What a graphic designer costs in the US
The wage BLS measured across 197,830 jobs, what an employer pays on top of it, the pay in every state, and which of the job's core tasks already show up in AI use.
Medians for the whole US. Your own cost depends on where you hire, the benefits you offer and the hours worked.
- Median wage
- $62,960
- Hourly wage
- $30.27
- Loaded per hour
- $37.70
- Middle half earns
- $49,040 to $81,830
- Jobs in the US
- 197,830
Wage × 1.2455 for benefits and payroll taxes, from BLS.
A graphic designer in the US is paid a median $62,960 a year, $30.27 an hour, across 197,830 jobs. With benefits, a small employer pays about $78,420. Of its 10 core tasks, 8 showed up in Claude.ai conversations in May 2026, and in 5 of those Claude mostly did the task rather than assisting.
The work, task by task
The 10 core tasks O*NET lists for graphic designers, most important first, and how each showed up in Claude.ai conversations in May 2026. The bar splits those conversations between Claude doing the task and Claude helping a person do it.
- 01Key information into computer equipment to create layouts for client or supervisor.
- 02Review final layouts and suggest improvements, as needed.Claude.ai: 22% did the task, 78% helped
- 03Determine size and arrangement of illustrative material and copy, and select style and size of type.Claude.ai: 51% did the task, 49% helped · API: 86% did the task
- 04Develop graphics and layouts for product illustrations, company logos, and Web sites.Claude.ai: 42% did the task, 58% helped
- 05Create designs, concepts, and sample layouts, based on knowledge of layout principles and esthetic design concepts.Claude.ai: 57% did the task, 43% helped · API: 94% did the task
- 06Use computer software to generate new images.Claude.ai: 63% did the task, 37% helped
- 07Prepare digital files for printing.
- 08Confer with clients to discuss and determine layout design.Claude.ai: 39% did the task, 61% helped · API: 70% did the task
- 09Research the target audience of projects.Claude.ai: 52% did the task, 48% helped · API: 96% did the task
- 10Draw and print charts, graphs, illustrations, and other artwork, using computer.Claude.ai: 57% did the task, 43% helped
8 of 10 tasks appear in the Claude.ai sample of the Anthropic Economic Index for May 2026. A task without a row had too few conversations for Anthropic to publish, which is not the same as none. Shares are of all sampled Claude.ai conversations, so small figures are normal: 1.07% of every conversation that month was about this occupation.
Pay by state
The median annual wage in each state and DC, and the same wage fully loaded. District of Columbia pays the most, $87,920; West Virginia the least, $40,350.
| State | Median wage | Fully loaded | Middle half | Jobs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | $51,070 | $63,610 | $39,030 to $67,430 | 1,760 |
| Alaska | $62,570 | $77,930 | $45,190 to $77,980 | 180 |
| Arizona | $58,510 | $72,870 | $50,250 to $75,290 | 3,560 |
| Arkansas | $46,220 | $57,570 | $37,530 to $58,230 | 1,390 |
| California | $75,130 | $93,570 | $55,500 to $99,240 | 27,390 |
| Colorado | $66,330 | $82,610 | $55,000 to $85,810 | 4,200 |
| Connecticut | $72,700 | $90,550 | $58,510 to $84,790 | 1,930 |
| Delaware | $60,130 | $74,890 | $49,050 to $76,820 | 360 |
| District of Columbia | $87,920 | $109,500 | $75,300 to $114,280 | 1,150 |
| Florida | $61,660 | $76,800 | $49,510 to $80,680 | 12,660 |
| Georgia | $60,250 | $75,040 | $44,750 to $77,670 | 5,920 |
| Hawaii | $58,070 | $72,330 | $46,140 to $78,420 | 520 |
| Idaho | $50,350 | $62,710 | $40,930 to $64,550 | 920 |
| Illinois | $62,560 | $77,920 | $47,530 to $81,320 | 8,960 |
| Indiana | $55,480 | $69,100 | $46,600 to $70,260 | 3,450 |
| Iowa | $50,310 | $62,660 | $44,610 to $63,640 | 2,100 |
| Kansas | $53,630 | $66,800 | $43,770 to $64,560 | 1,730 |
| Kentucky | $52,960 | $65,960 | $42,210 to $65,330 | 2,060 |
| Louisiana | $49,910 | $62,160 | $42,640 to $62,570 | 1,750 |
| Maine | $60,030 | $74,770 | $47,840 to $74,120 | 560 |
| Maryland | $75,120 | $93,560 | $57,600 to $94,930 | 3,050 |
| Massachusetts | $76,710 | $95,540 | $60,030 to $95,990 | 4,450 |
| Michigan | $57,350 | $71,430 | $46,370 to $70,400 | 6,070 |
| Minnesota | $63,860 | $79,540 | $51,570 to $78,380 | 5,570 |
| Mississippi | $45,640 | $56,840 | $37,380 to $57,720 | 830 |
| Missouri | $56,750 | $70,680 | $45,420 to $70,920 | 4,500 |
| Montana | $56,890 | $70,860 | $43,640 to $70,980 | 610 |
| Nebraska | $56,700 | $70,620 | $46,400 to $65,590 | 1,670 |
| Nevada | $62,890 | $78,330 | $49,540 to $79,510 | 1,570 |
| New Hampshire | $60,490 | $75,340 | $52,830 to $78,190 | 790 |
| New Jersey | $73,790 | $91,910 | $59,150 to $92,040 | 5,670 |
| New Mexico | $56,730 | $70,660 | $41,980 to $70,520 | 850 |
| New York | $77,340 | $96,330 | $58,610 to $100,370 | 14,530 |
| North Carolina | $58,450 | $72,800 | $46,710 to $74,410 | 5,660 |
| North Dakota | $56,470 | $70,330 | $45,270 to $63,760 | 460 |
| Ohio | $60,080 | $74,830 | $47,380 to $77,150 | 7,280 |
| Oklahoma | $53,630 | $66,800 | $39,410 to $65,980 | 2,040 |
| Oregon | $66,040 | $82,250 | $57,420 to $103,220 | 4,140 |
| Pennsylvania | $60,730 | $75,640 | $47,670 to $80,480 | 8,150 |
| Rhode Island | $78,220 | $97,420 | $62,050 to $93,370 | 750 |
| South Carolina | $57,170 | $71,210 | $44,740 to $72,530 | 1,930 |
| South Dakota | $48,390 | $60,270 | $40,990 to $57,560 | 470 |
| Tennessee | $57,270 | $71,330 | $47,510 to $75,170 | 3,880 |
| Texas | $60,150 | $74,920 | $45,990 to $75,540 | 13,670 |
| Utah | $62,310 | $77,610 | $49,960 to $79,000 | 2,720 |
| Vermont | $65,690 | $81,820 | $50,200 to $92,790 | 410 |
| Virginia | $72,310 | $90,060 | $52,470 to $95,420 | 4,740 |
| Washington | $72,710 | $90,560 | $57,390 to $93,490 | 3,960 |
| West Virginia | $40,350 | $50,260 | $35,260 to $48,550 | 520 |
| Wisconsin | $59,900 | $74,610 | $48,390 to $73,360 | 4,130 |
| Wyoming | $45,150 | $56,230 | $39,960 to $57,010 | 240 |
The same benefits ratio applies in every state, because BLS does not publish benefit costs by business size for each state. The middle half is the 25th to 75th percentile wage.
Where the numbers come from
Every figure is copied from a public file. The only arithmetic is the loaded cost: the wage times 1.2455.
- Wages
- BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, occupation 27-1024 (Graphic Designers). Annual figures are the hourly wage times 2,080 hours, as BLS computes them, so they already include pay for paid leave.
- Fully loaded
- BLS Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, June 2026 (2026 Q2), private businesses with 1 to 49 workers: $37.64 an hour in total compensation over $27.88 in wages plus $2.34 in paid leave gives 1.2455. Paid leave sits in the denominator because the annual wage already pays it.
- Tasks
- O*NET 31.0 core tasks for 27-1024.00, the ten most important by their importance rating. A few occupations list fewer core tasks.
- AI use
- Anthropic Economic Index, release of June 2026, conversations from May 2026. "Did the task" is Anthropic's automation share, where the user directs Claude to do the work; "helped" is augmentation, where the user works with Claude to learn, check or iterate.
- Not measured
- What a particular business pays, and whether an AI system can do a task well. The AI figures count conversations about a task, not jobs replaced.
This page includes information from the O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. AI use data from the Anthropic Economic Index by Anthropic, under CC BY. Wage and benefit data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
What would an AI system cost for this work?
Put $78,420 beside the running cost of a system doing the tasks above, with the build counted in year one.
BLS wages May 2025 · O*NET 31.0 · Anthropic Economic Index