii, Colorado, and Arkansas provide the highest design manager salaries.

Best Paying Cities

San Francisco, CA

$138,352

Denver, CO

$117,658

Plano, TX

$114,844

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Map of Design Manager Salaries

The darker areas on the map show where Design Managers earn the highest salaries across all 50 states.

Average Salary:

Average Design Manager Salary By Location

Throughout the U.S., the average salary for a design manager is roughly $97,171 per year, which boils down to $46.72 per hour. Interestingly enough, design managers have the highest salaries in San Francisco, CA at about $138,352 per year. For those who are just starting out, the average entry-level salary in San Francisco, CA is $77,000. Additionally, design managers make more than the average salary in Denver, CO, Plano, TX, Seattle, WA, Reno, NV, and Boston, MA. On a more broad level, design manager salaries are highest in California, New Mexico, Hawaii, Colorado, Arkansas, Washington, and Texas. On the contrary, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Florida offer the lowest design manager salaries.

City

Average Salary

San Francisco, CA

$138,352

$138k

Denver, CO

$117,658

$118k

Plano, TX

$114,844

$115k

Seattle, WA

$114,493

$114k

Reno, NV

$108,576

$109k

Boston, MA

$100,610

$101k

Portland, OR

$98,746

$99k

Kansas City, MO

$96,404

$96k

Atlanta, GA

$93,437

$93k

New York, NY

$92,460

$92k

Average Design Manager Salary By Company

If you insist on knowing when your check is going to come and for how much, then you'd be better off working for companies like Apple and Adobe as they offer the highest salaries for design managers.

Company

Average Salary

Apple

$166,970

$167k

Adobe

$163,160

$163k

Microsoft

$163,068

$163k

Netflix

$160,781

$161k

Nvidia

$155,310

$155k

IBM

$151,365

$151k

Facebook

$150,907

$151k

eBay

$147,482

$147k

Airbnb

$145,507

$146k

Motorola Solutions

$145,471

$145k

The largest raises come from changing jobs.

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Average Design Manager Pay By Industry

As we previously stated, design manager salaries can vary depending on the industry. In fact, our data shows that technology, retail, and health care companies tend to offer much higher salaries for design managers. For example, design managers make a whopping average salary of $111,674 while working for technology companies. Meanwhile, other people in this field are making $99,245 at retail companies and $96,953 at health care companies. But design managers may want to avoid working in the finance industry as it offers the lowest average salary at $77,431.

Industry

Average Salary

Technology

$111,674

$112k

Retail

$99,245

$99k

Health Care

$96,953

$97k

Hospitality

$95,004

$95k

Manufacturing

$94,734

$95k

Finance

$77,431

$77k