Cities with the Highest Wages
The highest annual mean wage for graphic artists is in San Francisco, California. In fact, three of the top paying metropolitan areas for graphic artists are in California which reflects the state’s large government and high-tech employment base. The pay spread between San Francisco (highest mean wage) and Vallejo-Fairfield (lowest mean wage among top five) is $13,970 or approximately 24%. The differences in wages reflect the impact geographical location has on graphic designer pay. It is important to bear in the mind that pay differences must be considered in view of differences in cost of living rates for various cities. For those graphic designers who do not want to live in California, many other cities pay good wages and those wages increase significantly with years of experience.
The factors influencing the amount of pay include years of experience, education and technical skills. Graphic designers with solid portfolios containing samples of successful creative projects can often demand the highest salaries. The graphic design profession is becoming increasingly technology based with even traditional print industries being in the early stages of electronic publishing. Graphic artists who have extensive creative and computer skills in areas of web design, animation, and interactive media are commanding some of the highest salaries. Many graphic artists are freelance designers and have great opportunities to work with a variety of customers and industries.
Cities with the Highest Employment Levels
San Francisco, California has the highest employment level and the highest annual mean wage among the top five metropolitan areas that have the highest employment levels for graphic designers. In fact, the city pays significantly more than the fifth city appearing on the chart, Champaign-Urbana, Illinois. The difference in the annual mean wage between San Francisco and Champaign-Urbana is $34,210 or 88%. When comparing San Francisco wage rates to the second highest paying metropolitan area, New York area, there is still a sizable difference of $16,090 or 28%.
The differences between the metropolitan areas hiring the most graphic designers are due to factors like cost of living rates and types of industries present. In addition, cities like San Francisco have attracted graphic designers with years of experience and highly developed technical skills. In general, the more years of experience a graphic designer has, the higher the salary that can be commanded.
Businesses and the government hire graphic designers to do a variety of jobs including visual designs, multimedia development and publishing. Increasingly the type of work is getting more technical though as computers, specialized software, and digital photographic and video equipment is used. Those who wish to be paid the higher salaries will need to keep technologically current because the available jobs are become more reliant on computerization.
