BLS OEWS May 2025 · SOC 15-1255 · snapshot 2026-09-06
UX Designer Salary by State
Every figure below is the published federal wage estimate for the occupation UX designers are counted under, not a survey average or an aggregate of job adverts. California leads at $136,110 against a national median of $104,000, and holds the lead once the local price level is taken into account.
Which occupation code this is, and why it matters
The Standard Occupational Classification has no UX designer code. 15-1255 is the closest published occupation: BLS defines it as designing digital user interfaces and testing layouts, interfaces, functionality and navigation for usability, and O*NET lists UX Developer and UX Engineer among the job titles reported under it.
The code also covers web designers and webmasters, so it is broader than product UX work. OEWS measures wages and salaries only, which excludes the equity and bonus that make up a large share of senior UX pay at listed technology firms.
Read the table as base wage and salary for a broad digital design occupation. The total compensation figures elsewhere on this site are a different measure and include equity and bonus, which is why they run higher.
Highest median
Best after cost of living
National, all states
| # | State | Median | 10th pct | 90th pct | Employed | RPP | Adjusted |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | California | $136,110 | $68,090 | $219,750 | 27,090 | 110.7 | $122,954 |
| 2 | Washington | $130,480 | $60,580 | $217,290 | 11,580 | 107 | $121,944 |
| 3 | New York | $120,990 | $63,960 | $204,510 | 16,560 | 107.9 | $112,132 |
| 4 | Massachusetts | $113,540 | $71,110 | $178,050 | 2,740 | 105.8 | $107,316 |
| 5 | New Hampshire | $111,150 | $51,550 | $162,960 | 430 | 104.2 | $106,670 |
| 6 | District of Columbia | $107,650 | $78,120 | $172,130 | 480 | 109.9 | $97,953 |
| 7 | Rhode Island | $105,990 | $65,640 | $166,320 | 240 | 102.3 | $103,607 |
| 8 | Pennsylvania | $104,160 | $54,450 | $155,200 | 2,820 | 97.6 | $106,721 |
| 9 | Georgia | $103,810 | $54,910 | $172,950 | 2,800 | 96.3 | $107,799 |
| 10 | Texas | $102,650 | $59,290 | $168,620 | 5,910 | 97.1 | $105,716 |
| 11 | Oregon | $102,220 | $65,260 | $180,580 | 1,230 | 103.4 | $98,859 |
| 12 | Utah | $99,990 | $57,890 | $159,710 | 1,060 | 98.9 | $101,102 |
| 13 | Arizona | $98,070 | $53,260 | $183,000 | 810 | 100.7 | $97,388 |
| 14 | North Carolina | $97,990 | $44,530 | $163,850 | 3,400 | 94.3 | $103,913 |
| 15 | Maryland | $96,760 | $52,930 | $164,460 | 1,310 | 105 | $92,152 |
| 16 | Colorado | $95,880 | $60,620 | $169,050 | 3,250 | 103.1 | $92,997 |
| 17 | Wisconsin | $95,340 | $57,980 | $138,410 | 880 | 94.1 | $101,318 |
| 18 | New Jersey | $95,310 | $50,340 | $173,470 | 2,170 | 108.8 | $87,601 |
| 19 | Connecticut | $94,660 | $53,240 | $131,470 | 1,060 | 103.6 | $91,371 |
| 20 | Delaware | $93,880 | $50,880 | $136,490 | 130 | 99.8 | $94,068 |
| 21 | Illinois | $85,710 | $58,090 | $157,670 | 2,050 | 100 | $85,710 |
| 22 | Ohio | $83,360 | $48,940 | $151,090 | 2,520 | 92.8 | $89,828 |
| 23 | Minnesota | $82,650 | $47,190 | $133,710 | 1,520 | 98.6 | $83,824 |
| 24 | Michigan | $81,010 | $42,660 | $140,830 | 1,750 | 96.2 | $84,210 |
| 25 | South Carolina | $80,930 | $43,720 | $162,880 | 800 | 93.7 | $86,371 |
| 26 | Nevada | $80,120 | $52,000 | $130,260 | 1,180 | 100 | $80,120 |
| 27 | Florida | $77,730 | $49,710 | $142,910 | 4,620 | 103.4 | $75,174 |
| 28 | Virginia | $77,140 | $42,080 | $140,490 | 1,990 | 101.1 | $76,301 |
| 29 | Montana | $77,030 | $47,670 | $138,520 | 100 | 94.6 | $81,427 |
| 30 | Kentucky | $77,000 | $52,750 | $121,520 | 590 | 90.2 | $85,366 |
| 31 | Oklahoma | $76,440 | $37,730 | $120,960 | 340 | 87.8 | $87,062 |
| 32 | West Virginia | $71,880 | $30,800 | $271,340 | 200 | 89.5 | $80,313 |
| 33 | Alaska | $71,300 | $50,800 | $114,150 | 30 | 102.4 | $69,629 |
| 34 | Missouri | $70,970 | $43,680 | $132,550 | 1,210 | 90.8 | $78,161 |
| 35 | Kansas | $70,620 | $44,520 | $114,190 | 200 | 90.1 | $78,380 |
| 36 | Iowa | $69,060 | $42,140 | $108,160 | 670 | 87.8 | $78,656 |
| 37 | Louisiana | $68,790 | $38,090 | $101,280 | 170 | 88.2 | $77,993 |
| 38 | Wyoming | $67,020 | $44,740 | $103,590 | 110 | 92.7 | $72,298 |
| 39 | Nebraska | $65,520 | $46,990 | $100,590 | 720 | 90.1 | $72,719 |
| 40 | North Dakota | $64,260 | $50,940 | $89,440 | 40 | 89 | $72,202 |
| 41 | Idaho | $64,250 | $45,240 | $129,620 | 340 | 95.5 | $67,277 |
| 42 | Tennessee | $63,510 | $45,510 | $83,220 | 3,610 | 91.9 | $69,108 |
| 43 | Indiana | $63,430 | $37,960 | $114,390 | 1,160 | 93.3 | $67,985 |
| 44 | New Mexico | $53,300 | $32,660 | $123,910 | 200 | 92.2 | $57,809 |
| 45 | Alabama | $51,860 | $44,190 | $127,500 | 130 | 88.8 | $58,401 |
| 46 | Mississippi | $48,550 | $41,180 | $96,190 | 230 | 87 | $55,805 |
RPP is the BEA Regional Price Parity for all items, 2024, where the national average is 100. Adjusted is the state median restated at the national price level. Percentiles are annual wages.
Where the data stops
BLS counts designers in Hawaii (50 of them) and Maine (380 of them) but withholds the wage estimate, so no salary is shown for those states. We have not filled the gap with a regional average.
Arkansas, South Dakota and Vermont have no published estimate at all for this occupation in the May 2025 release, usually because the sample was too small to release. They are absent from the table rather than estimated into it.
Market context
The wage figures are federal data. The notes below are ours, and describe what sits behind each of the larger markets.
Bay Area platform employers and Los Angeles entertainment and streaming. The widest spread in the country between the 10th and 90th percentile.
Seattle is a genuine design hub rather than a satellite office market, which lifts the whole state figure.
Finance and media in-house teams plus the strongest agency scene in the country.
Boston. Enterprise software and a large biotech and medical device interface market.
Austin product work and Dallas enterprise. Strong on a purchasing-power basis.
Denver and Boulder, with a high share of remote-first employers.
Chicago. Enterprise software and commerce platforms.
Portland. Consumer brand design and hardware interface work.
The Washington DC suburbs, where federal digital service work sits alongside defence contractors.
Atlanta payments and logistics technology.
Large in-house teams at retail and healthcare headquarters in the Twin Cities.
Automotive interface work, mostly infotainment and driver displays.
The Research Triangle, weighted towards enterprise and analytics products.
Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Media, health systems and a growing developer-tools cluster.
Government UX is an underrated path.
Federal agencies hire UX designers across the General Schedule, typically GS-13 to GS-15, plus full federal benefits and a pension. The Digital Service at VA, the team behind VA.gov, is the largest active federal design org and hires designers and researchers; agency teams at CMS and elsewhere hire too. Note that GSA shut down its 18F unit in March 2025 and the central US Digital Service was reorganized, so federal design now runs through individual agency teams rather than one central office. Roles post on USAJOBS. The work is meaningful and the benefits are hard to match in the private sector.
Wages: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025, SOC 15-1255 Web and Digital Interface Designers. Cost of living: BEA Regional Price Parities by State (SARPP), all items, 2024 (last updated 2026-02-19). Both are US federal statistics and in the public domain. Snapshot taken 2026-09-06. OEWS covers wage and salary workers only; it excludes the self-employed, and it excludes equity and bonus.
Next refresh when BLS publishes the following May reference year, normally in the spring.