Graphic Designers
Design or create graphics to meet specific commercial or promotional needs, such as packaging, displays, or logos. May use a variety of mediums to achieve artistic or decorative effects.
Also called: Artist · Brand Designer · Designer · Graphic Artist · Graphic Design Coordinator · Graphic Designer
Median pay (national)
$61,300
$37,600–$103,030 (10th–90th)
Employed (US)
214,260
BLS OEWS, May 2024
Outlook 2024–34
+2.1%
~20,000 openings/yr
Typical entry
Bachelor's degree
What the numbers say
Refit analysis ·Pay for graphic designers shows an unusually wide range: the top 10% earn $103,030 versus $37,600 at the bottom 10% — 2.7x. The median of $61,300 leaves roughly 68% of headroom to the 90th percentile, which is where seniority, specialization, and the skills below tend to pay off.
Refit analysis ·Employment is projected to change +2.1% from 2024 to 2034 — about as fast as the 3% all-occupation average. Even so, BLS projects about 20,000 openings a year, mostly to replace workers who retire or change careers.
Refit analysis ·Where you work moves the number a lot. Across the 53 states with released data, District of Columbia pays the most for this role (median $90,710, +48% vs the national median), while Puerto Rico sits lowest at $29,500 — a 207% spread for the same job title.
Refit analysis ·O*NET rates Active Listening, Speaking, Writing as the highest-importance skills here — so a resume aimed at this role should lead with evidence of those, not a generic skills list. On the tools side, O*NET flags Adobe After Effects, Adobe Creative Cloud software, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe InDesign as in-demand technologies for this role.
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Top skills employers ask for
Ranked by O*NET importance for this occupation.
- Active Listening
- Speaking
- Writing
- Critical Thinking
- Active Learning
- Reading Comprehension
- Monitoring
- Learning Strategies
- Mathematics
- Science
What they actually do
Core O*NET tasks for this role.
- Key information into computer equipment to create layouts for client or supervisor.
- Review final layouts and suggest improvements, as needed.
- Determine size and arrangement of illustrative material and copy, and select style and size of type.
- Develop graphics and layouts for product illustrations, company logos, and Web sites.
- Create designs, concepts, and sample layouts, based on knowledge of layout principles and esthetic design concepts.
- Prepare digital files for printing.
- Confer with clients to discuss and determine layout design.
- Research the target audience of projects.
- Draw and print charts, graphs, illustrations, and other artwork, using computer.
- Mark up, paste, and assemble final layouts to prepare layouts for printer.
Tools & technology
- Adobe After Effects
- Adobe Creative Cloud software
- Adobe Illustrator
- Adobe InDesign
- Adobe Photoshop
- Adobe Premiere Pro
- Canva
- Cascading style sheets CSS
- Figma
- Hypertext markup language HTML
- Microsoft Excel
- Microsoft Office software
- Microsoft PowerPoint
- AJAX
- Apple macOS
- Autodesk AutoCAD
Knowledge areas
- Design
- Computers and Electronics
- Fine Arts
- Communications and Media
- English Language
- Sales and Marketing
- Customer and Personal Service
- Production and Processing