The salary of an Art Director in the United States varies depending on several factors, including experience, location, education level, marketing trend and company sizes.
As of March 01, 2025, the average hourly pay of Art Director in the United States is $73. While Salary.com is seeing that Art Director salary in the US can go up to $99 or down to $54, but most earn between $63 and $86. Salary.com shows the average base salary (core compensation), as well as the average total cash compensation for the job of Art Director in the United States.
| Annual Salary |
Monthly Pay |
Weekly Pay |
Hourly Wage |
|
| 75th Percentile | $179,732 | $14,978 | $3,456 | $86 |
| Average | $151,323 | $12,610 | $2,910 | $73 |
| 25th Percentile | $130,528 | $10,877 | $2,510 | $63 |
As of March 01, 2025, Salary.com is seeing that an entry-level Art Director with under 1 year experience makes about $140,165. With less than 2 years of experience, a mid-level Art Director makes around $141,697. After 2-4 years, the Art Director pay rises to about $143,229. Those senior Art Director with 5-8 years of experience earn roughly $146,293, and those Art Director having 8 years or more experience is expected to earn about $149,357 on average.
| Levels | Salary |
|---|---|
| Entry Level Art Director | $140,165 |
| Intermediate Level Art Director | $141,697 |
| Senior Level Art Director | $143,229 |
| Specialist Level Art Director | $146,293 |
| Expert Level Art Director | $149,357 |
| Entry Level | 7% |
| Mid Level | 6% |
| Senior Level | 5% |
| Top Level | 3% |
| Experienced | 1% |
Salaries in the United States can vary significantly from state to state due to a multitude of factors, including cost of living, local economic conditions, and industry presence.
For example, as of March 01, 2025, the average yearly salary of Art Director is $166,910 in California and in Massachusetts, the average annual salary goes to $164,640. While in New Jersey, an Art Director earns $165,851 per year.
What Am I Worth?
Salaries in the United States can vary significantly from city to city due to a multitude of factors, including cost of living, local economic conditions, and industry presence.
For example, as of March 01, 2025, the average yearly salary of Art Director in San Francisco, CA is $189,154 and in New York, NY, the average annual salary goes to $176,746. While an Art Director earns $169,634 per year in Boston, MA.
For those exploring the changing dynamics of Art Director salaries, Salary.com offers detailed insights through our Job Trending in CA Labor Market analysis. As of March 01, 2025, our research highlights a notable shift in Art Director compensation over the past six years. For instance, the median salary has moved from $132,370 in 2023 to about $129,237 in 2024 (for a comprehensive analysis of Art Director salary trends, click here). It's crucial to consider several elements, including geographical location, experience level, industry demand, and economic development, as they play a significant role in influencing salary variations.
Salary.com job board provides millions of Art Director information for you to search for. Click on search button below to see Art Director job openings or enter a new job title here.
Here are companies hiring for Art Director and their salaries, click below for more details.
| Core Compensation | ||||
| Core Compensation | Median | % of Total | ||
| Base Salary | $151,323 | 65.9% | ||
| Bonus | $16,756 | 7.3% | ||
| Value of Benefits | ||||
| Core Compensation | Median | % of Total | ||
| Social Security | $12,858 | 5.6% | ||
| 401K/403B | $7,059 | 3.1% | ||
| Disability | $3,362 | 1.5% | ||
| Healthcare | $8,352 | 3.6% | ||
| Pension | $9,076 | 4.0% | ||
| Time Off | $20,687 | 9.0% | ||
| Total Compensation | $229,474 | 100% | ||
| Degree Level | % of user with this level of education |
|---|---|
| No Diploma | 0.6% |
| High School | 6.3% |
| Associates | 12.7% |
| Bachelors | 67.9% |
| Masters | 12.1% |
| Doctorate | 0.3% |
What Am I Worth?
Art Director directs and develops the creative design and execution of visual communications to meet an organization's marketing or advertising objectives. Provides internal clients with design standards, tools, and guidance on communicating corporate image, branding, and identity. Being an Art Director leads the design and production operations of all visual elements including publications, infographics, and social content, that are deployed across digital, interactive and print. Stays current on latest trends. Additionally, Art Director develops a network of vendors, freelance artists, and designers to utilize for project support. Typically requires a bachelor's degree in art, graphic design or equivalent. Typically reports to top management. The Art Director typically manages through subordinate managers and professionals in larger groups of moderate complexity. Provides input to strategic decisions that affect the functional area of responsibility. May give input into developing the budget. To be an Art Director typically requires 3+ years of managerial experience. Capable of resolving escalated issues arising from operations and requiring coordination with other departments.
Specify the abilities and skills that a person needs in order to carry out the specified job duties. Each competency has five to ten behavioral assertions that can be observed, each with a corresponding performance level (from one to five) that is required for a particular job.
Presentation: Presentation conveys information from a speaker to an audience. Presentations are typically demonstrations, introduction, lecture, or speech meant to inform, persuade, inspire, motivate, build goodwill, or present a new idea/product.
InDesign: nDesign is a desktop publishing software application for creating flyers, brochures, magazines, newspapers, and books. Projects created using InDesign can be shared in both digital and print formats.
Motion Graphics: Motion Graphics is essentially graphic design made video. This style combines sound, text, charts, symbols, and animation, to convey hard data and written information in a compelling and clear way.
