Think about your favorite app. How does it look? Is it easy to use? While it might not be your favorite app, look at Airbnb. It’s not just a place to book a random room for the night. It’s a product of well-planned and finely-tuned UI/UX design. Every part of the app is intentional and evolving. It’s clean, minimalistic, and prioritizes high-quality images so you can actually see the cool properties available and enjoy using and looking at the app instead of getting lost in the interface. Features like saved favorites, past searches, and personalized recommendations make the experience better because they’re catered to your individual preferences. No points for guessing, but this is because UI/UX designers have thought through every detail to make the journey as smooth as possible!

Are you eyeing a career in UI/UX? Maybe you’re already knee-deep in it and just curious about how your paycheck compares? Here’s the million-dollar question: how much do UI/UX designers make? A UI/UX designer’s salary isn’t just about the title. It’s affected by experience, location, specific skills, and a few other factors we’re about to unpack.

What can you expect to earn as a UI/UX designer in 2025? Let’s find out! In this article, you’ll learn what UI/UX design is all about, what you can expect to earn, what factors influence your pay, and even better, how to maximize your earning potential.

Table of Contents

• What is UI/UX Design?
• What Factors Affect UI/UX Designer Salaries?
• UI/UX Salaries in 2025
• How to Increase Your UI/UX Designer Salary
• Start your UI/UX Design Career

Is Tech Right For you? Take Our 3-Minute Quiz!

You Will Learn:

☑️ If a career in tech is right for you

☑️ What tech careers fit your strengths

☑️ What skills you need to reach your goals

What is UI/UX Design?

If you’ve ever used a website or app that was a total nightmare to navigate, you’ve felt the pain that UI/UX designers work hard to avoid. UI/UX is more than a fancy tech term, but what does all this “UI” and “UX” stuff actually mean?

The TL;DR: UI/UX design creates a seamless experience for users interacting with digital products—think websites, apps, and software.

What is UI Design?

UI (User Interface) design is primarily about the visuals. It’s the stuff that makes everything look “pretty” and function in an easy-to-use way. The layout, the buttons, the fonts, the colors—UI designers make sure the interface is both functional and visually appealing. This can include accessibility features as well, like accounting for color-blind users or ensuring that navigation is extremely clear. It takes the structure and flow created by UX designers and makes it visually appealing with a healthy dose of design and psychology. You could say that UI design creates the packaging for the product the UX designer built.

When you’re scrolling through an app, and the buttons are easy to find and the text is easy to read, that’s thanks to UI design. Anytime you’ve browsed Hulu and stopped to appreciate the wide-screen trailers that randomly play, that’s thanks—in part—to the UI design. UI is all about creating an interface that not only works well but is also nice to look at and easy to use.

What is UX Design?

UX (User Experience) is all about the user journey. It’s about understanding how a person interacts with a product and improving that experience. Imagine you’re using an app to buy concert tickets. If the process is confusing and you give up halfway, that’s a big user experience fail. You might be able to get tickets elsewhere (well, maybe if Ticketmaster didn’t have a monopoly on ticket sales, but I digress). A UX designer dives deep into those front-end user problems, doing things like user testing, interviews, and analyzing data to fix the user journey. It’s less about making the app look good and more about making it feel right. UX design means creating a smooth process where users don’t get lost, confused, or annoyed.

What’s interesting about UX design is that you don’t need a traditional design or coding background to get started. A good UX designer should be a great listener, critical thinker, and problem solver, and they don’t need the basic designing or coding skills you’d expect. Why? Well, you don’t need to know HTML or CSS to get into the user’s head. For example, when you’re buying something on Amazon and the checkout process is smooth, that’s UX design at work. The UX designer knows that people add things to their carts—only to change their minds later—so they give them the option to delete or save for later. You might not think about it, but UX design is the reason you can add items to your cart and check out in seconds.

And while UX doesn’t necessarily require knowing basic coding languages and design principles, learning or knowing those can definitely give you a leg up in the field—and potentially bump up your salary. More skills = more value. It’s that simple.

Are UI and UX the Same Thing?

While they definitely overlap, no, they’re not the same thing. UX tends to be the umbrella term—focusing on the overall experience, user needs, and usability. UI is a more focused piece of that puzzle, concerned with the visual design and interaction with the product. Both are important to a great product, so many job listings will ask for a UI/UX designer—someone who can do both.

Related: Tech 101: UX Versus UI—What’s The Difference?

What Factors Affect UI/UX Designer Salaries?

Let’s say you and your friend are both UI/UX designers. You have the same education and skills, but somehow, your paycheck looks a lot different. Why? Well, several factors play into why one of you is making more than the other. According to The Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are six reasons why your salary can vary:

• Credentials: If you have an advanced degree, education, or specialized certification (like a UX certification from Nielsen Norman Group), that could seriously boost your earning potential.
• Experience and Skill: Experience pays. The longer you’ve been in the field, the more you’re probably making. But it’s not just about time. If you’ve mastered industry tools like Figma or understand complex user research methods, your skills are worth more than someone still figuring it out.
• Industry or Employer: Not every company sees UI/UX design as a must-have. Type of company matters too. A fintech startup might offer a completely different salary than a global e-commerce company, simply because of their needs, customers, and budget. Companies that rely heavily on top-tier design (like ones where the app is the primary product) often have bigger budgets for design talent—and they’re willing to pay for it.
• Job Tasks: If you’re a senior designer in charge of big design projects and leading a team of individual contributors, your paycheck could be a lot higher. Both jobs are important, but one comes with more responsibility and leadership.
• Location: If you’re living in San Francisco or New York City, your salary will likely be higher—thanks to the high cost of living and demand for designers. If you’re in a smaller city where design talent isn’t in such high demand, your paycheck might not stack up in the same way. Some remote companies compensate you based on where they’re located or where you’re located, so it all depends on the factors.
• Performance: If you’re constantly going above and beyond and hitting every milestone in your projects, don’t be surprised if your salary reflects that. Some companies throw in bonuses and other perks for high performers.

Is Tech Right For you? Take Our 3-Minute Quiz!

You Will Learn:

☑️ If a career in tech is right for you

☑️ What tech careers fit your strengths

☑️ What skills you need to reach your goals

UI/UX Salaries in 2025

You’ve probably seen all kinds of salary numbers floating around, and while it’s tempting to latch onto a range, there’s something you need to know—salaries can vary a lot. And when you’re looking at average salary numbers, it’s like reading a weather report. You can probably count on it being sunny but fluctuations should be expected. The same goes for salary data (and for this post too).

As of January 2025, Salary.com shows the average salary for UI/UX designers at $78,167, with the low end of the range coming in around $61,246 and the high pushing toward $95,991. But don’t take this as gospel truth—these are averages, which means if you’re looking to move up the ladder or into a high-demand industry, there’s wiggle room.

Glassdoor’s most recent figures (from June 2024) are a little higher, with $86,654 as the average UI/UX designer salary. Keep in mind that none of these numbers account for any bonuses, benefits, or things like stock options that might come with the job. So, while these figures are a good starting point, it’s not the full picture.

Remember—your salary as a UI/UX designer can change based on a handful of factors, like your experience, the industry you’re in, and your location. Here’s the breakdown:

UI/UX Designer Salaries by Experience

No doubt about it, experience plays a huge role in your salary. If you’re just starting out (with no prior experience), you can expect to earn around $65,740 a year, which seems to be on par with or slightly higher than the national average. The real boost comes with time. After about 15 years in the field, your salary can jump to $108,412. And if you want to get really technical while looking at the numbers (like I do), think about it like this: with each year of experience, you could potentially add about $2,862 to your salary.

Source: Glassdoor

UI/UX Designer Salaries by Industry

As I mentioned earlier, the money you make as a UI/UX designer also depends on the industry you’re working in. For example, financial services are still generally the big money-makers—surprise, surprise (I’m not surprised at all)—with an average salary of $121,008. After that, you have industries like telecommunications and pharmaceuticals & biotech that tend to offer competitive pay for skilled designers who know their stuff. The easy way to think about this is that industries (and companies) that really understand design’s value tend to pay top dollar. Think of it like this—if the company’s willing (and able) to throw serious cash into design because it’s needed for their industry, you’re probably going to see that reflected in your paycheck.

Source: Glassdoor

UI/UX Designer Salaries by State

We’ve gone ahead and pulled the average UI/UX salary from all 50 U.S. states (and Washington D.C.). And honestly—some of the numbers surprised me. Was I expecting Alaska ($85,124) to have a higher average salary than New York ($83,326)? Definitely not.

If you’re in Washington, D.C., you’re looking at the highest average salary of around $87,000. California isn’t far behind at $86,218, with other states like New Jersey ($85,371), Massachusetts ($85,046), and (surprise!) Alaska rounding out the top five.

Source: Salary.com

UI/UX Designer Salaries by City

Now, some of these states are huge with more than one major city, so let’s take it a step further and look at UI/UX designer salaries in some of the biggest cities in the United States. First off, we have to mention San Francisco. While it’s not the largest city in the U.S., it’s still the reigning champ when it comes to tech—hello, Silicon Valley! San Francisco leads the group with an average salary of $97,709. No surprises there, right? After all, it’s home to tech giants like Google and Apple. The demand for top-tier design talent is real and the cost of living is high, so your paycheck reflects that.

And while the rest of New York state—the smaller towns and cities—is likely what kept them out of the top five states with the highest UI/UX designer salaries, New York City has the second highest city salary ($91,299). That’s not surprising either, considering NYC’s influence in finance, media, and tech. For all the UI/UX designers in the “city that never sleeps,” they can expect a competitive salary to match the fast-paced lifestyle.

Source: Salary.com

Is Tech Right For you? Take Our 3-Minute Quiz!

You Will Learn:

☑️ If a career in tech is right for you

☑️ What tech careers fit your strengths

☑️ What skills you need to reach your goals

UI/UX Designer Salaries Around the World

What about outside the United States? How much money could you make as a UI/UX designer in different parts of the world? While salary data across borders isn’t always easy to find or compare, I’ve rounded up some of the top cities and countries. And because you may need some extra help with conversion rates (like me), I’ve converted everything into USD.

UI/UX designer salaries can vary massively globally. For example, Glassdoor (where I pulled these numbers from for consistency) reports that the average salary in the U.S. is around $86,654. But then, in São Paulo, the average salary for a UI/UX designer is just $11,000. You read that right—eleven thousand dollars. That’s a huge gap, right? Don’t panic just yet!

When comparing salaries like this, you can’t just take the numbers at face value (or face conversion rate, as it were). You have to take into account cost of living, tax rates, local standards of living, and even how the role itself differs across countries. What may seem like a lower salary in one country might actually go a lot further because things like rent, groceries, and transportation are much cheaper.

So, while the salary numbers look incredibly different from country to country, keep in mind that it’s all about context—what you’re earning vs. what you’re spending.

Source: Glassdoor

How to Increase Your UI/UX Designer Salary

The next question on your mind might be…how can you boost that average salary? Going back to the factors that affect your salary—moving to a higher-paying city or waiting out a few more years of experience might not give you instant results, but there are a few things you can do to set yourself up for success.

Get Serious About Your Education

If you’re looking for a boost no matter where you are in your career, think about investing in formal certifications or courses. The job market is getting even more competitive. The more certifications you have, the more experience you’ll have and the more you’ll stand out. Why? While experience is important, certifications help prove your expertise and show potential employers that you also know your stuff. Take, for example, Google’s UX Design Certificate. It’s beginner-friendly but also offers solid foundational knowledge that could make you more marketable. Or you could consider getting certified in something like accessibility or mobile app design where specialists are in high demand. It can make all the difference when negotiating your salary or getting the job you want.

Stay on Top of Industry Standards

Stay on top of in-demand skills and tools. It isn’t just a “nice to have,” it’s a must. If you’re still hanging onto Adobe Illustrator for wireframes, it’s time to upgrade. Figma, Adobe XD, and Sketch—those are the current industry standards. And it’s not just about learning them, but mastering them. UI/UX is a technical field, which means it’s changing every day.

While you may not need to be an expert programmer to get started, you do need to make sure your front-end development skills are where they need to be so you can grow. I’m talking about HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. If you’re not familiar with jQuery or React—two popular JavaScript frameworks—you’ll miss out on some cash potential. Developers and designers who can speak both “languages,”—design and code—can handle more of the overall project, from the design to development process. You can build better prototypes, create more interactive designs, and generally, make everyone’s life easier, which is very valuable to companies.

Start your UI/UX Design Career

Ready to start designing your future—see what I did there?—you can start preparing for a career in UI/UX design right now. All you have to do is sign up for Skillcrush’s Break Into Tech program and enroll in the UI/UX design track. You’ll learn everything from user research to wireframing and get all the support you need with job search prep, 1-on-1 coaching, and interview practice. No more waiting around! When you’re ready, Skillcrush is here to help you take the next step toward landing your dream job in tech.