Web Designer Salary Range

If you're looking for a solid career with a lot of growth potential you still can't beat web design. It has a solid starting salary level and high pay increase as experience and skills increase. PayScale.com lists starting web design salaries as $35,200 per year advancing up to $67,500 with a strong median salary of $47,874. Additionally, Salary.com shows senior web designer's salaries starting at $72,800 annually and increasing to an average salary of $84,610 and topping out at $97,224.

The trouble with accurate salary range prediction for web designers is the variance in what web design means to different people. The title 'web designer' spans descriptions from simple page layout to advanced graphic design and CSS to complicated server-side language knowledge that includes Perl, Cold Fusion, PHP/MySQL, or ASP. It also makes a difference where you live if you are seeking employment with a large corporation, a small company, or if you operate online as a freelance web designer. The income potential is definitely there in any of the degrees of description or location possibilities but pay in a large city for a corporation are likely to be a higher level than independent designers online, or those working for a small suburban company.

What makes those salary levels so attractive for freelance is that web design has a very low start up cost as businesses go. Working in the freelance world has drawbacks, however, and many web designers fresh out of school are looking to get into big companies who still can afford other benefits besides monetary compensation that makes the basic salary rates even more appealing. Working for a major corporation ensures health benefits, vacation pay, and possibly a retirement package that do not exist in the freelance world.

Both the freelance and the corporate world of web design usually encompass long hours but freelancers often work longer hours and are on call 24 hours a day for companies all over the world regardless of where they are located themselves. However, the freelance web designers also have the ability to make higher incomes for their experience levels by working longer and for more clients and setting their own fees while staying within reason.

Setting fees for a freelance web designer requires taking all of the elements into consideration where a corporate web designer will be working for a flat salary. AllExperts.com lists average hourly salaries for freelance web designers at between $30 and $100 per hour. The beauty of a web design career whether you choose corporate or freelance is that it is rarely ever dull, it is constantly changing and challenging, and provides plenty of excitement and the opportunity for pride in your work that is an added compensation to the pay.