Average salary for graphic designer/artist in the Los Angeles area?
David
Can anyone in the Los Angeles area tell me what the average salary
is for both a graphic designer and a graphic artist?
When I look on websites like Monster.com and Hotjobs.com, I see
offerings of $12 to $15 per hour for an artist, and $15 to $20 per hour
for a designer, and most of those ask for experience with a multitude
of graphics programs. This seems pretty low to me, especially
considering some of my freelance friends charge anywhere from $50 to
$100 per hour. Are the jobs on these websites typically lower than
average, or does this sound about right? I'm going to start looking for
another job soon and I need to know how much to ask for. I have 6+
years of experience in mostly graphic arts, with some design work as
well (about 25% of the time). Education-wise, I have a BFA in Graphic
Design.
Thanks for any info, and if you have any tips on the best way to
go about finding a job in the graphics field please mention that also.
Thanks again :-)
The Devil's Advocate©
I'm in Los Angeles. It's hard to say. I think the key factor is the
strenght of your portfolio. You can have experience, but if you're
portfolio is weak, you won't make much. Whereas someone fresh out of
school with a mind-blowing portfolio will make more than you. I think
around $20-25 is average for graphic design, more like $50 for basic
webdesign, then $65 on up for flash/actionscript or any sort of
javascript, asp/jsp/php programming. But all these things can vary
widely depending on the size of the company, the industry, the
clientele, etc. We're only talking averages. Designers that work in
Hollywood probably make a shitload, whereas the guy that designs junk
mail ads probably is not. If you search on google, you can find
salary surveys of all facets of graphic designers that is broken down
by city. In Los Angeles, I think your average designer makes $40-45k.
People with advanced web skills may make $60-70k.
Edward Wedig
> When I look on websites like Monster.com and Hotjobs.com, I see
> offerings of $12 to $15 per hour for an artist, and $15 to $20 per hour
> for a designer, and most of those ask for experience with a multitude
> of graphics programs. This seems pretty low to me, especially
> considering some of my freelance friends charge anywhere from $50 to
> $100 per hour.
Remember that freelancers have to pay for things like: health insurance,
sick pay, and overhead (electricity, equipment, etc), while an employer
usually covers those things for it's employees. So, the freelancer
passes those charges onto their customers, and charges a higher fee.
$15 to $20 is a pretty good salary if you're just starting out, but I
have no idea what expenses are like in the LA area (I'm in Ohio, and I
could live pretty well at $20/hour (I'm making about $16/hour now, but
the benefits are killer)).
-Ed
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Edward Wedig
Graphic Designer - Gamemaster - Nice Guy
www.docbrown.net
g-r-a-p-h-i-cd...@docbrown.net (remove dashes to contact me)
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