This post profiles America’s largest job markets for Graphic Designers (Standard Occupation Code: 27-1024). It is part of a series that profiles the major job markets for content creation-related careers. The goal of this particular series is to help students incorporate considerations of local job markets when crafting study and career plans. It can be of great benefit to study and live in areas in which there is a market for one’s chosen field.
The table below lists America’s 25 largest metro area job markets for Graphic Designers. It provides information on the total number of people in that occupation, the mean annual wage, the number of jobs per 1000, and the ‘location quotient’. The location quotient is the ratio of the percentage of jobs in that occupation locally to the percentage nationally. A score above one denotes that more jobs in that occupation are present in the local area compared to the national average, while a score below one indicates fewer jobs in the local area relative to the national average. Click here for more details on the data and methods employed to produce this information
| Rank | Metro Area | Total Jobs | Jobs per 1k | Location Quotient |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA | 17,910 | 2.06 | 1.42 |
| 2 | Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA | 13,260 | 2.32 | 1.60 |
| 3 | Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI | 8,250 | 1.95 | 1.35 |
| 4 | Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV | 5,020 | 1.71 | 1.18 |
| 5 | Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX | 4,880 | 1.36 | 0.94 |
| 6 | San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA | 4,670 | 2.08 | 1.44 |
| 7 | Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA | 4,370 | 2.28 | 1.57 |
| 8 | Boston-Cambridge-Nashua, MA-NH | 4,140 | 1.60 | 1.11 |
| 9 | Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL | 3,880 | 1.58 | 1.09 |
| 9 | Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA | 3,880 | 1.50 | 1.04 |
| 11 | Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI | 3,670 | 2.01 | 1.39 |
| 12 | Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD | 3,620 | 1.36 | 0.94 |
| 13 | Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX | 2,700 | 0.93 | 0.64 |
| 14 | Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI | 2,650 | 1.47 | 1.02 |
| 15 | Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO | 2,560 | 1.75 | 1.21 |
| 16 | Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ | 2,450 | 1.16 | 0.80 |
| 17 | San Diego-Carlsbad, CA | 2,230 | 1.60 | 1.11 |
| 18 | Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA | 2,160 | 1.92 | 1.33 |
| 19 | Austin-Round Rock, TX | 2,020 | 1.88 | 1.30 |
| 20 | Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN | 1,920 | 1.88 | 1.30 |
| 20 | Kansas City, MO-KS | 1,920 | 1.88 | 1.30 |
| 22 | St. Louis, MO-IL | 1,860 | 1.46 | 1.01 |
| 23 | Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL | 1,850 | 1.43 | 0.99 |
| 24 | Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC | 1,830 | 1.51 | 1.04 |
Some initial observations from the table:
- Unlike many professions reviewed in this series, graphic design jobs are relatively evenly spread, with only minor concentration in larger markets.
- There appear to be slightly more jobs, relative to the population, in major Northeastern and West Coast cities.
- For some reason, the Houston market appears to have a relatively weak graphic design job market.
