Occupation salary profile

Art Directors

SOC 27-1011 BLS OEWS May 2025 H-1B LCAs, last 12 months

Formulate design concepts and presentation approaches for visual productions and media, such as print, broadcasting, video, and film. Direct workers engaged in artwork or layout design. Excludes “Set and Exhibit Designers” (27-1027).

National median · BLS
$114,850
▲ +3.43% YoY
H-1B sponsor median
$160,000
▲ +5.46% YoY · 187 LCAs
Average salary · BLS
$129,440
Mean annual wage
U.S. employment
53,070
Jobs (BLS)
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Enter your pay and a location to see where you stand against BLS and H-1B pay, your estimated take-home pay, and your purchasing power.

Pay range for Art Directors

Annual base pay at each percentile. BLS covers all U.S. workers in this occupation; H-1B covers 187 certified Labor Condition Applications filed by sponsoring employers in the last 12 months.

Percentile All U.S. workers (BLS) H-1B sponsored
10th — entry pay$64,900$88,567
25th$82,480$100,000
Median (50th)$114,850$160,000
75th$162,640$199,243
90th — top pay$213,050$246,680
H-1B sponsors pay a median of $160,000 for Art Directors — 39.3% above the BLS national median of $114,850.

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Based on hrs/week × weeks/year = 2,080 hrs
Projections 2025–2035

Job outlook for Art Directors

BLS projects employment of art directors to grow 4.2% from 2025 to 2035, faster than the 3.5% average for all occupations. About 12,200 openings are projected each year, on average, from new jobs and from replacing workers who retire or move to other occupations.

Jobs 2025 → 2035
140,200 → 146,000
+5,900 jobs
Projected change
+4.2%
All occupations: +3.5%
Openings per year
12,200
Average, 2025–2035
Typical entry education
Bachelor's degree
Plus 5 years or more experience
Self-employed
62.1% of workers (2025)
Preparation needed (O*NET Job Zone 4)
Considerable Preparation Needed. Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.
Fastest-growing jobs → Best-paying jobs that need a bachelor's degree →

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections 2025–2035 · BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook →

H-1B sponsored pay

Pay by H-1B wage level

Employers assign every H-1B filing a Department of Labor prevailing-wage level, from Level I (entry) to Level IV (fully competent). Pay rises steeply with level.

H-1B median $160,000
Change vs prior year +5.46%
After inflation (CPI-U) +2.26%
Wage level LCAs Share P25 Median P75
Level I 46 24.6% $85,392 $90,000 $100,000
Level II 37 19.8% $118,352 $130,000 $160,000
Level III 33 17.6% $157,000 $175,000 $190,000
Level IV 62 33.2% $191,756 $202,500 $255,250
H-1B job titles

Salaries by job title in Art Directors

The 3 most-filed job titles inside SOC 27-1011, from 187 H-1B filings. Seniority words and level numbers are grouped (“Senior Data Engineer II” counts as Data Engineer). Tap a title for its full range, wage levels and the exact titles employers used.

Job title LCAs Share P25 Median P75 YoY
Art Director 35 18.72% $89,949 $113,300 $132,500 +3%
Creative Director 29 15.51% $100,000 $135,000 $200,000 -14.29%
Associate Creative Director 11 5.88% $143,750 $165,734 $190,000 +3.58%

Titles are cleaned from the employer's own LCA text (codes and typos removed, nothing invented). Rows need 10+ filings in this SOC.

Skills & tools

Skills needed for Art Directors

How important each skill and knowledge area is for this job, rated by O*NET on a 1–5 scale from surveys of workers and occupational analysts.

Top skills
  • Active Listening4.0
  • Speaking4.0
  • Critical Thinking3.8
  • Judgment and Decision Making3.8
  • Reading Comprehension3.8
  • Complex Problem Solving3.6
  • Coordination3.6
  • Time Management3.6
  • Operations Analysis3.4
  • Persuasion3.4
Top knowledge areas
  • Design4.3
  • English Language4.3
  • Computers and Electronics4.2
  • Fine Arts4.2
  • Communications and Media4.1
  • Sales and Marketing3.7
  • Customer and Personal Service3.3
  • Production and Processing3.0
Software and technology used
Adobe After EffectsAdobe Creative Cloud softwareAdobe IllustratorAdobe InDesignAdobe PhotoshopFigmaMicrosoft Office softwareMicrosoft PowerPointAdobe AcrobatAJAXApple macOSAtlassian ConfluenceAtlassian JIRACascading style sheets CSSFacebookHypertext markup language HTMLJavaScriptjQuery

Highlighted = in demand: frequently listed in employer job postings for this occupation (O*NET).

Source: O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA.

About the job

What art directors do

  • Work with creative directors to develop design solutions.
  • Present final layouts to clients for approval.
  • Manage own accounts and projects, working within budget and scheduling requirements.
  • Confer with creative, art, copywriting, or production department heads to discuss client requirements and presentation concepts and to coordinate creative activities.
  • Confer with clients to determine objectives, budget, background information, and presentation approaches, styles, and techniques.
  • Formulate basic layout design or presentation approach and specify material details, such as style and size of type, photographs, graphics, animation, video, and sound.
  • Review and approve art materials, copy materials, and proofs of printed copy developed by staff members.
  • Create custom illustrations or other graphic elements.
Also called
Art DirectorCreative Director (CD Director)Creative Services DirectorDesign DirectorArt SupervisorCreative ManagerCreative Services ManagerGraphic Design and Art Production ManagerGroup Art SupervisorPresentation Director
More job titles for this occupation (13)
Art Administrator (Art Admin)Art CoordinatorArt ManagerArtistic DirectorBrand Creative DirectorCreative Art DirectorCreative Design DirectorCreative Operations Director (Creative Ops Director)Design ManagerDigital Art DirectorGroup Creative DirectorMagazine DesignerProduct Design Director

Source: O*NET 31.0 (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0). These are general job titles, not H-1B filings; for titles employers actually filed, see “Job titles” above.