Illustration salary: $166K median
The median advertised Illustration salary is $166K a year, and the middle half of postings offer $128K to $210K: counted from 81 open roles that publish a yearly US-dollar range: about $80 an hour or $13,875 a month. A tenth of the postings offer $246K or more. Advertised ranges, not verified pay.
Check an offer against these figuresAll Illustration jobs
$166Kmedian advertised salary
$128K – $210Kmiddle half of roles
$171Kaverage advertised salary
81roles counted
Illustration salary by level
Lead roles advertise a median of $182K, 32% more than senior roles ($138K). The level comes from the job title; titles without a level word are counted separately.
| Level | Median salary | Middle half | Roles |
|---|---|---|---|
| Senior | $138K | $110K–$166K | 15 |
| Lead and above | $182K | $159K–$250K | 24 |
| No level in the title | $175K | $124K–$225K | 41 |
Illustration salary by location
| Name | Median salary | Roles counted |
|---|---|---|
| 🇺🇸New York, NY | $225K | 25 |
| 🇺🇸San Francisco Bay Area | $175K | 21 |
| 🇺🇸United States | $164K | 78 |
| 🇺🇸California | $162K | 31 |
Skills that pay more for Illustration roles
| Skill | Median with it | Above the median | Postings |
|---|---|---|---|
| LLM | $238K | +$71K | 8 |
| HTML | $190K | +$24K | 11 |
| Design systems | $178K | +$12K | 18 |
| Visual design | $170K | +$4K | 24 |
| Typography | $168K | +$2K | 36 |
Top-paying companies
| Name | Median salary | Roles counted |
|---|---|---|
| Runway Ml | $255K | 3 |
| Mirage | $225K | 15 |
| Ramp | $191K | 5 |
| Real Chemistry | $95K | 3 |
| iCapital | $88K | 7 |
Highest-paying open Illustration roles
All Illustration jobs- Product Designer, Design SystemsAnthropic · 🇺🇸San Francisco, CA$305K - $385KFigmaLLM evaluationDesign systems
- Web Design ManagerAnthropic · 🇺🇸San Francisco, CA | New York City, NY$305K - $385KSEODesign systemsTypography
- Brand Design LeadMercor · 🇺🇸San Francisco$200K - $300KLead and aboveVisual designBrand designTypography
- Research Engineer, Generative VideoMirage · 🇺🇸Union Square, New York City$175K - $300KPyTorchCUDADeep learning
- Research Engineer, Agentic SystemsMirage · 🇺🇸Union Square, New York City$175K - $300KLLMAI agentsIllustration
- Solutions Consultant, EnterpriseRamp · 🇺🇸New York, NY (HQ)$195K - $298KHybridPythonJavaSQL
- Sr./Staff Product Designer, GrowthRunway Ml · Remote$220K - $290KRemoteLead and aboveHTMLA/B testingVisual design
- Sr./Staff Product DesignerRunway Ml · Remote$220K - $290KRemoteLead and aboveHTMLVisual designTypography
- Principal Brand DesignerSnorkel AI · 🇺🇸New York City, NY (Hybrid); San Francisco, CA (Hybrid)$225K - $280KHybridLead and aboveFigmaGenerative AILLM evaluation
- Creative DirectorConfido · 🇺🇸NYC Office$230K - $270KLead and aboveFigmaBrand designVideo editing
- Senior Visual DesignerOKX · 🇺🇸San Jose, California, United States$179K - $268KSeniorFigmaCSSDesign systems
- Staff Brand DesignerRender · 🇺🇸Remote: United States$218K - $268KRemoteLead and aboveLLMHTMLCSS
- Staff Brand Designer - ConsumerKraken · 🇺🇸United States$127K - $254KRemoteLead and aboveFigmaDesign systemsBrand design
- Web DesignerHex · 🇺🇸Remote - US$170K - $240KRemoteReactFigmaNext.js
- Brand DesignerParallel · 🇺🇸San Francisco or Palo Alto$160K - $240KBrand designTypographyIllustration
- Staff Brand DesignerBrex · 🇺🇸San Francisco, California, United States$187K - $234KLead and aboveFigmaBrand designTypography
- Staff Brand DesignerBrex · 🇺🇸New York, New York, United States$187K - $234KLead and aboveFigmaBrand designTypography
- Partner Consultant, AccountingRamp · 🇺🇸Remote (US)$151K - $231KRemoteIllustrationERPHRIS
- Senior Art Director - CampaignsPlaid · 🇺🇸San Francisco HQ$167K - $230KHybridLead and aboveFigmaAdobe Creative CloudMotion design
- Brand DesignerPlanetScale · 🇺🇸Remote - USA$170K - $220KRemotePostgreSQLFigmaMySQL
Questions about Illustration pay
- What is the average Illustration salary?
- $171K a year on average and $166K at the median, across 81 open Illustration postings at companies that state pay (November 2026). The median is the better guide: a few very high offers pull the average up.
- What is the typical range?
- The middle half of the postings offer $128K to $210K a year. A quarter offer less and a quarter offer more.
- Which companies advertise the highest Illustration pay?
- Runway Ml ($255K), Mirage ($225K), Ramp ($191K), by the median of their open postings that state pay (three postings or more).
- Is an illustration a high-paying job?
- The median Illustration posting advertises $166K a year, less than the median of all 55,899 job postings with pay on Jobs Every Hour ($174K). That is 4% below the middle of the market.
- How much can you earn as an illustration?
- A tenth of the postings offer $246K a year or more; the highest open Illustration role advertises up to $385K. Pay rises with level: see the table by level.
- What is the Illustration salary per hour and per month?
- The median of $166K a year is about $80 an hour (2,080 working hours) and $13,875 a month before tax. The middle half of postings: $62 to $101 an hour.
- Which skills pay more for Illustration roles?
- Postings that ask for LLM (+$71K, 8 postings), HTML (+$24K, 11 postings), Design systems (+$12K, 18 postings) advertise more than the $166K median of all Illustration postings with pay.
- Where do these figures come from?
- From the pay ranges employers print in their own job postings, read from their careers pages every hour. The midpoint of each range is counted. These are advertised ranges for open roles, mostly in the United States and in US dollars, not what people are actually paid.
Writing about this? A sentence you can quote
The median advertised salary for Illustration roles at companies is $166K a year, and the middle half of postings offer $128K to $210K. Counted from 81 open job postings that state pay, November 2026. Source: Jobs Every Hour, https://jobseveryhour.com/salaries/illustration/
Free to use with the link.