Career profile · SOC 27-1024

Graphic Designers

Design or create graphics to meet specific commercial or promotional needs, such as packaging, displays, or logos.

Median salary
$61,300
per year
Growth outlook
Average
BLS 10-yr
Education
Bachelor's degree
AI exposure
6.1/10
automation risk

Salary distribution (US)

Real salary data from U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The p10–p90 spread tells you more than the median alone.

Bottom 10%
$35,530
25th %ile
$44,460
Median
$61,300
75th %ile
$76,060
Top 10%
$100,160

Top skills

Active Listening Critical Thinking Speaking Reading Comprehension Complex Problem Solving Time Management Active Learning Judgment and Decision Making Coordination Social Perceptiveness

Knowledge you'll build

  • Design
  • Communications and Media
  • Fine Arts
  • English Language
  • Computers and Electronics
  • Customer and Personal Service
  • Sales and Marketing
  • Administration and Management

A day in the life

You start your morning reviewing creative briefs, checking feedback from art directors or clients on yesterday's mockups, and organizing your task list across multiple projects with competing deadlines. Your day is spent in Adobe Creative Suite or Figma, crafting logos, packaging layouts, social-media assets, and marketing collateral, iterating through rounds of revisions based on stakeholder feedback. You attend brainstorming sessions with copywriters, marketing managers, and product teams, presenting mood boards and design concepts that translate brand strategy into visual storytelling. The creative high of seeing your design go live on a billboard or product shelf is incredibly rewarding, but the subjective nature of design critiques and the grind of endless revision cycles can test your patience.

Related careers

Is Graphic Designers right for you?

Take the Holland test + Big-5 to see how well this career matches your profile.

Get personalised fit →