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Art Director Salary in Appleton, WI

How much does an Art Director make in Appleton, WI?

As of November 01, 2026, the average salary for an Art Director in Appleton, WI is $146,824 per year, which breaks down to an hourly rate of $71.

However, an Art Director's salary can vary significantly. Here’s a look at the typical salary range:

  • Top Earners (90th percentile): $176,022
  • Majority Range (25th-75th percentile): $131,682 to $162,108
  • Entry-Level (10th percentile): $117,895
Salary Factors Salary-Boosting Skills Salary by Experience Related Job Salaries Top Paying Cities Explore Related Jobs

Key Factors That Influence Art Director Salaries

An Art Director's salary isn't a fixed number. It's shaped by several important factors. Below, we'll explore how your years of experience, geographic location, skills and company size can directly affect your earning potential.

How Experience Level Affects Art Director Salaries?

Experience is a primary driver of an Art Director's salary. As you build your skills and take on more complex tasks, your compensation generally increases. Here's how the average salary grows at different career stages:

  • Art Designer I (0-2 years): $54,629
  • Art Designer II (2-4 years): $67,308
  • Art Manager (4-5 years): $107,532
  • Art Director (5+ years): $146,824
Job Role Years of Experience Average Salary
Art Designer I0-2 years$54,629
Art Designer II2-4 years$67,308
Art Manager4-5 years$107,532
Art Director5+ years$146,824
View as Graph

Top Paying Cities for Art Directors

Salaries can also vary between different cities. Major metropolitan areas or cities with a high demand for technicians often offer more competitive pay. Here are a few examples of average annual salaries in different U.S. cities:

  • San Jose: $191,410
  • San Francisco: $189,314
  • Oakland: $185,324

What Skills Can Increase an Art Director's Salary?

Demanded Skills for the Role:

  • Presentation (Mentioned in 6.52% Job Postings): 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.
  • Typography (Mentioned in 3.9% Job Postings): Typography is the art and technique of arranging type to make written language legible, readable, and appealing when displayed. The arrangement of type involves selecting typefaces, point sizes, line lengths, line-spacing (leading), and letter-spacing (tracking), and adjusting the space between pairs of letters (kerning). The term typography is also applied to the style, arrangement, and appearance of the letters, numbers, and symbols created by the process. Type design is a closely related craft, sometimes considered part of typography; most typographers do not design typefaces, and some type designers do not consider themselves typographers. Typography also may be used as a decorative device, unrelated to communication of information. Typography is the work of typesetters (also known as compositors), typographers, graphic designers, art directors, manga artists, comic book artists, graffiti artists, and, now, anyone who arranges words, letters, numbers, and symbols for publication, display, or distribution, from clerical workers and newsletter writers to anyone self-publishing materials. Until the Digital Age, typography was a specialized occupation. Digitization opened up typography to new generations of previously unrelated designers and lay users. As the capability to create typography has become ubiquitous, the application of principles and best practices developed over generations of skilled workers and professionals has diminished. So at a time when scientific techniques can support the proven traditions (e.g., greater legibility with the use of serifs, upper and lower case, contrast, etc.) through understanding the limitations of human vision, typography as often encountered may fail to achieve its principal objective: effective communication.
  • Storyboard (Mentioned in 2.1% Job Postings): Storyboard is a panel or series of panels on which a set of sketches is arranged depicting consecutively the important changes of scene and action in a series of shots (as for a film, television show, or commercial)
Skills Demand Percentage
Presentation 6.52%
Typography 3.9%
Storyboard 2.1%
See More Skills

What skills can make your compensation higher?

Mastering certain specialized skills can lead to a significant increase in pay. Here are examples of skills and the potential impact they can have on an Art Director's salary.

  • Storytelling: Can increase your salary by up to 3%.
  • Innovation: Can increase your salary by up to 3%.
  • Data Visualization: Can increase your salary by up to 3%.
Skill Salary Salary % Increase
Storytelling $151,229
3%
Innovation $151,229
3%
Data Visualization $151,229
3%
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Art Director Salary by Company Size: Startups vs. Enterprise

Art Director salary potential scales significantly with company size. Data shows that Enterprise companies (5,000+ employees) pay the highest average salary at around $163,865. While startup companies pay approximate $138,786.

Art Director Salary by Company Size

Company Size Employees Average Salary
Startup 1~50 $138,786
Growth Stage 51~500 $146,736
Established 501~5000 $158,226
Enterprise 5000+ $163,865

Art Director Salary by Industry: Top Paying Sectors

For Art Director roles, the industry you choose can affect earning potential by as much as 100% (the gap between the highest and lowest paying industries). Data shows that the Software & Networking and Aerospace & Defense sectors offer the strongest compensation, at 50% above the average. In contrast, Art Director positions in Edu., Gov't. & Nonprofit or Transportation typically offer lower base pay, as these industries often view Art Director as a support function rather than a direct revenue driver.

The top paying industry for an Art Director

Industry Sector Average Annual Salary Average Hourly Rate Pay vs.Avg
Software & Networking$227,634$109.050%

Art Director Salary: Hourly Rate, Weekly Pay, and Monthly Pay

Understanding how an Art Director's annual salary breaks down can help with budgeting. Below, you can see the average hourly rate, weekly pay, and monthly pay for this role. Use the buttons to switch between different pay periods.

Last Updated on November 01, 2026
$131,682
Average $146,824/year
$162,108
$10,973
Average $12,235/month
$13,509
$2,532
Average $2,824/week
$3,117
$63
Average $71/hour
$78
Annual Salary Monthly Pay Weekly Pay Hourly Wage
75th Percentile $162,108 $13,509 $3,117 $78
Average $146,824 $12,235 $2,824 $71
25th Percentile $131,682 $10,973 $2,532 $63

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Where Does Our Salary Data Come From?

Salary.com salary estimates, histograms, trends, and comparisons are derived from both employer job postings and third-party data sources. We also provide multiple percentiles of salary information for your reference, click here to know Why the Salary Midpoint Formula Is Crucial to Getting Pay Equity Right. With more online, real-time compensation data than any other website, Salary.com helps you determine your exact pay target.

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