Lighting Designer Salary in the United States

Lighting Designer Salary

How much does a Lighting Designer make?

As of March 01, 2025, the average annual salary for a Lighting Designer in the United States is $49,646. According to Salary.com, salaries can range from a low of $38,541 to a high of $63,300, with most professionals earning between $43,833 and $56,793.

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Based on HR-reported data: a national average with a geographic differential
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Lighting Designer Salaries by Percentile
Percentile Salary Location Last Updated
10th Percentile Lighting Designer Salary $38,541 US March 01, 2025
25th Percentile Lighting Designer Salary $43,833 US March 01, 2025
50th Percentile Lighting Designer Salary $49,646 US March 01, 2025
75th Percentile Lighting Designer Salary $56,793 US March 01, 2025
90th Percentile Lighting Designer Salary $63,300 US March 01, 2025
25% $43,833 10% $38,541 90% $63,300 75% $56,793 $49,646 50%(Median) Didn’t find job title? Click
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What is a Lighting Designer ?

A theatre lighting designer (or LD) works with the director, choreographer, set designer, costume designer, and sound designer to create the lighting, atmosphere, and time of day for the production in response to the text, while keeping in mind issues of visibility, safety, and cost. The LD also works closely with the stage manager or show control programming, if show control systems are used in that production. Outside stage lighting, the job of a Lighting Designer can be much more diverse and they can be found working on rock and pop tours, corporate launches, art installation and on massi...

Source: Wikipedia (as of 04/17/2019). Read more from Wikipedia

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Career Path for this job

  1. This Job:

    Lighting Designer

    1 - 3 years experience
    Associate's Degree

  2. Up a level:

    Creative Production Manager

    5 + years experience
    Bachelor's Degree

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Understand the total compensation opportunity for a Lighting Designer, base salary plus other pay elements

Average Base Salary

Core compensation

 
 
 
43833
56793
49646

Average Total Cash Compensation

Includes base and annual incentives

 
 
 
44126
57696
50136
These charts show the average base salary (core compensation), as well as the average total cash compensation for the job of Lighting Designer in the United States. The base salary for Lighting Designer ranges from $43,833 to $56,793 with the average base salary of $49,646. The total cash compensation, which includes base, and annual incentives, can vary anywhere from $44,126 to $57,696 with the average total cash compensation of $50,136.

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43833
56793

 

Skills associated with Lighting Designer: Design

Recently searched related titles: Assistant Production Planner, Producers Assistant, Senior Associate Producer

Learn more about: Compensation Packages, Employee Flight Risk, Gender Pay Gap, Job Openings for This Role

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