OFFICE BLUES

SALARY DATA — SOC 15-1255

Web and Digital Interface Designers

15-0000 Computer and Mathematical Occupations

$104k
annual median wage
mean $117k
+104% vs. all-occ national median
3.75×
90/10 ratio
Wide band

The 90/10 ratio for Web and Digital Interface Designers is 3.75× — the top decile earns $201,550 against the bottom decile at $53,750. That spread is 3.75× wide. The band is wider than employers typically represent; knowing where you sit in it is the whole game.

BLS OEWS reference period: May 2025. Employment: 113,330.

Wage distribution — the receipts

National OEWS annual wage percentiles. "vs. median" column shows each percentile relative to the occupation's own national median — this is where your position in the band lives. Source and series IDs: methodology page.

Percentile Annual wage vs. median Hourly (est.)
10th pct — bottom decile $53,750 -48% ~$26
25th pct — lower quartile $73,290 -30% ~$35
Median — 50th pct $104,000 $50.00/hr
Mean — average $117,490 +13% $56.49/hr
75th pct — upper quartile $158,820 +53% ~$76
90th pct — top decile $201,550 +94% ~$97

Source: BLS OEWS national estimates. Annual wage ÷ 2,080 hrs = hourly estimate. Hourly-median is direct from OEWS when available; others are estimates only.

What it pays vs. what it buys

The wage is only half the number. Below, the metro median for Web and Digital Interface Designers is divided by that metro's BEA Regional Price Parity — the federal measure of what a dollar actually buys there. Nominal is what the job pays. Real is what it buys at local prices. Which reorders the answer: Los Angeles ranks #11 of 49 on the paycheck and #24 once you spend it.

Web and Digital Interface Designers: metro median wage, cost-of-living adjusted, ranked by real wage
Metro Nominal Prices Real Rank shift
San Francisco $163,810 106.2 $154,268
Austin $119,950 96.2 $124,744 +4
San Diego $123,850 99.6 $124,320
Atlanta $118,190 96.7 $122,208 +4
Portland $120,640 100.1 $120,506
Seattle $133,760 111.1 $120,360 -4
Boston $122,270 103.6 $117,976 -3
Sacramento $112,840 100.3 $112,538 +1
Salt Lake City $107,320 100.3 $106,971 +1
New York $119,190 112.6 $105,887 -3

Top 10 of 49 metros by real wage. Rank shift = places gained or lost against the nominal ranking. Houston gains 5 places. Sources: BLS OEWS May 2025 metropolitan estimates; BEA Regional Price Parities (national = 100). Metros where BLS suppresses the estimate are omitted rather than shown as zero. Full data at /salaries-metro.json.

Is this job growing or dying?

BLS projects employment in Web and Digital Interface Designers to move from 132,700 to 140,800 over 2025–2035 — +6% , with about 8,300 openings a year once retirements and career changes are counted . Typical entry requirement: bachelor's degree.

Source: BLS Employment Projections, Table 1.2 (2025–2035). Openings count growth and replacement need together, which is why a shrinking occupation can still hire. Full data at /employment-projections.json.

About this page

This page reports national wage data for Web and Digital Interface Designers (SOC 15-1255) from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey. OEWS is the federal government's primary source for occupational wage data — a nationally representative survey of employers conducted annually, covering approximately 1.1 million establishments. All figures reflect the most recent May reference period available via the BLS public API.

The headline number is the annual median wage — the wage at which half of all workers in this occupation earn more and half earn less. The median is the right benchmark for most workers because it is not inflated by the top earners the way the mean (average) is. The 90/10 ratio compares the top decile (p90) to the bottom decile (p10): a ratio of 3.0 means workers at the 90th percentile earn three times those at the 10th percentile.

Web and Digital Interface Designers is classified under 15-0000 Computer and Mathematical Occupations, placing it alongside other occupations in that sector of the labor market. BLS estimates total national employment in this occupation at approximately 113,330 workers. The wage spread shown in the percentile table is the bargaining-surface map your employer operates from. Most employers know exactly where each of their workers sits in the band; most workers don't. That information asymmetry is what this page is designed to close.

The 90/10 ratio is used as an implicit "bargaining power metric" here, but it measures structural spread — not your individual leverage. High ratio occupations have wide bands and more room to negotiate; narrow-ratio occupations are often governed more by title and tenure than by individual negotiation. Methodology at /methodology#oews-salaries.

OEWS data does not include equity, bonuses, benefits, or total compensation — only base wages. The true compensation gap is wider than what these numbers show. These are the floor numbers, not the ceiling. Federal law in many states also prohibits employers from asking about your current salary during hiring; knowing the market rate is the countermeasure.

Methodology · About Office Blues · Meeting Tax Calculator · Daily Pulse

Raw JSON: /salaries/web-and-digital-interface-designers-15-1255.json · License: CC BY 4.0 · Source: BLS OEWS · Cite as: Office Blues OEWS Salary Data, Web and Digital Interface Designers, officeblues.net/salaries/web-and-digital-interface-designers-15-1255

The Salary Negotiation Script at /products/salary-negotiation-script uses frameworks like these to build a case — this is the data layer.