Content design is a growing field in the UX and UI space. Content designers are essentially designers of words—and they’re increasingly being hired into product design teams. That’s because words play a critical role in shaping the user experience!
Are you curious about what a content designer does and how much they can earn? Then you’ve come to the right place. Consider this your ultimate content designer salary guide, featuring all the most up-to-date salary data from around the world.
What is content design and what does a content designer do?
Content design is a powerful tool in UX/UI design. It involves designing the words (i.e. the copy) that a user encounters whenever they interact with a website, app, or other kind of digital product. Content design can be seen in everything from the menus that navigate a site to the body text to the button copy that users can click on.
Content designers, sometimes called UX writers, compose compelling yet concise copy for user interfaces that considers the brand’s voice and the needs of the user. In addition to that, they collaborate with other members of the design team to create user-centric products, simplify complex concepts for users, conduct user research, and make data-informed decisions.
You can learn more about the role in this guide: What Is a Content Designer and What Do They Do?
What is the average content designer salary in 2023?
Now we know what a content designer does, let’s consider their earning potential. In this section, we’ll run through the average content designer salary in multiple locations, based on data from Glassdoor.
Average Content Designer Salary in the UK in 2023
| Junior: 1-3 years | Mid: 3-5 years | Senior: 5-7 years | |
| UK | £30,000 | £43,531 | £64,000 |
| London | £35,000 | £49,101 | £96,000 |
| Manchester | £30,000 | £38,662 | £49,000 |
| Edinburgh | £23,000 | £32,512 | £47,000 |
The average pay of a content designer in the United Kingdom is approximately £43,531 but as you can see by the chart, it varies greatly depending on where you are.
London is considered by many to be the tech hub of the UK and even the whole of Europe. With companies like Amazon and Google there, there’s good reason for the higher wages. London has significantly higher content designer pay, with an average of £49,101, than cities like Manchester or Edinburgh. That can make a big difference, especially at the more senior end of the spectrum with senior content designer salaries in London reaching up to £96,000 per year, which is at least £47,000 over salaries in Manchester and Edinburgh.
Further north, Manchester is becoming more of a player in tech with companies like BBC, Ericsson, and Kellogg’s in their borders, leading to an average content designer salary of £38,662.
In Scotland, Edinburgh is firmly ensconced in the country’s tech scene and while many of the jobs in the country for content designers are for the government, there are content writer jobs at Accenture and Rockstar Games, too. The fact that many job opportunities are with the government, though, has kept salaries lower, with an average of £32,512.
Average Content Designer Salary in the USA in 2023
| Junior: 1-3 years | Mid: 3-5 years | Senior: 5-7 years | |
| USA | $47,000-$58,000 | $58,000-$93,000 | $93,000-$114,000 |
| New York | $53,000-$64,000 | $64,000-$97,000 | $97,000-$118,000 |
| San Francisco | $55,000-$67,000 | $67,000-$102,000 | $102,000-$124,000 |
| Austin | $53,000-$64,000 | $64,000-$100,000 | $100,000-$121,000 |
The average content designer salary in the USA in 2023 is $73,309 per year, but with tech hubs around the country that pay well, that salary can go higher depending on where you are.
New York has slightly higher pay for content designers with an average of $74,639, with companies like Dropbox, Cisco Systems, and IBM there. Meanwhile, San Francisco is the tech hub of the country with companies like Apple, Meta, and Google, and therefore has an even higher average content designer base salary of $77,916. However, that salary can go even higher at the senior level with an average of $113,000.
Austin, meanwhile, is an up and coming tech city, having just welcomed several new tech businesses, including SpaceX, while also hosting long-term residents like Dell and Oracle. On average, content designers in Austin make $75,813 and they’re closing in on San Francisco, with salaries for content designers being just two to three thousand dollars lower and their quality of life being better.
Average Content Designer Salary in Canada in 2023
| Junior: 1-3 years | Mid: 3-5 years | Senior: 5-7 years | |
| Canada | CA$52,000 | CA$78,148 | CA$118,000 |
| Toronto | CA$69,000 | CA$93,000 | CA$125,000 |
| Vancouver | CA$33,000 | CA$54,503 | CA$91,000 |
The average content designer salary in 2023 in Canada is CA$78,148. But as you can see from the two cities shown here, that can vary widely depending on where you are.
Toronto is considered by many to be the tech capital of the country. With tech brands like Netflix and Amazon in the city, their content designer salaries are higher than average, with an average of CA$93,000.
On the other hand, Vancouver’s content designer salaries are fairly low for the profession. While the city is one of the top tech hubs in North America, with companies like Salesforce and Microsoft opening offices there, the city may not yet have a good idea of what content designers do—a reality that will no doubt change as the content design field matures.
Average Content Designer Salary in Australia in 2023
| Junior: 1-3 years | Mid: 3-5 years | Senior: 5-7 years | |
| Australia | AUD$78,000 | AUD$101,500 | AUD$136,000 |
| Sydney | AUD$80,000 | AUD$102,500 | AUD$138,000 |
| Melbourne | AUD$71,000 | AUD$120,000 | AUD$137,000 |
In Australia, the average salary of a content designer in 2023 is AUD$101,500, but as you can see, those numbers are even higher, on average, in the country’s cities.
In Sydney, companies like Atlassian and Canva dominate the tech market, making the city a tech hub with plenty of opportunities for content designers. The salary for the profession is 1,000 to 2,000 Australian dollars higher than the average for the country, with an average of AUD$102,500.
Melbourne, on the other hand, which has giants like Apple and Oracle alongside start-ups like Envato, starts lower but has a substantial boost in content designer salaries at mid-level, at $120,000. Senior-level content designer salaries come back to being more or less in-line with country averages at AUD$137,000.
Average Content Designer Salary in Ireland in 2023
| Junior: 1-3 years | Mid: 3-5 years | Senior: 5-7 years | |
| Ireland | €30,000 | €60,300 | €84,000 |
Ireland’s average salary for content designers is €60,300. Ireland is the European headquarters for many big tech companies, including Google, Meta, and LinkedIn. As a result, the tech market is booming in Ireland and they’re slowly building their content design teams too, although content design is at least a decade behind UX in terms of acceptance and capabilities.
Still, this is leading to good salaries in content design, and those salaries are likely to increase as the profession becomes more established.
How to become a content designer
If you’re interested in becoming a content designer, you’ll need to learn the fundamentals of user experience (UX) design and content design. On the UX design side, you’ll need to learn what UX is and the UX principles for creating great websites and apps. On the content design side, you’ll need to learn the specific skills and tools of UX writing and content design.
One way to learn everything you need to know is by taking a content design course. The UX Design Institute offers a Professional Certificate in Content Design. This certificate is university credit-rated and takes a mere 10 weeks of flexible online time to complete. Through it, you’ll learn everything necessary to begin work as a content designer.
