The city you live in can matter an awful lot, especially if you’re a creative person who wants to get involved in a local arts community when you’re not at work. More than that, the city you live in determines the cost of your rent and the size of your paycheck right along with how safe you feel riding the bus home at night. Relocating to another city to start a new job can be exciting, but it also comes with risks that are worth evaluating beforehand. In this article, you’ll learn key distinctions that make some cities more ideal for Digital Designers and learn how to evaluate them for yourself. As a bonus, you’ll also receive insider knowledge of a few top-rated cities.

What is a Digital Designer?

The simplest way to describe a Digital Designer is as a visual media creator who emphasizes interactivity. These designers are distinguished from other classes of designers by their focus on how people experience their designs. Rather than focusing solely on what their designs communicate visually, Digital Designers spend considerable time perfecting components like information architecture and accessibility. To improve user-friendliness even more, digital design projects often include prototyping and preparatory phases that include demographic research. 

Digital Designers are best known for their digitally generated graphics, animations, and visual effects, but many Digital Designers also create full-scale websites and apps. If one type of project piques their interest more than others, a Digital Designer can specialize in a unique aspect of digital design. Some Digital Designers choose to highlight primarily digital projects, while others work exclusively on preparing interactive print designs for marketing. 

Because digital design is an umbrella term that includes many different design niches, most digital design professionals collaborate with a team. Their team may include fellow Designers, Project Managers, Product Designers, and IT professionals. 

What Makes a City Good for Digital Designers?

Choosing the perfect home base is a process that involves considering many factors, from the city’s overall attunement to design to the cost of living. Because you’ll be spending a lot of time in this new location, it can help to decide what your biggest priorities are beforehand. For instance, you may want to maximize your salary output by finding a city that pays well and doesn’t cost too much to live in. While some designers don’t mind working alone, you may want an active local design community that you can get involved in. 

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Even if you’ve already nailed down a job, the city you start your digital design career in should be ripe with other professional opportunities. That way losing your job won’t mean funding an expensive move. Luckily, Digital Designers can fit into most major industries, including IT, logistics, biomedicine, and marketing. Tech-forward cities that house plenty of tech companies are often strong candidates when it comes to digital design opportunities. In addition to being invested in information technology, these cities are generally also invested in using technology to generate positive experiences for consumers and travelers. Additionally, cities with a high demand for marketing, publishing, and product manufacturing also provide many job opportunities for Digital Designers. 

If you’re looking for digital design work centralized in a specific industry, consider doing some research to identify cities that offer opportunities in the industry you’re interested in. For instance:

  • Chicago is one of the United States’ oldest print and publishing centers.
  • Toronto is a hotbed for video game design.
  • Atlanta is one of the biggest tech hubs in America, covering everything from data and machine learning to software. 
  • London holds the European record for the biggest digital advertising market, while Minneapolis is the most diverse advertising market in America. 
  • Portland is the top destination in America for specialty foods. 

In addition to looking at the size of your selected industry, pay attention to how experts expect that industry to perform in the future. For instance, while Dallas-Fort Worth has a massive finance sector, the industry is only growing at 2.6% annually, which doesn’t offer a lot of wiggle room for new hires. Meanwhile, cities like Los Angeles are even seeing a decline in finance jobs. In contrast, NYC’s finance industry is growing faster than average (at 2.5%).

Depending on where you’re at in your career, you may also have access to a different range of opportunities in a given city. For example, while arts-rich cities like London have plenty of design roles available for senior candidates, the city’s design prestige makes it incredibly challenging for entry-level designers to get started there. Ideally, you want to select a town that offers opportunities for digital designers at all stages of their careers. Alternatively, you can build experience in a university town such as Columbus, Ohio, and then transition to a more substantial position elsewhere. 

High Salaries

Many regional factors can impact your salary as a Digital Designer, making it important to evaluate your pay beforehand. You may earn a higher salary in one location than another, and you can easily look up location-based digital design salaries in Indeed’s index. You’re more likely to earn a higher salary if the city you live in has a higher demand for design, tech, or marketing services. 

However, keep in mind that the money you net won’t be as cut and dry as the number you collect from your employer. Every city has a unique cost of living determined by a combination of expenses that include:

  • Housing
  • Utilities
  • Gas
  • Food
  • Insurance
  • Healthcare

In some cases, a “high salary” can actually be outweighed by an equally high cost of living, making it far less appealing. 

Strong Digital Designer Community

Thanks to plentiful remote opportunities, you can easily work as a Digital Designer in any city. That said, it’s rewarding to live in a city that includes many other design professionals. In addition to having a professional community to network with, being surrounded by other designers generally leads to fulfilling opportunities you wouldn’t otherwise have access to. These may include: 

  • Design conventions and festivals
  • Contests
  • Local classes and workshops

Although online platforms like Zoom make it possible to participate in these types in a limited capacity, some events (such as festivals) just aren’t the same when you can’t interact with exhibitions in-person. If you live in a smaller town, you can still build a strong design community for yourself with a few alternative strategies. Traveling for outside design events can be a great way to engage in a larger design community. If traveling presents a financial burden or accessibility challenge, you can also connect with other designers through social media, online forums, and professional design platforms such as AIGA, Dribbble, and Behance. 

Remote Job Opportunities

If you care a lot about flexibility and prefer to work from home, your ideal home base may not need the social perks mentioned above. Instead, you might want to prioritize cities with a low cost of living that will enable you to get the most out of your salary. 

You can easily find remote digital design jobs through platforms like Design Remotely, Freelancer, and Fiverr. Remember that even if a job is posted for one location, the description may explain that remote work is an option. For this reason, take your time looking through location-based job listings alongside remote-specific listings. 

Quality of Life, or the Little Things

The adage “it’s the little things that count” is likely more true for artistic communities than it is for anyone else. Mental health challenges have long been associated with being an artist, making it all the more important to make sure you’re taking extra good care of yourself. Salary averages, cost of living, and professional opportunities can all be important draws to a city, but what will they mean if your downtime isn’t filled with the exact type of magic you need as a creative person? 

For instance, if you find wholeness in natural spaces where you can hike and take photographs, choosing a bustling metropolis as your home base may not be all that fulfilling. Even if this exact scenario doesn’t fit you, there’s likely some version of it that does. Perhaps you’d be unhappy in a city characterized by perpetual rain, or one that lacks your favorite cuisine. Maybe there’s a specific music or sports scene you’re invested in, or to shop at quirky antique shops. 

To help you identify your ideal city, walk through the following set of questions. Even if you don’t have an answer to all of them, you should have a clearer picture of what makes a city “home” to you by the end. When you’re not working, what kind of city do you want to live in? 

  • What kinds of amenities does it have? This may include shopping access, healthcare, libraries, food, community centers, child care, entertainment—anything that improves your quality of life. 
  • What climate characterizes your city? Are there other environmental factors that may influence your choice, such as pollution?
  • How is the traffic and infrastructure? Do you drive to work or use public transit?
  • What is the city’s culture like?
  • If you need it, what kind of disability access does the city offer?
  • Is crime a big problem?

Top Cities for Digital Designers

Chicago, Illinois 

Artistic at its roots, Chicago has something to inspire you around every corner, from the Art Design Museum of Chicago and Millenium Park to quirky eateries like Wormhole Coffee. The city also hosts more than 40 arts festivals including the Chicago Blues Festival and the Chicago International Film Festival. Far above the national average, salaries for Digital Designers in Chicago range between $108,000 and $168,000 annually. What’s more, the Windy City’s (not inconsequential) cost of living can be easily offset by a commute from a cheaper suburb such as Midlothian, Monee, or Lansing. 

Austin, Texas

Ranked in America’s top 5 tech talent markets, Austin is a rapidly expanding tech center that acts as headquarters for Dell and Oracle. The city’s 5,500+ tech companies offer digital designers high salaries ($111,000-$140,000 on average) and a significantly lower cost of living than tech hubs like NYC and San Francisco. In particular, Austin has a wealth of game development companies along with video production studios looking for Digital Designers to help complete projects. In addition to work opportunities, the city boasts numerous design events including the much-loved SXSW Film Festival. 

Columbus, Ohio

Columbus has a lively art scene that hosts exciting festivals, competitions, and designer meetups. In addition to its historic art and design schools, the city also features numerous museums and a dedicated Arts District. Despite university-hosted design programs, the city’s design talent pool is still undersaturated, leaving plenty of room for new Digital Designers to take advantage of the low cost of living. The city’s diverse mix of companies includes startups, large corporations, and well-established design agencies that pay an average of $80,000-123,000. 

Redmond, Washington

The active digital design community in Redmond includes regular UI/UX Design meetups, an annual arts festival, and many ongoing community art projects. This suburb is a 30-40 minute drive from Seattle, meaning that you’ll also have access to the many art and design opportunities that the sleepless city has to offer. However, thanks to Redmond’s smaller size, you won’t suffer quite as much from stop-and-go traffic, pollution, or crime as you might while living in Seattle. Redmond offers a diverse, eco-conscious culture with plenty of access to free outdoor activities and healthy food. While Redmond Digital Designer salaries ($85,000 to $127,000) rival the US national average (​​$75,000 to $154,000), the city’s higher cost of living means you’ll need to budget more carefully in this location. 

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Although Philadelphila’s graphic design industry is oversaturated, there’s still plenty of work for more adaptable Digital Designers (particularly those with coding and pharma experience). In addition to many medical businesses, Philadelphia needs Digital Designers to fill positions in companies as varied as Comcast, Walmart, and JPMorgan Chase. The city’s Amtrak service also opens up higher-salaried work options through companies located in nearby NYC and Washington DC. With a longer commute, digital design salaries can jump from $113,000 per year to $147,000 without losing out on Philadelphia-specific benefits like cheap housing.

Why Become a Digital Designer?

There are plenty of careers out there that can make you rich fast, and while digital design does pay a comfortable salary, it has something even more valuable to offer: joy. Digital Designers rank above most other careers when it comes to job satisfaction, and this isn’t surprising when you consider what mental health research has to say about design. Regardless of how talented you are, engaging in creative activities is beneficial for illnesses like depression and anxiety. Rather than chaining yourself to a life of dull office work, choosing a job that allows you to give expression to your artistic side can keep you in good spirits for the duration of your career.

Digital design careers are incredibly customizable. Within the field, there are many potential specializations and work formats. Rather than molding yourself to fit your career, you’ll have the opportunity to mold your career path to fit you. 

Compared to other artistic fields, digital design is both high-paying and growing rapidly. To put this into perspective, American Digital Designers earn an average income of $75,000 to $154,000 per year, while Graphic Designers earn only $49,000 to $82,000. As graphic design jobs see a yearly increase of roughly three percent between 2023 and 2033, digital design positions will grow by 8%.

How to Find a Digital Designer Job

You’ll be most successful at finding a design job if you set yourself up with the right qualifications beforehand. Because job responsibilities can vary extensively from one digital design job title to the next, you should take the time to research the qualifications you need for your intended role and then acquire them. While each job is different, most digital design jobs will expect you to bring the following with you to start:

  • A four-year college degree (preferably in a design field). Some jobs may also include additional requirements, such as certification in design software like Figma. 
  • A portfolio that demonstrates professional digital design skills relevant to the role. 
  • Two to five years of relevant professional experience. 

You can explore Digital Designer job requirements on Noble Desktop’s Blog. 

Once you’re ready to start looking for a job, your best bet is to play several job markets at once. In addition to developing your presence on mainstream job sites such as LinkedIn, you can also build connections through online design organizations (like AIGA), forums (like Reddit), and education platforms. 

When searching for a job, you can find more relevant opportunities by using keywords, like:

For more tips on how to use Digital Designer job sites to your advantage, check out the Learn Design Blog. 

Learn the Skills to Become a Digital Designer at Noble Desktop

Want to learn design in a supportive environment? Noble Desktop offers highly-rated design classes covering a range of digital design topics for students at all levels. In addition to shorter classes, you’ll find a variety of career certificates that provide comprehensive training, complete with one-on-one mentorship and professional experience opportunities. Start your journey now by signing up for training live online or participating in face-to-face classes at the school’s NYC campus. 

With the hands-on training you’ll get in the Digital Design Certificate, preparing for a digital design career isn’t hard. Even if you start with no experience, you can learn the UI design and graphic design skills you need to launch your career in a matter of weeks. Instead of sitting through dull lectures, this program will teach you practical skills through activities and projects. In addition to mastering tools like InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop, and Figma, you’ll gain the expertise necessary to apply design principles for truly stunning results. 

Learn the skills to make websites and apps that are truly user-friendly in UX & UI Design Certificate. Working with a team, you’ll create your own interactive digital interfaces from start to finish, resulting in work you can proudly display in your portfolio. Rather than focusing only on aesthetics, you’ll learn how to research your target users and prototype to improve accessibility. This course also includes a job preparation segment designed to help you workshop your resume and create the perfect portfolio website. 

If websites are your jam, you can make it into a career by joining Noble Desktop’s Web Design Certificate program. Work toward an impressive portfolio with hands-on assignments that will help you learn a combination of design, coding, and software skills. Quicker than you know, you’ll acquire a versatile skill set that includes UI design theory, Figma, WordPress, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Before you’re through, you’ll also have the chance to build a high-quality portfolio website with help from your expert mentor.