How much does the average web designer make? What BLS data shows

The average web designer in the U.S. earns about $104,000 a year at the median, according to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics data. In May 2025, web and digital interface designers had a median wage of $50.00 an hour, and the mean (the true average) was $117,490. Those numbers come from the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey released on May 15, 2026. They cover people on a payroll, though. Freelancers and agency owners are not counted, and their income can be much lower or much higher depending on how they price and find work.

Here is what the official data says, what it leaves out, and what actually moves pay up or down.

What the BLS data says

BLS tracks two related jobs. Web and digital interface designers (SOC 15-1255) plan and test the look, layout and usability of sites and apps. Web developers (SOC 15-1254) build and maintain sites, including the technical side like speed and capacity. Many people who call themselves web designers do some of both.

Here are the May 2025 national figures from the OEWS news release and the BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook:

The median is the middle point: half earned more and half earned less. The mean is pulled up by high earners, which is why it sits above the median. BLS also publishes 25th and 75th percentile wages in its OEWS occupation profiles if you want a closer look at the middle of the range.

The combined number you may see quoted

The Occupational Outlook Handbook rolls both jobs into one group, "web developers and digital designers." For that group it lists a median of $99,520 a year ($47.85 an hour) in May 2025, about 220,100 jobs in 2025 (a count that includes self-employed workers), projected growth of 5 percent from 2025 to 2035, and about 13,600 openings a year. If you see a "web designer salary" of roughly $100,000 online, it is usually this blended figure.

How it compares to graphic design

Web design pays well above print and brand design. The BLS page for graphic designers lists a median of $62,960 a year ($30.27 an hour) in May 2025, with employment projected to decline 2 percent from 2025 to 2035. Designers who add web and interface skills move into a better-paid and growing field.

Salaried, freelance or agency owner

Where you work changes your pay more than almost anything else.

Salaried designers

The BLS numbers above describe this group. You get a steady check, benefits and someone else finding the work. In-house roles at larger companies, especially product and UX roles, pull the numbers up. Small businesses and nonprofits usually pay less.

Freelancers

BLS says about 13 percent of web and digital interface designers and 18 percent of web developers were self-employed in 2025. The OEWS wage survey does not include the self-employed, so there is no official median for freelancers.

What we can say is that freelance income works differently. You set your own rate, but you also pay for your own health insurance, software, taxes on both sides of Social Security and Medicare, and all the unpaid hours spent on sales, emails and invoices. A freelancer charging a higher hourly rate than an employee earns can still take home less once those costs and slow months are counted.

For one public reference point, Upwork's own web designer cost page lists a median of $15 to $30 an hour for web designers on its platform. It breaks that out by project type: $15 to $40+ for a basic one-page site, $20 to $50+ for CMS design, and $45 to $75+ for full custom site design. Upwork does not give a date or say how it calculates these, and its marketplace is global, so U.S. rates tend to sit at the upper end or above. If you are weighing marketplaces, our guide to finding freelance web design work on Upwork, Fiverr and Freelancer covers the fees and trade-offs.

Agency owners

Owning a studio or agency has the widest range of all. Owners earn from profit, not a wage, so a good year and a bad year can look very different. Income grows when you can sell projects that someone else on the team delivers, add recurring revenue like hosting and care plans, and keep a steady pipeline. It shrinks when one big client leaves or projects run over budget.

What drives web designer pay

Specialty

Designers who focus on UX and UI, product design, design systems or conversion work tend to earn more, because their work ties to revenue and is harder to replace with templates. Ecommerce skills on Shopify carry similar weight, since a store's design directly affects sales.

Platform skills matter too. WordPress runs a large share of the web, so there is steady demand for designers who can build and maintain it. Webflow work often attracts design-led clients with bigger budgets. See our website platform popularity breakdown for where the demand sits.

Industry

BLS shows big gaps by industry. In May 2025, the median wage for web and digital interface designers was $133,260 in finance and insurance, $130,140 in information (which includes software publishers), $109,990 in computer systems design, and $87,640 in wholesale trade. Web developers followed a similar pattern, topping out at $119,940 in information.

Location

Pay follows the cost of living and the concentration of tech employers. In the May 2023 OEWS profile for web and digital interface designers, California, New York and Washington had the highest average wages. Remote work has narrowed the gap somewhat, but many employers still adjust pay by location.

Experience and skills

The spread between the bottom 10 percent ($53,750) and top 10 percent ($201,550) is mostly experience, specialty and responsibility. Entry-level designers doing template work sit near the bottom. Senior designers who lead projects, manage clients or own a product's interface sit near the top. BLS lists a bachelor's degree as the typical entry-level education, but it also notes that a strong portfolio of past work can matter more. Our roadmap on what to learn to get into web design lays out the skills in order.

How project pricing works

Most freelance and agency web design is sold by the project, not the hour. A few common models:

• Hourly. Simple and fair for small fixes or unclear scope. The downside is that you earn less as you get faster.
• Fixed project fee. You quote a price for a defined scope, such as a five-page site with a contact form. This rewards speed and clear process, but you need a tight scope and change-order terms.
• Value-based pricing. You price based on what the site is worth to the client, such as more leads or sales. It takes confidence and a track record.
• Retainers and care plans. Monthly fees for hosting, updates, security and small edits. This is how many studios smooth out income between big projects.

From the client side, price depends on page count, custom design versus templates, ecommerce, integrations and content. Our guide to how much a website costs and the website cost calculator show how those pieces add up.

How to earn more as a web designer

1. Pick a niche. A designer who builds sites for dentists, law firms or Shopify brands can charge more than a generalist, because they already know the client's problems.
2. Tie your work to results. Learn the basics of SEO, page speed, accessibility and conversion tracking. Clients pay more for a site that brings in leads than one that only looks nice.
3. Learn some code. HTML, CSS and a little JavaScript let you handle custom work and talk with developers. The BLS data shows interface design pays well when it goes beyond visuals.
4. Move toward higher-paying industries. If you want a salaried role, finance, software and tech companies pay the most according to BLS.
5. Raise your rates on new clients first. Test higher prices on new projects before changing them for existing clients.
6. Add recurring revenue. Care plans and hosting turn one-time projects into monthly income.
7. Use AI to speed up the routine parts. Drafting layouts, copy and code faster frees time for the strategy work clients value most.

Caveats on the numbers

• Designers and developers are grouped. The Occupational Outlook Handbook blends both jobs into one median ($99,520). The separate OEWS figures are more useful if you mostly design.
• Freelancers are left out of OEWS. The wage survey excludes the self-employed and owners of unincorporated businesses, so the table above says nothing directly about freelance income.
• Job titles are messy. A "web designer" at a small agency may do design, development, SEO and client management. BLS classifies jobs by duties, not titles.
• Data lags. The May 2025 wage figures were released May 15, 2026. Pay may have changed since.
• Marketplace rates are not national averages. Upwork's figures reflect its own global platform, not the U.S. market as a whole.

Thinking about a website project and want to know what it should cost, or how a studio prices the work? Talk to us and we will walk you through it.