Graphic Design Resources
Bay Area Design Firm Graphic Designer Starting Salary
To help graphic design students with a research project, I contacted design firms in the California Bay Area to request their starting salaries and other information.
The following five firms were very helpful and were happy to provide the following information for educational purposes.
Jump to Bay Area Entry Level Graphic Designer Data Table for these firms
Blue River
Q: What is your average starting salary for entry level Graphic Designers? A: $35,000 - $40,000
Q: Do you offer your entry level designers yearly base salary increases? A: Yes. The amount varies.
Q: Do you have any advice for design students trying to get into the industry? A: "Starting designers need to have a body of work to be taken seriously. Unfortunately this may involve doing some work for rates that are undesirable. School projects help with this."
Free Range Studios
Q: What is your average starting salary for entry level Graphic Designers? A: $32,000 - $38,000
Q: Do you offer your entry level designers yearly base salary increases? A: Yes. Pay increases typically depend on performance, commitment and growth and are negotiated between the employee and management. We do routinely give across the board "cost-of-living" pay increases once a year that are typically around 3%.
Q: Do you have any advice for design students trying to get into the industry? A: "Starting designers need to have a body of work to be taken seriously. Unfortunately this may involve doing some work for rates that are undesirable. School projects help with this."
Q: How many employees are currently in your company? A: 23 full-time employees, 3 contract employees, and 3 interns.
Project6
Q: What is your average starting salary for entry level Graphic Designers? A: $40,000
Q: Do you offer your entry level designers yearly base salary increases? A: Yes. The amount varies from around 3 to 10%.
Q: How many employees are currently in your company? A: 6.
Stoller Design Group
Q: What is your average starting salary for entry level Graphic Designers? A: Not given
Q: Do you offer your entry level designers yearly base salary increases? A: No, but we give bonuses if we have a good year.
Q: How many employees are currently in your company? A: 5.
C3i3
Q: What is your average starting salary for entry level Graphic Designers? A: $24,000 - $48,000
Q: Do you offer your entry level designers yearly base salary increases? A: Yes and we also give bonuses.
Q: How many employees are currently in your company? A: 14.
Q: Do you have any advice for design students trying to get into the industry? A: "My advice for young graphic designers is to stick with what they do best. It's not always about art, it's about customer service."
Graphic Designer Starting Salary Data Table
| Blue River | Free Range Studios | Project6 | Stoller Design Group | C3i3 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starting Salary | $35,000 - $40,000 | $32,000 - $38,000 | $40000 | $24,000 - $48,000 | |
| Base Increase | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Bonuses | Yes | Yes | |||
| Employees | 10 | 29 | 6 | 5 | 14 |
All data was collected in January and February of 2009.
