Graphic Artist Salary

Q: How much does a Graphic Artist make?

Graphic artists make $62,736 per year on average, or $30.16 per hour, in the United States. Graphic artists on the lower end of that spectrum, the bottom 10% to be exact, make roughly $41,000 a year, while the top 10% makes $94,000. Location impacts how much a graphic artist can expect to make. Graphic artists make the most in Washington, California, Oregon, Nevada, and Idaho.

Updated July 11, 2022

Average Graphic Artist Salary

$62,736 yearly
To create our salary estimates, Zippia starts with data published in publicly available sources such as the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), Foreign Labor Certification Data Center (FLC) Show More

$30.16 hourly

Entry level Salary

$41,000 yearly

$41,000

10 %

$62,736

Median

$94,000

90 %

How much does a Graphic Artist make?

Graphic artists make $62,736 per year on average, or $30.16 per hour, in the United States. Graphic artists on the lower end of that spectrum, the bottom 10% to be exact, make roughly $41,000 a year, while the top 10% makes $94,000.

Location impacts how much a graphic artist can expect to make. Graphic artists make the most in Washington, California, Oregon, Nevada, and Idaho.

Highest Paying States For Graphic Artists

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

State View
County View

Average Salary:

Graphic Artist average salary by State

Rank	State	Avg. Salary	Hourly Rate	Job Count
1	Washington	$104,646	$50.31	457
2	Oregon	$81,333	$39.10	257
3	California	$83,226	$40.01	1,795
4	Utah	$68,176	$32.78	136
5	Nevada	$77,557	$37.29	47
6	Colorado	$64,288	$30.91	184
7	Rhode Island	$56,617	$27.22	48
8	New York	$54,583	$26.24	817
9	Idaho	$73,001	$35.10	30
10	Arizona	$62,304	$29.95	133
11	Maine	$56,214	$27.03	36
12	Massachusetts	$53,530	$25.74	354
13	New Hampshire	$49,457	$23.78	74
14	Hawaii	$65,863	$31.66	17
15	Alaska	$69,958	$33.63	10
16	Virginia	$52,394	$25.19	319
17	Wisconsin	$48,213	$23.18	183
18	Texas	$48,790	$23.46	646
19	Montana	$58,404	$28.08	18
20	New Jersey	$55,875	$26.86	173
21	Minnesota	$48,556	$23.34	208
22	District of Columbia	$53,558	$25.75	101
23	Ohio	$45,925	$22.08	291
24	North Dakota	$51,063	$24.55	12
25	Connecticut	$47,952	$23.05	117
26	Wyoming	$45,967	$22.10	17
27	West Virginia	$48,795	$23.46	21
28	North Carolina	$45,471	$21.86	272
29	Vermont	$47,852	$23.01	16
30	Illinois	$45,418	$21.84	373
31	New Mexico	$47,227	$22.71	29
32	Maryland	$46,060	$22.14	198
33	Pennsylvania	$44,104	$21.20	311
34	Delaware	$45,850	$22.04	31
35	Florida	$46,020	$22.13	378
36	Louisiana	$46,346	$22.28	50
37	Iowa	$44,454	$21.37	89
38	Alabama	$45,297	$21.78	64
39	Michigan	$43,070	$20.71	247
40	Indiana	$43,596	$20.96	158
41	Arkansas	$43,583	$20.95	48
42	Tennessee	$42,306	$20.34	112
43	Kansas	$42,671	$20.51	67
44	Georgia	$41,404	$19.91	341
45	Kentucky	$41,207	$19.81	97
46	South Carolina	$42,817	$20.59	76
47	Nebraska	$41,317	$19.86	55
48	Missouri	$42,311	$20.34	122
49	Mississippi	$42,310	$20.34	25
50	South Dakota	$39,174	$18.83	18
51	Oklahoma	$36,918	$17.75	53

Highest Paying Cities For Graphic Artists

Rank	City	Avg. Salary	Hourly Rate
1	Bellevue, WA	$105,238	$50.60
2	San Francisco, CA	$92,330	$44.39
3	Las Vegas, NV	$76,007	$36.54
4	Urban Honolulu, HI	$66,040	$31.75
5	Colorado Springs, CO	$63,731	$30.64
6	Goodyear, AZ	$62,565	$30.08
7	Albany, NY	$55,390	$26.63
8	Washington, DC	$53,623	$25.78
9	Boston, MA	$53,581	$25.76
10	Arlington, VA	$53,075	$25.52
11	Appleton, WI	$49,704	$23.90
12	Houston, TX	$48,774	$23.45
13	Miami, FL	$46,759	$22.48
14	New Orleans, LA	$46,605	$22.41
15	Chicago, IL	$45,603	$21.92

Graphic Artist Salary Details

What is a Graphic Artist's Salary?

Percentile	Annual Salary	Monthly Salary	Hourly Rate
90th Percentile	$94,000	$7,833	$45
75th Percentile	$77,000	$6,417	$37
Average	$62,736	$5,228	$30
25th Percentile	$50,000	$4,167	$24
10th Percentile	$41,000	$3,417	$20

Average Salary By Related Titles

Job Title	Annual Salary	Monthly Salary	Hourly Rate	Job Openings
Visual Merchandiser	$43,006	$3,584	$20.68	74,351
Visual Designer	$86,902	$7,242	$41.78	46,815
Freelance Designer	$52,886	$4,407	$25.43	45,914
Student Graphic Designer	$53,245	$4,437	$25.60	55,508
Graphic Design Manager	$63,122	$5,260	$30.35	48,269
Lead Graphic Designer	$70,199	$5,850	$33.75	46,260

Here are the five companies hiring the most now:

Which Companies Pay Graphic Artists The Most?

The highest paying companies for graphic artists are Bloomberg and Raytheon Technologies according to our most recent salary estimates. In addition, companies like Deluxe and The Walt Disney Company report highly competitive wages for graphic artists.

Rank	Company	Average Salary	Hourly Rate	Job Openings
1	Bloomberg	$101,162	$48.64	2
2	Raytheon Technologies	$96,192	$46.25	2
3	Deluxe	$95,528	$45.93	1
4	The Walt Disney Company	$93,950	$45.17	79
5	Nexstar Media Group	$91,753	$44.11	14
6	Northrop Grumman	$91,216	$43.85	13
7	CTG	$91,144	$43.82
8	NBCUniversal	$89,315	$42.94	29
9	Gap Inc.	$87,787	$42.21	12
10	Bobit	$86,622	$41.65
11	Marcus & Millichap	$84,780	$40.76	8
12	Leidos	$83,135	$39.97	8
13	CNN	$81,596	$39.23
14	Industrial Light & Magic	$79,817	$38.37
15	SSE plc	$79,259	$38.11	1
16	Hanes Companies, Inc.	$78,504	$37.74	7
17	Media Storm	$78,451	$37.72
18	Psyop	$78,167	$37.58
19	Arrow International Inc	$78,002	$37.50
20	Elizabeth River Ferry	$77,827	$37.42	1

How Much Do Graphic Artists Make In Different Industries?

Here are some examples of how much a graphic artist salaries can based on different industries:

The technology industry pays graphic artists an average salary of $84,010
The non profits industry pay $78,031
The lowest paying industry for graphic artists is the manufacturing industry. Graphic artists in this industry earn an average salary of $75,002

Highest Paying Industries For Graphic Artists

Rank	Industry	Average Salary	Hourly Rate
1	Technology	$84,010	$40.39
2	Non Profits	$78,031	$37.51
3	Media	$75,983	$36.53
4	Retail	$75,380	$36.24
5	Manufacturing	$75,002	$36.06

High Paying Graphic Artist Jobs

Graphic Artist Salary Trends

The salary for a graphic artist can vary depending on the years of experience that a person has, from entry level to senior level. Data on how experience level affects total compensation is provided by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) as part of their National Compensation Survey, which is based on factors such as knowledge, complexity, contacts, and environment.

Graphic Artist Salary By Experience Level

Experience Level	Avg. Salary	Hourly Rate
Entry Level	$40,000	$19.21
Mid Level	$60,500	$29.08
Senior Level	$88,400	$42.50

Average Graphic Artist Salary Over Time

Compare salaries for individual cities or states with the national average.

Graphic Artist Salary By Year

Year	Avg. Salary	Hourly Rate	% Change
2022	$62,700	$30.16	+2.4%
2021	$61,200	$29.44	+3.3%
2020	$59,200	$28.46	+3.3%
2019	$57,200	$27.52	+2.2%
2018	$56,000	$26.92	+1.6%

Recently Added Graphic Artist Salaries

Company	Job	Location	Date Added	Salary
Meador Staffing Services	Graphic Artist	Alvin, TX	06/01/2022	$33,392
Guide Book Publishing	Graphic Artist	Ballwin, MO	05/31/2022	$25,357
Northrop Grumman	SR. Principal Graphics Artist	Huntsville, AL	05/22/2022	$85,900
Northrop Grumman	Principal Graphic Artist	San Diego, CA	05/12/2022	$81,600
Leidos Holdings Inc.	Graphic Artist/Video Editor	Oklahoma City, OK	05/12/2022	$46,150
Northrop Grumman	SR. Principal Graphic Artist	Sierra Vista, AZ	05/12/2022	$81,600
MSI	Graphic Artist	Orange, CA	05/10/2022	$50,445
Perfect Placement Group, LLC	Graphic Artist	Orange, CA	05/03/2022	$59,900
Sandoval Technology Solutions LLC	Graphic Artist	San Antonio, TX	05/01/2022	$54,387
Northrop Grumman	Principal Graphic Artist	Huntsville, AL	04/27/2022	$69,300

Graphic Artist Salaries FAQs

What state pays Graphic Artists the most?

Washington pays Graphic Artists the most in the United States, with an average salary of $104,646 per year, or $50.31 per hour.

How do I know if I'm being paid fairly as a Graphic Artist?

You know if you are being paid fairly as a Graphic Artist if your pay is close to the average pay for the state you live in. For example, if you live in California you should be paid close to $83,226 per year.

What type of Graphic Artist gets paid the most?

Visual Designer gets paid the most. Visual Designer made a median salary of $86,902. The best-paid 10 percent make $108,000, while the lowest-paid 10 percent make $69,000.

Have more questions? See all answers to common arts, entertainment, sports, and media questions.

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