UX Designer
| Median wage (USD) | 104000 |
|---|---|
| Projected employment growth (%) | 6 |
| AI exposure (%) | 68 |
| Maximum exposure (%) | 100 |
| Source | eloundou |
| What AI changes in this occupation | Writing supporting code for Web applications or Web sites (78 out of 100), creating Web models or prototypes that include physical, interface, logical, or data models (72), performing or directing Web site updates (70), directing and executing pre-production activities such as moodboards, storyboards and the project timeline (66), developing and documenting style guidelines for Web site content (64) and developing, validating and documenting test routines and schedules that ensure test cases mimic external interfaces and cover all browser and device types (61) are the O*NET profile's six most delegable tasks. Work activities confirm it: working with computers (100 out of 100), getting information (95), identifying objects, actions and events (88), making decisions and solving problems (88), thinking creatively (83), processing information (82) and analyzing data or information (78). The profile's heaviest knowledge areas are also its most structured — computers and electronics (74) and the English language (71) — exactly the material a generative model handles best. BLS describes the gesture itself: digital designers "develop, create, and test website or interface layout, functions, and navigation for usability"; and the O*NET profile carries, among its tasks, an emerging task with no score: "optimize webpages for search engine rankings". Mockups, screen variants, page templates, style rules, test protocols, interface documentation and supporting code all move to the tool. BLS puts the median wage for web and digital interface designers at $104,000 in May 2025 — $50.00 an hour —, under $53,750 for the lowest 10% and over $201,550 for the highest 10%, against $99,520 for the combined "web developers and digital designers" group and $50,980 for all workers. The best-paying industries are finance and insurance ($133,260), information ($130,140), computer systems design and related services ($109,990) and wholesale trade ($87,640); information alone employs 27% of the 132,700 jobholders, ahead of self-employed workers (13%), computer systems design (13%), finance and insurance (6%) and wholesale trade (5%). The projection is +6% between 2025 and 2035 — 132,700 jobs in 2025, 140,800 in 2035, +8,000 —, against +5% for the combined group and +3% for all occupations; about 13,600 openings a year for the group, mostly replacing workers who leave. BLS ties demand to the expansion of e-commerce, then tempers it explicitly: "improving web development tools and increasing use of artificial intelligence (AI) for web development may soften the employment growth of these workers", because these tools make them more productive and allow workers in other occupations to do basic web development tasks. Entry is not gated by a single degree: BLS ranges from a high school diploma to a bachelor's degree, with many employers preferring a bachelor's in web design, digital design or graphic arts, and a portfolio or prior projects able to stand in for the degree. O*NET places the profile in Job Zone Four — considerable preparation: 52% of respondents report that a bachelor's degree is required, 30% a post-baccalaureate certificate and 16% an associate's or other two-year degree —, with an SVP range of 7.0 to less than 8.0. Advancement leads to project manager, then to computer and information systems manager. Identifying problems uncovered by testing or customer feedback, then correcting them or referring them to appropriate personnel (83 out of 100), performing Web site tests according to planned schedules or after any Web site or product revision (77), collaborating with web development professionals — front-end and back-end developers — to complete the full scope of the project (76), developing new visual design concepts and modifying them based on stakeholder feedback (75), conducting user research to determine design requirements and analysing feedback to improve design quality (70) and conferring with management or development teams to prioritize needs, resolve conflicts, set content criteria or choose solutions (62) are the tasks the Eloundou study leaves untouched, up to 100% of the occupation at most. The working pattern confirms it: 93% of O*NET respondents use e-mail daily, 81% rate working with or contributing to a team as extremely important, 69% spend their time sitting continually or almost continually, 67% rate being very exact or highly accurate as extremely important, 53% face time pressure every day, 52% rate coordinating or leading others as very important, 46% consider that their decisions have important results for the company, 68% work 40 hours a week and only 14% consider that a mistake not easily corrected would have very serious consequences; 39% rate the job not at all automated, 22% slightly and 11% moderately. The top-rated skills are reading comprehension (69), critical thinking and judgment and decision making (63 each), active learning, active listening and complex problem solving (60 each), then programming (56). The abilities that carry the occupation are written comprehension (69), near vision and problem sensitivity (66 each), then deductive reasoning and oral comprehension (63 each). The most distinctive work styles are attention to detail (86), innovation (84, the profile's top rank), adaptability (77) and intellectual curiosity (69); the dominant interests are investigative (65) and artistic (58). |
| Key skills | User experience design: user research (interviews, observation, usability tests, A/B tests, journey and friction-point analysis), information architecture and site maps, task and flow modelling, wireframes and increasingly high-fidelity prototypes, interaction design, design systems and component libraries, accessibility and inclusive design (WCAG, keyboard navigation, screen readers, contrast), UX writing and microcopy, usability measurement (task success rate, time on task, SUS, NPS) · tools: Figma, Sketch, Adobe XD, Axure, Miro, Maze, Optimal Workshop, UserTesting, Hotjar, Amplitude and Google Analytics, Notion and Jira for traceability, HTML, CSS and JavaScript to ship and discuss implementation, Git to version mockups · data and methods: reading descriptive statistics and tests, impact/effort prioritisation, roadmaps, specifications and test documentation, functional acceptance and defect follow-up · organisation: facilitating workshops with stakeholders, presenting and defending a design decision, negotiating trade-offs between business, engineering and deadlines, working with front-end and back-end developers, mentoring · generative AI: generating screen variants and interface copy, summarising user feedback and interview transcripts, first drafts of specifications and test cases, accessibility and consistency audits, scripts for journey-data analysis, critical review of outputs |
| Courses to get ahead | Foundations of User Experience (UX) Design · Coursera (Google) · ≈ 12 hours of workload · 92 · Creating Web models or prototypes (72 out of 100) and directing pre-production activities, moodboards and storyboards (66 out of 100) are two of the profile's six most delegable tasks: what AI accelerates is the production of variants and templates, not the decision about what to test. This course installs the vocabulary and the process that make that decision possible — user research, problem framing, wireframes and prototypes — and it is exactly the base BLS describes when it says digital designers "develop, create, and test website or interface layout, functions, and navigation for usability". O*NET ranks innovation first among the profile's work styles (84 out of 100) and intellectual curiosity third (69). Conduct UX Research and Test Early Concepts · Coursera (Google) · ≈ 15 hours of workload · 88 · Developing, validating and documenting test routines and schedules (61 out of 100) is the exposed task this course covers most directly: preparing a test protocol, writing scenarios and recording results is documentary work that a generative model clearly shortens. But the profile leaves two human gestures right beside it: conducting the user research itself (70 out of 100) and identifying problems uncovered by testing or customer feedback, then correcting them or referring them on (83 out of 100), the occupation's heaviest task. The course works precisely the chain between the two — plan, recruit, facilitate, synthesise — that is, the place where AI output has to be checked against real observation. Principles of UX/UI Design · Coursera (Meta) · ≈ 22 hours of workload · 86 · Developing and documenting style guidelines for Web site content (64 out of 100) and directing pre-production activities (66 out of 100) are tasks that are delegable in their production — a model writes a first draft of the rules, templates and variants — but whose consistency is judged over time, screen after screen, device after device. This course works on design systems, grids, typography and interface design, that is, what makes AI output usable rather than disposable. O*NET rates attention to detail at 86 out of 100 among the profile's work styles, the highest on the list, and 67% of respondents rate being very exact or highly accurate as extremely important. UX Design Fundamentals · Coursera (California Institute of the Arts) · ≈ 16 hours of workload · 84 An Introduction to Accessibility and Inclusive Design · Coursera (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign) · ≈ 15 hours of workload · 80 Introduction to User Experience Design · Coursera (Georgia Institute of Technology) · ≈ 6 hours of workload · 78 |
| Occupations to pivot toward | Graphic Designer · 62960 · -2 · 41 Computer Systems Analyst · 105850 · 8 · 47 Software Developer · 134040 · 10 · 45 |
| Skills to acquire for the pivot | Eloundou measures the UX designer's exposure at 68% (human β) and up to 100% (human ζ): writing supporting code for Web applications or Web sites (78 out of 100), creating Web models or prototypes (72), performing or directing Web site updates (70), directing pre-production activities (66), developing and documenting style guidelines (64) and developing, validating and documenting test routines (61) are the O*NET profile's most directly delegable tasks, while identifying problems uncovered by testing or customer feedback and correcting or referring them (83), performing Web site tests (77), collaborating with front-end and back-end developers (76), developing new visual design concepts and modifying them on stakeholder feedback (75), conducting user research (70) and conferring with management or development teams to prioritize needs and resolve conflicts (62) remain human. Within the repository, 68 puts the UX designer 6th of the one hundred and seven occupations: five occupations have a higher exposure — the translator (84), the writer and author (81), the statistician (71), the customer service representative (70) and the mathematician (69) —, three are tied with it (the web designer, the programmer and the tax examiner, 68) and ninety-eight have a lower one, the nearest being the financial advisor (67) then the mortgage broker (65). Its ζ of 100 places it 1st, tied: six other occupations share that maximum — the writer and author, the mathematician, the web designer, the cybersecurity analyst, the proofreader and the game designer —, and the nearest below sit at 95 (the financial advisor, the mortgage broker, the data engineer and the statistician). BLS puts the median wage for web and digital interface designers at $104,000 in May 2025 — $50.00 an hour —, against $99,520 for the combined "web developers and digital designers" group and $50,980 for all workers; the lowest 10% earn less than $53,750 and the highest 10% more than $201,550. The best-paying industries are finance and insurance ($133,260), information ($130,140), computer systems design and related services ($109,990) and wholesale trade ($87,640), information employing 27% of the workforce, ahead of self-employed workers (13%), computer systems design (13%), finance and insurance (6%) and wholesale trade (5%). The projection is +6% between 2025 and 2035 — 132,700 jobs in 2025, 140,800 in 2035, +8,000 — against +5% for the combined group and +3% for all occupations, with about 13,600 openings a year for the group, mostly replacing workers who leave; BLS credits demand to the expansion of e-commerce and warns that improving tools and the growing use of AI for web development may soften that growth. Entry ranges from a high school diploma to a bachelor's degree — a bachelor's in web design, digital design or graphic arts is often preferred, and a portfolio may stand in for it —, O*NET places the profile in Job Zone Four (52% of respondents require a bachelor's degree, 30% a post-baccalaureate certificate, 16% a two-year college degree) and gives it an SVP range of 7.0 to less than 8.0. The working setting is a seated, tool-driven desk: 93% of respondents use e-mail daily, 81% rate contributing to a team as extremely important, 69% spend their time sitting continually or almost continually, 67% rate being very exact or highly accurate as extremely important, 53% face time pressure every day, 52% rate coordinating others as very important, 68% work 40 hours a week, only 14% consider a mistake not easily corrected to have very serious consequences, and 39% rate the job not at all automated, 22% slightly and 11% moderately. This card's three pivots appear in the similar-occupations table on the OOH page: the graphic designer ($62,960, -2% between 2025 and 2035 — 253,100 jobs in 2025, about 16,000 openings a year, all replacement —, human β 41), the computer systems analyst ($105,850, +8% — 544,400 jobs in 2025, +42,900 by 2035, about 32,900 openings a year —, human β 47) and the software developer ($134,040, +10% — +185,400 jobs by 2035 —, human β 45). The median salary shown is $104,000 a year, or $50.00 an hour. In the repository of one hundred and seven occupations it ranks 27th: twenty-six occupations pay more, from the mechanical engineer ($104,110) to the physician ($239,200), one is tied with it (the video game designer, $104,000) and seventy-nine pay less, starting with the research scientist ($103,410) then the project manager ($102,320); the repository's median salary is $77,305, which the UX designer exceeds by 35%. The +6% growth sits 32nd, for a median of 4%: thirty-one occupations grow faster, ten at the same rate (the financial analyst, the HR specialist, the roofer, the pharmacy technician, the buyer, the HR manager, the QA tester, the import-export specialist, the civil engineer and the video game designer, 6%) and sixty-five more slowly. The gap with the three pivots is a matter of position in the value chain: the graphic designer pays 39% less and declines 2%, the computer systems analyst pays almost as much but grows +8% with an exposure of 47, and the software developer pays 29% more with an exposure of 45 — moving towards research and technical architecture is therefore both a way out of exposure and a raise. The SOC code used is 15-1255.00 "Web and Digital Interface Designers": O*NET confirms it — exact code and title, Job Zone Four, SVP 7.0 to less than 8.0, investigative (65) and artistic (58) interests — and its list of reported titles contains "UX Developer", "UX Engineer", "Web Designer" and "Webmaster", which grounds the label used here; BLS publishes under that same code the line "web and digital interface designers" (132,700 jobs in 2025, +6%) and describes the occupation as the one that develops, creates and tests website or interface layout, functions and navigation for usability, that is, the UX side. Two method notes. First, the code 15-1255.00 is already carried by the repository's `concepteur-web` card, which shows $98,090, +7% and the same 68/100 exposure: those values come from an earlier reading, whereas the BLS page consulted today gives $104,000 and +6% for code 15-1255 and $99,520 and +5% for the combined group; that card is left untouched and a realignment of `concepteur-web` remains to be done in a future revision. Second, O*NET lists thirty-one scored tasks for the profile — twenty-two core, eight supplemental and one emerging task with no score on search engine optimisation —; the six tasks kept on each side are the heaviest of their group, and the shares are the importance scores scaled so that the exposed block totals 68%, the β measured by Eloundou. Every value on this card comes from a named source; only the task shares, derived from O*NET importance scores, and the scores and durations of the three collapsible courses are editorial estimates, documented in _ponderation — the workloads of the three highlighted courses are the ones announced by the platform. |
| GPT-4 exposure — beta / zeta (%) | 83 · 100 |