UX salary overview 2021 — US edition

A couple of weeks ago I’ve published an article about UX salaries in Europe, and it was only a matter of time to finish my research to do the same, focusing on the US landscape this time.

After the first article I got bombarded with excitement and both disappointment, and I completely understand often the job market and the pandemic is not in everyone’s favor. I also made some mistakes which were all (mostly! 🤞) fixed to present the data, so dear reader you get a more refined piece thanks to all 10K+ eyes on the previous one.

Bear in mind this guide will not able to cover the ever-growing number of UX job titles, but I’ve picked the ones which are more generic everywhere or I could find a related data from the East to the West. How the data was collected? Let’s get into it!

Methodology

Yes the elephant in the room is the used methodology for collecting and analysis of data to be trustful and representative.

I have to say I wasn’t in an easy spot to gather all these salary values in certain US states, but thankfully LinkedIn salary insights, Glassdoor, Salary explorer and Quora were all by my side, not to mention the dozen of helpful friends in the US with great connections.

In the tables below the collected salary amounts are representing an average range of gross income being hired in-house (not freelancing) in a certain city not counting with any additional benefits like bonus schemes or stock options, which might take quite a sum and not so unusual practice (especially for startups or older brands on higher level).

Next to the name of the city — within the parenthesis — you can find the number salaries the overall range was created from.

The salaries (are you ready?)

I have to highlight this is not a scientific research, it’s just a helpful guide for 2021 to show a little broader perspective for the upcoming salary negotiations of the future. With this note let’s jump into the list and the different UX positions around the US.