The average salary for a UX designer in New York is $95,269, according to the latest research from CyberCoders, a leading recruiting firm in the U.S.
More searches now take place on mobile devices than on computers in the United States, according to Google.
With more eyes on shrinking screen sizes than every before, it's important for any business in need of a mobile presence (i.e., most all of them) to design for the user experience, and the bottom line.
The Design Management Institute found that companies with a significant investment in design have outperformed the S&P 500 by 228% over the last ten years.
UX designers are experts in improving user engagement with responsive websites and mobile apps. They help create an aesthetically pleasing, consistent user experience with a company's product across platforms.
UX designer outlook, average U.S. salary
Although the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) doesn't have specific data on UX designers, it predicts web development positions to grow 27% from 2014 to 2024, which is much faster than the average for all other occupations.
Find UX Designer Jobs at NYC Startups
Career website Glassdoor recently listed UX designer as the 18th "Best Job in America," citing the national median salary as $91,800.
CyberCoders, which released its 2016 salary guide in January, places the average salary nationwide at $95,269, with the highest earning product manager making $212,500.
Salary will vary depending on location, expertise, company size and an organization's needs.
UX designers wear many hats, but they are ultimately responsible for improving user engagement across devices, studying the behavior of users and employing A/B testing to monitor how changes in design influence the customer experience.
As Danny Boice, the co-founder and CTO of Speek, wrote in a blog for 500.co:
"User experience people think about the holistic usability of your product. This includes things like personas constituting your users, the flows users will follow, how to make flows and screens as user-friendly as possible, and what goes (or better—gets left off of) each screen."
A UX designer will work with product managers, developers and visual designers on the following:
- Design and prototype of aesthetically pleasing interfaces
- Defining and developing new features
- Creating ideal user flow for new and existing customers to and from a site's most important touch points
- Optimal placement of key features in the design
- Copy, labels and messaging
