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Job outlook for magazine designers in the United States
Are magazine designer jobs in demand?
Magazine designer job and salary trends over time
Magazine designer jobs over time
Magazine designer job growth rate over time
| Year | # of jobs | % of population |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 44 | 0.00% |
| 2020 | 43 | 0.00% |
| 2019 | 45 | 0.00% |
| 2018 | 42 | 0.00% |
| 2017 | 40 | 0.00% |
Average magazine designer salary over time
Magazine designer salary by year
| Year | Avg. salary | Hourly rate | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | $52,372 | $25.18 | +3.2% |
| 2024 | $50,730 | $24.39 | +1.6% |
| 2023 | $49,955 | $24.02 | +0.3% |
| 2022 | $49,804 | $23.94 | +3.0% |
| 2021 | $48,361 | $23.25 | +0.1% |
Magazine designer jobs by state
Most common states for magazine designers
| Rank | State | Population | # of jobs | Employment/ 1000ppl |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | District of Columbia | 693,972 | 185 | 27% |
| 2 | Washington | 7,405,743 | 664 | 9% |
| 3 | Massachusetts | 6,859,819 | 595 | 9% |
| 4 | Oregon | 4,142,776 | 374 | 9% |
| 5 | Virginia | 8,470,020 | 583 | 7% |
| 6 | Minnesota | 5,576,606 | 363 | 7% |
| 7 | California | 39,536,653 | 2,491 | 6% |
| 8 | New York | 19,849,399 | 1,108 | 6% |
| 9 | Georgia | 10,429,379 | 671 | 6% |
| 10 | Colorado | 5,607,154 | 315 | 6% |
| 11 | Utah | 3,101,833 | 193 | 6% |
| 12 | New Hampshire | 1,342,795 | 83 | 6% |
| 13 | Rhode Island | 1,059,639 | 60 | 6% |
| 14 | Illinois | 12,802,023 | 643 | 5% |
| 15 | North Carolina | 10,273,419 | 483 | 5% |
| 16 | Maryland | 6,052,177 | 322 | 5% |
| 17 | Wisconsin | 5,795,483 | 285 | 5% |
| 18 | Michigan | 9,962,311 | 430 | 4% |
| 19 | Kansas | 2,913,123 | 129 | 4% |
| 20 | Iowa | 3,145,711 | 126 | 4% |
Magazine Designer job outlook: Expert opinions
Our panel of magazine designer experts
Highline College
Bowling Green State University
Eastern Illinois University
Valencia College
Mansfield University of Pennsylvania
What skills stand out on Magazine Designer resumes?
Diana Boyd: -Originality/Creativity
-Illustration (digital and hand-drawn)
-Branding
-UX/UI design
-Marketing/Advertising
What soft skills should all Magazine Designers possess?
Diana Boyd: -Collaboration/Teamwork
-Interpersonal
-Reliability
-Ethical behavior
-Self-starter
Jenn Stucker
Associate Professor, Chair of The Graphic Design DivisionBowling Green State University
School of Art
What hard/technical skills are most important for Magazine Designers?
Jenn Stucker: Technical skills in the Adobe Creative Cloud are necessary as it is the industry standard. Additionally, good designers should know the basics of HTML and CSS and work in digital collaboration tools like Microsoft Teams, Slack, Miro, and Figma.
Samantha Osborne
Assistant Professor of Graphic Design, Owner, Samantha Osborne DesignEastern Illinois University
Art + Design
What skills will help Magazine Designers earn the most?
Samantha Osborne: An ability to effectively communicate, navigate creative resources, network, empathize with others, and come up with innovative creative solutions. That said, your work still needs to be stellar and consistently great if you're going to be a big earner.
What soft skills should all Magazine Designers possess?
Samantha Osborne: Three soft skills stand out most: an ability to see the big picture, an ability to "read" people, and an ability to make a convincing argument for your design solution(s).
i. An ability to see big picture: there are an infinite number of details in graphic design, whether you work in website design on the front or back end, or in print media with physical outputs. It's easy to get caught up on the details, especially when clients are making specific demands about things such as paper type. A skilled designer must be able to see beyond the details and look at the big picture for an effective design solution. For example, a client may be asking for an invitation design for an up-coming event. A skilled designer will ask questions and dig in, eventually uncovering that perhaps for a successful event, the client also needs a splash page and social media, either in place of or in addition to an invitation. A skilled designer addresses design problems holistically, rather than minutely.
ii. An ability to "read" people: designers are trained in art-specific vocabulary. Hue, saturation, pixels, gestalt...most non-art folks don't use or speak that language. When clients are describing their goals, they aren't using art-vocabulary. It's a designer's job to translate what the client is saying into an advanced and effective creative solution. They must be able to speak and understand the language of non-creative folks, as well as the language of the broader creative industry.
iii. An ability to make a convincing argument for your design solution(s): many young and inexperienced designer tend to get their hearts broken when a client smashes one of their [very well thought-out] ideas. Rather than rolling over, a designer must learn to navigate how best to build support for their idea(s). That might mean in some instances you work more fluidly with the client throughout the design process, so that they feel they have ownership in the development of the solution. In other instances it might mean that the designer is presenting options, rather than a single solution, so that the client feels empowered to make choices throughout the design process. And in some instances, it might be a matter of better explaining and presenting your idea to a client; perhaps the designer needs to push back more, perhaps they need to provide more research as to why their solution is best, or maybe they simply need to present it with more excitement and enthusiasm.
Kristy Pennino
Professor of Graphic & Interactive DesignValencia College
Graphic & Interactive Design
Are there any particularly good places in the United States for Magazine Designers to find work opportunities?
Kristy Pennino: All major cities in the U.S. have been known to offer the most employment opportunities for graphic designers, simply because that is where there's a greater concentration of paying clients. I guess the silver lining - as a result of the pandemic - is that people will be less likely to select their employers, clients, or residences based solely on their location. With our program internship requirement, I have already witnessed students being hired to work remotely for employers who are not local and who are not even located in the same state or country. I helped three graduates get employed in the past 48 hours for companies who are not local and eager to hire our graduates to work remotely.
What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for Magazine Designers in the next 3-5 years?
Michelle Lockwood: A year ago, even six months ago, we would never have expected our lives to have taken the turns they have, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In that same sense, we cannot know what obstacles we will encounter in the next year, six months, or even next week. The aspect of technology that seems most important now is software that can bring the human experience of connection into our individual and separated lives. Technology has enabled those of us in design and applied arts, to continue creating and communicating. As always has been, technology is a tool, but it is not usually the entire idea. Yes, every message is altered and influenced by the medium with which it was created. Still, those beginning in this field need to remember that their uniqueness comes from the union of what is in their mind and their heart, and how they articulate and communicate that union.
Will there be an enduring impact of the coronavirus pandemic on Magazine Designers?
Michelle Lockwood: Oh, yes! There will be an enduring impact of the coronavirus pandemic on graduates, and all of us. It has already changed so much about how we interact, do business, socialize, learn, love, and just plain live. There is no way that it could not impact the future of this field, or any area, in my opinion. I think the job market will look very different in the months and years to come. We will adapt, and there will be more opportunities for creativity, more problems to solve, and more chances to engage and inform. But those practicing will need to remain flexible, adapt gracefully to changing circumstances, and find pockets where they can solve problems, and use their unique skillset to illuminate, inform, and delight -- just as we have always done -- only differently.