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2021/2022 Creative Earners National Salary Survey results released
Creative Earners report cover
01/11/22

The RGD released the results of the 10th Creative Earners National Salary Survey on October 28 at the DesignThinkers Conference in Toronto. 

 

Over 3,200 professionals from the Canadian graphic design and communications industry participated in the survey, providing insights on where they work, who they work for and what they get paid. 

 

Download 2021/2022 survey results

 

The survey results are available to download for FREE. If you would like to make a contribution to support development of future surveys, please do so in the download form.  

 

Through the Creative Earners National Salary Survey, the RGD in association with DesCan raises awareness about the country’s creative industry and provides an economic profile of the field.

 

Below are some highlights from the latest survey results: 

  • Median salaries from 2000 to 2021 have increased over time, with Creative/Design Directors (+46%), Design Educators (+55%) and Junior Designers (+43%) seeing the highest overall increase. 
  • UX Designers also saw a 53% increase from 2012, when we began tracking responses for this job title. 
  • Women are still generally paid less than men. Full-time Freelancers show the largest pay gap, with women earning approximately 82% of what men earn.
  • LGBTQ2S+ respondents generally earn less than heterosexual respondents, with the largest pay gap being for Full-time Freelancers (29%), Art Directors (23%) and Creative Directors (22%). 
  • BIPOC respondents are generally paid less, but the gap wasn’t as big as we anticipated. The pay gap for BIPOC respondents was largest for Communications/Marketing/Brand Managers, with white respondents earn 13% more. However, BIPOC Art Directors are earning 6% more than white respondents and BIPOC UX Designers are earning 2% more.
  • Solo business owners bill mostly for graphic design (73%), logo and identity design (36%) and branding and strategy (31%). 
  • Hybrid work models appear to be the way forward for the majority in the industry. 

 

Read this article by Strategy to get an overview of the results of the latest Creative Earners Survey.   

 

Thank you to our partners Deloitte (branding), .design, Moveable and to sponsors Accessibil-IT and Applied Arts.