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Job outlook for digital media designers in the United States
Are digital media designer jobs in demand?
Digital media designer job and salary trends over time
Digital media designer jobs over time
Digital media designer job growth rate over time
| Year | # of jobs | % of population |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 1,920 | 0.00% |
| 2020 | 1,896 | 0.00% |
| 2019 | 2,032 | 0.00% |
| 2018 | 2,050 | 0.00% |
| 2017 | 2,044 | 0.00% |
Average digital media designer salary over time
Digital media designer salary by year
| Year | Avg. salary | Hourly rate | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | $56,476 | $27.15 | +2.4% |
| 2024 | $55,132 | $26.51 | +3.5% |
| 2023 | $53,291 | $25.62 | +3.4% |
| 2022 | $51,524 | $24.77 | +2.2% |
| 2021 | $50,403 | $24.23 | +1.6% |
Digital media designer jobs by state
Most common states for digital media designers
| Rank | State | Population | # of jobs | Employment/ 1000ppl |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | District of Columbia | 693,972 | 332 | 48% |
| 2 | Massachusetts | 6,859,819 | 1,131 | 16% |
| 3 | Delaware | 961,939 | 153 | 16% |
| 4 | Vermont | 623,657 | 98 | 16% |
| 5 | Washington | 7,405,743 | 1,059 | 14% |
| 6 | Oregon | 4,142,776 | 589 | 14% |
| 7 | Rhode Island | 1,059,639 | 147 | 14% |
| 8 | Utah | 3,101,833 | 411 | 13% |
| 9 | New Hampshire | 1,342,795 | 170 | 13% |
| 10 | Virginia | 8,470,020 | 1,045 | 12% |
| 11 | Minnesota | 5,576,606 | 684 | 12% |
| 12 | North Dakota | 755,393 | 87 | 12% |
| 13 | California | 39,536,653 | 4,187 | 11% |
| 14 | New York | 19,849,399 | 2,281 | 11% |
| 15 | Illinois | 12,802,023 | 1,380 | 11% |
| 16 | Georgia | 10,429,379 | 1,170 | 11% |
| 17 | Maryland | 6,052,177 | 655 | 11% |
| 18 | Wyoming | 579,315 | 63 | 11% |
| 19 | Colorado | 5,607,154 | 579 | 10% |
| 20 | Idaho | 1,716,943 | 167 | 10% |
Most common cities for digital media designers
| Rank | City | # of jobs | Employment/ 1000ppl | Avg. salary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Glendale | 1 | 0% | $65,275 |
| 2 | New York | 1 | 0% | $63,880 |
Digital Media Designer job outlook: Expert opinions
Our panel of digital media designer experts
Arcadia University
Memphis College of Art
Pennsylvania College of Technology
University of Akron
University Of Nevada, Las Vegas
Duquesne University
Tyler School of Art and Architecture, Temple University
Art Academy of Cincinnati
Kansas City Art Institute
California Baptist University
Cedar Crest College
California Lutheran University
Andrews University
West Virginia State University
Iowa State University
Temple University
Montclair State University
Heidelberg University
WorldatWork
What Digital Media Designer skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Tiffany Prater: Never stop learning because life never stops teaching. This quote by Kirill Korshikov rings true for new designers, who must know the latest trends and tools to be uniquely creative, improve their skills, and land a better design job. Knowledge and inspiration can come from anywhere and everywhere in our daily lives.
What general advice would you give to a Digital Media Designer?
Christian Patchell: There is a ton of opportunity and burgeoning markets opening up every day. We discuss this in my classes. The landscape of the arts changes at a faster pace than ever, but change doesn’t happen in a vacuum. With each new evolution there comes new opportunities. For example, many of my students find themselves interested in UX/UI. This is an area with a lot of opportunity for a new Designer but only if there is a passion for the Market. Even though this is a field first identified in the early 90s, I’d say that in the last decade or so it really has hit the Design World hard. This doesn’t mean that designing for print has to take a back seat. Print is more popular than ever in terms of designing and creating objects (books, packaging, etc.) that many of us refer to as art objects, interactive objects, or objects of influence. Telling a good story through the design of an object is pushing Graphic Design into wonderful areas and is really starting to connect with audiences on entirely new levels. Don’t let the articles listing the “Top 10 Majors at Universities” or the “25 Most Popular Jobs” fool you, Art and Design are more relevant and more important than ever before.
What will help Digital Media Designers increase their earning potential?
Lucas Charles: In the ever-changing field of graphic design, adaptability, digital fluency, and understanding user experience are becoming more crucial. Embracing new and emerging technologies, prioritizing empathy, and fostering a mindset of lifelong learning are paramount for success.
What Digital Media Designer skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Kathryn Anderson: A Graphic Designer’s work-life is rather sedentary and repetitive. However, any astute employer will encourage a bit of exercise and play throughout the course of the day to keep their team focused and happy. Other downsides might be: fast deadlines or short turn-arounds, insufficient communication from a client, and mandatory overtime hours. Mostly, the benefits out-weight the negatives. In today’s virtual world, more designers can and do work remotely or in hybrid environments—which is a plus for those who have child-care or other familial responsibilities.
What general advice would you give to a Digital Media Designer?
David Flynn: Everything that you see has been touched by a designer. The field is expanding with technology, but basic communication design principals remain paramount. It doesn’t matter if it’s a newspaper ad or a social post, you must have a professional that knows how to communicate a message, move the viewer's eye, and make the point. Designers work in every company and in every industry, worldwide.
What will help Digital Media Designers increase their earning potential?
David Flynn: We spend our day creating items that need to communicate a message clearly and quickly to a person or public. Information, directions, product benefits, packaging, events, advertising, anything and everything is designed to inform.
Dak Kopec Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Coordinator, BA Interior Architecture and Design and Master of Design ProgramUniversity Of Nevada, Las Vegas
School of Architecture
What Digital Media Designer skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Dak Kopec Ph.D.: 1. have a great portfolio demonstrating your design skills’ diversity of design abilities. I.e., show you how you can create designs that are historic, contemporary, and cutting-edge. 2. Demonstrate your ability to think critically and apply information. While AI will soon be able to take over the graphical representation of the design, it is unlikely that it will be able to use critical thinking and deductive reasoning. 3. Use your interview to show your employer you have skills they don’t have in the office and those skills will get them clients. I would research their projects and website, identify a weakness, and then demonstrate in your portfolio that I have the skills to help address existing weaknesses. Once an employer sees that what you bring to the table has value, you’ll be in a better negotiation position.
What skills stand out on Digital Media Designer resumes?
Dr. Mike Dillon: Evidence (courses, internships, other experience) that demonstrates competence in communicating with a wide array of audiences across multiple platforms. Our journalism program, for instance, is multiplatform: students learn to write, edit, shoot video, create podcasts, adapt stories to fit the requirements of multiple platforms, etc. Basically, we want to send students out of here like Swiss Army Knives -- able to work in their area of proficiency, be that writing or videography, but also adept with a wide variety of other competencies.
What hard/technical skills are most important for Digital Media Designers?
Dr. Mike Dillon: Media is about storytelling -- whether it's an ad, a social media campaign, a magazine story, etc. Being able to use the tools of your trade, whatever they may be -- algorithms, editing suites, etc. The most important skill, though, is understanding the essence of those tools -- what is they are intended to accomplish. If you understand that, you can easily adapt when tools change -- which they frequently do.
How would you rate the starting salaries for Digital Media Designers, as well as the prospects for salary advancement?
Abby Guido: Designers can be well-compensated for their work. Some design areas are more lucrative than others, which tend to be the jobs in digital design. These jobs include user-experience design, experiential design, interactive design, motion design, and all AR and VR design positions.
What general advice would you give to a Digital Media Designer?
Mark Thomas: To maximize salary potential when starting a career in Graphic Design, Professor Thomas suggests specializing in a niche area of design, continuously updating skills to stay current with industry trends, and negotiating salary based on experience and the value one brings to the role.
What Digital Media Designer skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Chris Chapin: I would recommend they take this time to learn and practice new digital tools of the Product Design field. The expectation, once they enter the profession, is that they will already be up to speed on the tools. I advise students to research their target employers and become familiar with the ways in which they work. This pandemic period is a great opportunity for students and graduates to round out their skills, knowledge, and professional perspective via online-course offerings. There is also no guarantee that a job will be waiting for them. In which case, it is best if they are prepared to create their own career starts with a spirit of persistence and entrepreneurship.
What experience really stands out on Digital Media Designer resumes?
MaryAnn Pearson: Resumes that include work with student publications (newspapers, magazines, and yearbooks) and links to published articles stand out. Students who have participated in internships also stand out as they show experience.
What experience really stands out on Digital Media Designer resumes?
Dr. Jill Purdy: "This is partially answered previously. I think students found time to be more self-reliant and independent. Hopefully, not to a fault as they move into their careers.
On resumes, we may see more of the soft skills described. It may sound counterintuitive, but I think a different kind of interpersonal skill was developed. On a Zoom call, what do we have but people and we have to figure out how to get our message across, collaborate, debate, and communicate effectively without extraneous factors. "
Will there be an enduring impact of the coronavirus pandemic on Digital Media Designers?
Dr. Jill Purdy: Yes, without a doubt. These students have faced difficult times socially and academically. My take is that they will be a bit more resilient on the other side of this pandemic. However, these graduates may have a more difficult time gaining employment with the financial crisis that has accompanied the pandemic.
I believe there will be social impacts as well. Living through isolation and quarantine changed their methods of communication. Their education was like no other time, leaving these students without the support they needed. Yet, somehow most students seemed to accept the challenge for the most part.
What type of skills will young Digital Media Designers need?
Dr. Jill Purdy: One skill that these students have gained is the use of technology to learn and study. They were forced into it. I am sure these skills will be transferred to the workplace. Successful graduates will have time management, organizational, and self-regulation skills, which were essential to achieve during this pandemic.
One example, in my field of teacher education, is with pre-service teachers. The teachers needed to learn to teach and communicate fully online to elementary students. They were utilizing communication methods that they didn't know they had to engage young learners.
I don't think we have fully realized all the skills these students have learned during this time.
What type of skills will young Digital Media Designers need?
Dr. Gerhard Apfelthaler Ph.D.: The pandemic's one good thing is that recent graduates will have learned to be flexible, agile, and resilient. These are skill sets that will remain invaluable for companies in the future. Companies will need graduates who are creative problem-solvers and excellent communicators. But it's undoubtedly also crucial that everyone develops strong skillsets around data, which is the most important currency of the economy these days.
What are the biggest trends we'll see in the Digital Media Designer job market given the pandemic?
Kimberly Pichot: I see two marketing areas that have grown during the pandemic: First, graduates with a strong background in digital and social marketing will have an advantage over other marketing students' groups. Second, graduates with robust analytics, market research, and KPI measurement skills will also be in demand. As the world shifted to increased online purchases, these marketing areas have continued to grow, while the more traditional marketing areas are experiencing a slowdown with the rest of the economy.
What Digital Media Designer skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Kimberly Pichot: If a graduate chooses to take a gap year, I recommend that they still take on activities to help them develop more skills. Find a nonprofit to volunteer and ask them if they could use your skills. Treat it as an internship or a job and find ways to hone your skills. Some skills marketing majors can focus on including social media content and campaign planning and delivery, digital marketing, and measurement. Build your portfolio with quantifiable results. Whether volunteering for one organization or several short stints in different organizations, engage in activities that will enhance your portfolio and demonstrate to future employers that you are growing.
Dr. Ali Ziyati Ph.D
ProfessorWest Virginia State University
Department of Communications & Media Studies
Will there be an enduring impact of the coronavirus pandemic on Digital Media Designers?
Dr. Ali Ziyati Ph.D: Graduates are also citizens of the world. This is a global pandemic, and we are all in it. Given the political economy of the coronavirus, many organizations are going through tough times. There will be fewer job opportunities for all graduates. The field of communication, on the other hand, maybe an exception. We learned it the hard way. We had to stay home, work, teach, and learn remotely. We filled our long days with entertainment, games, etc. We shared moments with family and loved ones virtually. The opportunities for internet-based media are endless. The essential item I retain from this experience is that media and communication technologies are central and our graduates.
What type of skills will young Digital Media Designers need?
Dr. Ali Ziyati Ph.D: Media and technology literacy is of utmost importance. In communication and media studies at West Virginia State University, we do everything we can to provide our graduates with media literacy skills: video, audio, film, public relations, graphic design, etc. In general, graduates have to be excellent in computer and internet-based communication in terms of production and media content distribution. Specific skills include, but are not limited to, graphic design, editing, writing, research, and data analysis.
What experience really stands out on Digital Media Designer resumes?
Dr. Ali Ziyati Ph.D: The nature of practical experiences and where they took place always stand out in any resume. I would pay close attention to the academic aspect and align with those practical experiences to see the level of the candidate's planning, performance, and dedication to his/her dream job.
Geoffrey Sauer Ph.D.
Associate Professor; Director, ISU English Undergraduate Studies; Director, ISU Studio for New MediaIowa State University
Department of English
What are the biggest trends we'll see in the Digital Media Designer job market given the pandemic?
Geoffrey Sauer Ph.D.: Today, my students are quite experienced with precarity, a word that's become popular this year (which refers to environments dominated by precarious conditions). This means that many are well-suited to changing circumstances and varying methods of working on teams. Though the high unemployment rate in the US-led to reduced job listings last summer, employers have told me that they've been very impressed with the students they do hire. Many established workers have little experience with different ways to manage distance collaboration. Still, full-time students graduating this December will have had at least 10-12 courses, and those graduating next May will have had at least 15-18 courses taught online (or mostly online). This means new graduates will have had more diverse experiences with collaboration in remote teams under different professors/supervisors, which will allow them to see an extensive range of leadership styles and techniques to manage people working together at a distance. Distance collaboration is here to stay, and today's students will have superior skills and diverse experience working in such environments.
What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for Digital Media Designers in the next 3-5 years?
Geoffrey Sauer Ph.D.: Collaborative documents will be essential. These include things such as Google Docs or Microsoft Office 365, which allow multiple people to write together simultaneously. My students use these technologies all the time, for things such as live collaborative lecture notes, which we all write together during WebEx video classes-these are significantly more complete than any single student's lecture notes used to be and are rapidly becoming part of workplace teams using new methods of project management, such as agile, and scrum. More advanced students of mine study how to build content management systems using systems like WordPress or SharePoint. These will be more important as workplace teams collaborate more often at a distance.
What skills stand out on Digital Media Designer resumes?
David T. Z. Mindich Ph.D.: At Temple Journalism, we emphasize skills and practices that stand out on resumes. First, we send students out onto the streets of Philadelphia, the nation's fourth-largest media market, to report on a range of important, urban-related issues, from housing to wealth inequality to systemic racism to the pandemic to gentrification to education and beyond. Second, we teach storytelling across media platforms. Even though we are in a pandemic, students continue to report on pressing issues (while practicing safe distancing). When they graduate, they will have an important body of work to present.
What skills stand out on Digital Media Designer resumes?
Dr. Keith Strudler Ph.D.: Particularly as organizations are planning not just for the present but also for the post-pandemic future, where employees continue to work remotely and more flexibly than before. I believe that they will continue to want new employees who know how to use digital and remote tools and practices. So those that can comfortably use tools like Slack, Google Meets, and also disciplinary-specific media tools like Studio 6, VMIX, and Frankie, the better positioned they are for a new position. I also think students who have a wide range of skills and can problem solve (as opposed to being tied to one way of doing things) are far more valuable -- which should drive the way universities teach in the future. Finally, given the continued growth of social media, I think students who know how to use social media listening, analytics, and management tools will have a strong advantage and students who can effectively create content for social and understand audience.
Nathan Cutietta
Director of the Gaming, Esports & Media, Assistant Professor of Communication and MediaHeidelberg University
Communication & Media Department
Are there any particularly good places in the United States for Digital Media Designers to find work opportunities?
Nathan Cutietta: The job market in Texas seems to be booming in the United States. To be successful, a graduate should be willing to go where the opportunity is. Sometimes the places with the worst economic problems have the most effective options for someone with a specialized skill, since no one wants to live there.
What general advice would you give to a Digital Media Designer?
Steve Boddy: Graduates should expect fewer full-time employment opportunities. In some cases these opportunities will be accompanied by enhanced well-being benefits but lower salaries. There may be more contract and seasonal opportunities in the short term, which typically will not offer highly valued benefits like health insurance, retirement, and paid time off.
Full-time employment opportunities and competitive hiring wages are expected in high growth industries like technology, health care, logistics and distribution, and other essential jobs. These are most often accompanied with full benefits, which most recently has included increased offerings in well-being, remote work opportunities, and flexible schedules. However, most other organizations will offer fewer full time employment opportunities and potentially lower wages in job offers (due to supply of jobs and abundance of grads). Other reasons for downward pressure on salaries may include the graduates willingness to accept lower rates in favor of the option to work from home or desired geography. Lastly, more college grads are taking seasonal/contract roles, and may miss out on critical benefit offerings that are reserved for employees only (which often account for ~25 - 35% of their total rewards package).
So why does it matter? In all likelihood, new graduates may not start on the career path they envisioned for themselves, and will likely see slower wage growth over time. According to the WorldatWork 2020-2021 Salary Budget Survey released in August of this year, "The national total salary budget increase average fell this year - dropping to 2.9% - notably sudden, and somewhat expected, due to economic uncertainty. This decline represents a pronounced departure from the anticipated increase to 3.3% projected for 2020 a year ago." This is a tough time to be entering the workforce. The key is to be flexible in their job search. Graduates may have to sacrifice some benefits like healthcare and retirement in order to get "their foot in the door." The current reality is new college graduates are facing the worst job market in over a decade with more competition and lower salaries.