Planning to hire UX designers but feeling lost in the murky waters of their salary expectations? You're not alone. Determining the proper compensation for a UX designer can be tricky, especially with all the nuances and factors that affect the labor market. But fear not: we've got you covered.
At Eleken, we offer a unique pricing model for UI/UX services. We studied the industry salary market and tailored our subscription-based strategy to make the lives of our clients easier. We know that choosing the right contractor might be quite a daunting task, so we gathered all the information that can help you with that.
In this article, we'll guide you through the maze of UX/UI designer salaries, helping you to understand the current market rates and how to plan your budget accordingly. And in case you want to learn more about what UX designers do, go read our related article.
Overview of the average UX designer salary
First things first, is a UX designer paid well? Yes. What's more, a UX designer is consistently listed as one of the highest-paying entry-level jobs. That’s great news if you're considering a design career… but a little less exciting if you're trying to hire one.
The current UX job market is highly competitive. Companies are willing to pay top dollar to attract and retain top design talent. According to Glassdoor, the median UX designer salary in the US is around $108,000 per year, but that number only tells part of the story.
We decided to dig deeper. Beyond the official salary reports, we explored Reddit threads and design communities to gather real-life salary insights from working UX designers. And the range is wide.
Here are a few examples:
- Associate UX Designer: $62K/year base + 10% bonus + 6% 401k match = ~$72K total
- UX Designer with <1 year experience (Financial firm, Bay Area): $115K base
- Product Designer with 9 years of experience (Senior IC, FAANG, San Francisco): $215K base, $360K+ gross with RSUs and bonuses
- Entry-level: $85K starting base, increased to $93K due to location pay scale adjustment
- Mid-level hire: $75K base + 5% annual bonus + $10K sign-on
As you can see, salaries vary significantly based on experience, location, and company type.
Still, no need to throw in the towel. The wide salary range means there are options, and finding the right designer for your budget is all about understanding the factors that influence these numbers. Let’s break them down.
Factors that can impact UX designer salaries
If you Google “how much does it cost to hire a designer,” you won't get a single definitive answer to the question. Quite frustrating, but the final cost you pay will depend on the way you approach hiring. Employing an in-house senior UX designer in San Francisco or outsourcing to a junior freelancer overseas will make for very different numbers.
So, let's look at the main factors that contribute to the salary expectations of UX designers. We're going to look at such things as years of experience, the designer's location, and so on.
Years of experience
User experience and user interface design are relatively new fields, so most professionals don't have a formal university degree. Many might have a certificate from a design course, but that's more of a pleasant addition to their CV than an actual necessity. What designers are judged by is their portfolio and experience.
A UX designer's starting salary will fall to a median of $121,000 and might get three times higher for someone with managerial responsibilities.
So, let's look at the annual salaries according to the levels of seniority.
Entry-level UX designer salary
If you hire someone fresh from a design course, a UX designer intern's salary averages from $55K to $89K, while a junior UX designer's salary will start from $78K.
But remember that while such an employee will cost you less, you can't expect them to deliver a high-quality product on their own. Junior specialists perform best as part of a design team, with more experienced designers mentoring them. So, if you are a small startup and looking to hire just one person, better consider hiring a more experienced specialist.
Middle UX designer salaries
It typically takes between 3 to 5 years for a user experience designer to advance to the middle level. At this point, their salary ranges from an average of $90K to $130K per year, as the highest probable one.
A middle-level designer will be no stranger to design tools and have the knowledge to design specific features. When you're looking to evaluate both technical and soft skills of such a candidate to make sure they're the right fit, check out our guide on UX designer interview questions.
If your product needs to be designed from scratch or requires fundamental redesigns, however, you might consider going for an even more experienced professional.
Senior-level UX designer salary
For the Seniors who started their career in UX design more than 10 years ago, the salary will vary greatly depending on the factors we'll discuss later. According to various sources, the national average numbers will fall around $144K to 236K per year.
A senior designer will be able to work on complex products on their own. However, if your product has grown enough to warrant group efforts, there might come a time when you need to hire a designer with leadership skills. And here enters a design manager.
UX design manager salary
If you need to fill a managerial position in your design team, get ready to pay between $164 and $260K, with the average falling to $205K a year. Here, you'll have to compete with the tech big names. But as they say, no pain, no gain.
Location
If you want to hire an experienced UX/UI designer, but are not ready to break the bank, remember that an average annual salary will vary drastically depending on the location, both across the US and worldwide.
The US
Let's look closely at different cities in the US to get the idea of how the UX designer salary will change.
The highest-paying cities in the US are usually the hometowns for influential design schools, headquarters of big tech companies, or both. Unsurprisingly, the list includes San Francisco, New York, Seattle, and Boston. However, some of the smaller cities also make the list of the salary leaders due to hosting industry leaders.
Here’s a snapshot of typical UX designer salary ranges in key US locations:
- San Francisco, CA: $110,000 - $153,000
- New York, NY: $93,000 - $142,000
- Seattle, WA: ~$117,000
- Boston, MA: $93,000 - $127,000
*(Exact ranges can vary based on experience level; junior roles will fall toward the lower end, senior toward the higher end.)
If you're interested in breakdown by the states, you can take a look at the following map, with the cheaper states marked pink and the most expensive – in blue.
So, if you want to save a bit, you might consider hiring outside of the Bay area. Or, turn your gaze to hiring a UX designer from outside the US at all.
Worldwide
When you look beyond the US, UX designer salaries vary widely, influenced by local economies, cost of living, and demand for digital skills.
There isn’t one single database that covers every country’s UX salaries, but by combining several reliable sources, we can sketch a solid global picture.
Below is a brief overview of typical UX designer salary ranges in various regions:
- United States: ~$86K average (wide range depending on city & experience).
- Canada: ~$60K – $106K with an average of around $77,900/year.
- United Kingdom: ~$35K – $123K average (~$61K typical).
- Germany: ~$38K – $91K average (~$67K typical).
- Australia: ~$43K – $134K average (~$94K typical).
- Singapore: ~$9K – $149K with higher averages (~$90K).
- Switzerland: ~$52K – $148K average (~$111K typical).
- Japan: ~$25K – $71K average (~$49K typical).
- China: ~$19K – $90K average (~$45K typical).
Certain economies, such as Switzerland and Singapore, offer some of the highest UX salaries globally, largely due to their high cost of living and mature tech ecosystems. In contrast, developing markets tend to show lower salary figures in absolute terms, though often still attractively high relative to local living costs.
Generally, North America and Western Europe lead in compensation, but also present fierce competition for top design talent. The Asia-Pacific region, particularly Singapore and Australia, is increasingly competitive as well, with senior-level salaries that can rival those in the US and Europe.
Meanwhile, emerging markets like Central and Eastern Europe or parts of Asia offer access to skilled designers at more modest rates. These regions can be especially cost-effective for companies embracing remote collaboration models, where location is less of a constraint.
Here's an overview of UX designer salary by country, from highest to lowest ones:
Company Size
The answer to the question of how much money you can make as a UX designer will also depend on specific companies across various industries. Take a look at this image, where some of the big names are presented.
If we narrow it down to SaaS businesses, you'll find that, for example, Slack offers an average salary of $120K for design roles, while in Intercom, the number falls to the median of $102K.
Startups in the US tend to offer an hourly rate anywhere from less than $25 to $100 (which translates to $52K to 205K per year), but obviously, experience and location will factor into these numbers as well.
Collaboration model
The overall expense of hiring a designer can also depend on the type of collaboration you choose. There are several common approaches to working with designers, such as hiring them as in-house employees, collaborating with freelance designers, or engaging with design agencies. Let's talk about all of them.
In-house
One of the most commonly considered options, particularly for those who have multiple ongoing projects or anticipate regular updates to their product's design, is to hire an in-house designer. With this approach, you would pay a set salary, and you won't have to worry about searching for a new designer, ideally, for quite a long while.
However, you also have to remember the benefits. Mandatory ones will depend on the country. In the US, for example, as an employer, you'll have to contribute 6.2% of your designer's salary for federal Social Security and 1.45% for Medicare. There is also health insurance, unemployment insurance and some other benefits to consider. In general, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, benefits account for 29.6% of the average cost per private industry employee.
When hiring full-time employees from other countries, you need to ensure you take into account the mandatory benefits of their respective countries, include them in the contract, and administer them correctly.
Unlike the US, where most employers provide paid time off, but it is not required by law, in most European countries, full-time employees are entitled to a specific number of paid vacation days per year.
Talking about Asian countries, workers are typically eligible for a range of benefits, including pension insurance, maternity insurance, unemployment insurance, medical insurance, and work-related injury insurance. Meanwhile, in various African nations, employees may receive medical and unemployment insurance, along with a skills development levy.
Finally, in Australia, workers are entitled to a variety of benefits such as paid time off, maternity leave, long service leave, paid sick leave, and superannuation. In Brazil and some other LATAM countries, even dental care insurance is mandatory.
So, keep all of this in mind when you open up your salary calculator for full-time remote employees.
To sum up, while there are many benefits (no pun intended) to hiring an in-house UX designer, you also should keep in mind all the additional expenses that come with it.
Freelance designers
Typically, freelancers charge an hourly rate, which can differ based on their level of expertise. It's rare for them to offer lower prices than their full-time counterparts. However, you can save money on benefits.
Platforms such as Upwork, Fiverr, and many others allow you to evaluate the candidate's portfolio, as well as see their ratings and reviews, so you can make an informed decision.
- Upwork: UX designers commonly charge around $25–$39 per hour, with a median rate of about $27/hr.
- Fiverr: Designers often offer fixed‑price gigs or packages that can start as low as $15–$20 for simple tasks.
Keep in mind that going for the lowest-charging junior freelancer is usually not a good idea. You will save some money on their hourly rate, but might as well lose more on redesigning the product if something goes wrong.
Project-based design agency
The pricing for design firms varies based on the specific project scope, making it difficult to estimate costs without requesting a personalized quote. Although the cost may be higher, working with a design firm can save you time and effort since you won't need to search for, hire, and onboard a design team or manage the project in-house.
However, as you can see, the costs might be quite unpredictable, and finding the right design agency might take some time and effort, as well as bring with it workflow complications you might be able to avoid when working with someone fully dedicated to your project instead of having to juggle multiple ones.
Retainer design agency
There's another pricing model when it comes to design agencies. It's not quite as widespread as a project-based payment, but it might just be a golden fit for you.
As a UX design agency specializing in SaaS products, Eleken offers a unique subscription-style pricing model, similar to how SaaS companies charge their own clients. Instead of paying per project or worrying about fluctuating hourly rates, you get a consistent monthly fee and a dedicated designer (or even a team) focused solely on your product.
That means:
- No insurance or benefit costs (we cover all of that).
- No project management fees (we believe in direct collaboration between you and your designer).
- No juggling multiple vendors (focused, embedded design work).
As for pricing, Eleken offers two flexible options to match your project needs. You can hire a full-time designer for $5,999 per month, or a part-time designer for $3,799 per month. In both cases, you get a dedicated design expert who integrates seamlessly with your team.
To sum up
There are various ways to approach hiring a UX designer. A junior freelancer might cost you less in money, but more in nerves. An in-house designer in your office would seemingly be in your sight more often, but, except for the salary itself, would lead to hefty expenses on benefits, insurance, as well as their equipment and rent. If you are considering hiring a design agency, though, we can say: look no further!
Eleken offers a subscription-based approach to UI/UX design services that enables you to reduce expenses and employ remote SaaS designers who are fully dedicated to your project at the same time. Additionally, we offer a free trial to ensure we are a good fit for you.
So, if you’re planning a new product or struggling with an existing one, feel free to contact us. We’ll help you find the best design solution for your needs.
