Designers

Detailed Occupation

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2017 Workforce

740k

Average Age

40.4

Average Salary

$54,470

Average Male Salary

$64,760

Average Female Salary

$45,150

About

Designers are most often employed by the Specialized design services industry. The average yearly wage for Designers was $54,470 in 2016. The top 3 most similar occupations to Designers by wage are Railtrack laying & maintenance equipment operators, Morticians, undertakers, & funeral directors, and Chemical processing machine setters, operators, & tenders.

Designers are part of the Arts, design, entertainment, sports, & media occupations, along with Artists & related workers, Commercial and industrial designers, Fashion designers, Floral designers, Graphic designers, and 25 more.

The top 3 locations that employ the most Designers are Greenpoint & Williamsburg PUMA, NY, Upper East Side PUMA, NY, and Battery Park City, Greenwich Village & Soho PUMA, NY. The top 3 locations with a relatively high concentration of Designers are Greenpoint & Williamsburg PUMA, NY, Park Slope, Carroll Gardens & Red Hook PUMA, NY, and Bushwick PUMA, NY.

Photo by DuPont Surfaces

Management, business, science, & arts occupations Education, legal, community service, arts, & media occupations Arts, design, entertainment, sports, & media occupations

Information on the businesses and industries that employ Designers and on wages and locations for those in the field. Specialized design services is the industry that employs the most Designers, both by share and by number, though the highest paid industry for Designers, by average wage, is Oil & gas extraction. Designers are paid most in Brownsville City (North) PUMA, TX but are relatively concentrated in Greenpoint & Williamsburg PUMA, NY.

Wages

Yearly Wage

$54,470

AVERAGE SALARY

± $1,407

In 2017, Designers earned an average of $54,470, $1,484 less than than the average national salary of $55,954.

Chemical processing machine setters, operators, & tenders make somewhat more than Designers while Railtrack laying & maintenance equipment operators make somewhat less. This chart shows the various occupations closest to Designers as measured by average annual salary in the US.

Wage Distribution

0.408

WAGE GINI

In 2015, Designers had a wage GINI coefficient of 0.408, which is lower than than the national average of 0.478. In other words, wages are distributed more evenly for Designers (shown in red) than for the overall labor force (shown in gray).

Wage by Location

HIGHEST PAYING PUMAS

This map shows the Public Use Microdata Areas (PUMAs) in the United States shaded by average annual wage for Designers.

Spatial Concentration

PUMAs with a Relatively High Concentration of Designers

This map displays which Public Use Microdata Areas (PUMAs) in the United States have a relatively high population of Designers.

Industries

Most Common

The most common industries employing Designers, by number of employees, are Specialized design services, Architectural, engineering & related services, Retail florists, Advertising, public relations & related services, Printing & related support activities, Construction, Clothing stores, Colleges, universities & professional schools, including junior colleges, Furniture & home furnishings stores, Grocery Stores, and Management, scientific & technical consulting services.

Highest Paying

The highest paying industries for Designers, by average wage, are Oil & gas extraction, Internet publishing, broadcasting & web search portals, and Sugar & confectionery products.

Industries by Share

740k

2017 Workforce

± 21,062

3.56%

1 YEAR GROWTH

± 3.92%

The number of people employed as Designers has been growing at a rate of 3.56%, from 714,353 people in 2016 to 739,803 people in 2017.

This graphic shows the share of Designers employed by various industries. Specialized design services employs the largest share of Designers at 19.6%, followed by Architectural, engineering & related services with 7.99% and Retail florists with 4.95%.

Diversity

Demographic information on Designers in the US. The average age of male Designers in the workforce is 41.1 and of female Designers is 39.8, and the most common race/ethnicity for Designers is White (Non-Hispanic).

Composition by Sex

352k

MALE WORKFORCE

± 14,540

388k

FEMALE WORKFORCE

± 15,276

52.5% of Designers are Female, making them the more common sex in the occupation. This chart shows the sex breakdown of Designers.

Race & Ethnicity

Most Common Race or Ethnicity of Designers

White (Non-Hispanic)
Asian (Non-Hispanic)
White (Hispanic)

73.2% of Designers are White (Non-Hispanic), making that the most common race or ethnicity in the occupation. Representing 8.61% of Designers, Asian (Non-Hispanic) is the second most common race or ethnicity in this occupation. This chart shows the racial and ethnic breakdown of Designers.

Age by Sex

41.1

AVERAGE MALE AGE

± 0.533

39.8

AVERAGE FEMALE AGE

± 0.531

The median age of Designers is 40.4, and Male employees are generally 1.33 years older than than their Female counterparts.

Education

Data on higher education choices for Designers from The Department of Education and Census Bureau. The most common major for Designers is Visual & Performing Arts but a relatively high number of Designers hold a major in Visual & Performing Arts.

Majors

ACS PUMS data only shows the major for bachelor's degrees. However, we can filter the data based on highest degree obtained.

MOST COMMON MAJORS

MOST SPECIALIZED MAJORS

Skills

Data on the critical and distinctive skills necessary for Designers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Designers need many skills, but most especially Active Listening. The revealed comparative advantage (RCA) shows that Designers need more than the average amount of Technology Design, Equipment Selection, and Operations Analysis.