Sound Designer
Sound Designer Salary
$65K - $68.5K
7% of jobs
$68.5K - $72K
8% of jobs
$74.9K is the 25th percentile. Wages below this are outliers.
$72K - $75.5K
11% of jobs
$75.5K - $79K
11% of jobs
$79K - $82.5K
11% of jobs
The median wage is $82.7K / yr.
$82.5K - $86K
8% of jobs
$86K - $89.5K
9% of jobs
$92.6K is the 75th percentile. Wages above this are outliers.
$89.5K - $93K
9% of jobs
$93K - $96.5K
9% of jobs
$96.5K - $100K
8% of jobs
$100K - $103.5K
7% of jobs
$65K
$83K
$102K
$83,833
/year
$40.30
/hour
Sound Designer Salary Comparison by Location
Nationwide
United States
$83,833
Columbus
Ohio
$80,974
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How much does a Sound Designer make?
As of Aug 7, 2026, the average annual pay for a Sound Designer in the United States is $83,833 a year.
Just in case you need a simple salary calculator, that works out to be approximately $40.30 an hour. This is the equivalent of $1,612/week or $6,986/month.
While ZipRecruiter is seeing annual salaries as high as $102,000 and as low as $65,000, the majority of Sound Designer salaries currently range between $74,500 (25th percentile) to $93,000 (75th percentile) with top earners (90th percentile) making $99,000 annually across the United States. The average pay range for a Sound Designer varies greatly (by as much as 18500), which suggests there may be many opportunities for advancement and increased pay based on skill level, location and years of experience.
A Sound Designer in your area makes on average $80,974 per year, or $2,859 (3.410%) less than the national average annual salary of $83,833. Ohio ranks number 31 out of 50 states nationwide for Sound Designer salaries.
To estimate the most accurate annual salary range for Sound Designer jobs, ZipRecruiter continuously scans its database of millions of active jobs published locally throughout America.
Find your next high paying job as a Sound Designer on ZipRecruiter today.
What are Top 10 Highest Paying Cities for Sound Designer Jobs
We've identified 10 cities where the typical salary for a Sound Designer job is above the national average. Topping the list is Pennington County, SD, , with Venus, TX, and Midland, MI, close behind in the second and third positions. Midland, MI, beats the national average by $38,125 (45.5%), and Pennington County, SD, furthers that trend with another $49,044 (58.5%) above the $83,833 average.
With these 10 cities having average salaries higher than the national average, the opportunities for economic advancement by changing locations as a Sound Designer appears to be exceedingly fruitful.
However, another factor to consider is the average salary for these top 10 cities varies modestly at 24% between Pennington County, SD, and Cupertino, CA, , suggesting it may be difficult to see much positive wage advancement. The possibility of a lower cost of living may help determine the balance between location and salary for a Sound Designer role.
City | Annual Salary | Hourly Wage |
|---|---|---|
Pennington County, SD | $132,877 | $63.88 |
Venus, TX | $122,966 | $59.12 |
Midland, MI | $121,958 | $58.63 |
Spearfish, SD | $119,330 | $57.37 |
Rahway, NJ | $115,787 | $55.67 |
Burleigh County, ND | $112,540 | $54.11 |
Scotts Valley, CA | $108,488 | $52.16 |
Johnson City, TN | $105,950 | $50.94 |
Nome, AK | $103,994 | $50.00 |
Cupertino, CA | $103,428 | $49.73 |
What are Top 5 Best Paying Related Sound Designer Jobs in the U.S.
Analyzing some similar jobs related to the Sound Designer job category, we found that Global Security Services jobs have average salaries similar than Sound Designer jobs.
Job Title | Annual Salary | Hourly Wage |
|---|---|---|
Global Security Services | $76,122 | $36.60 |
Corporate Security Supervisor | $52,816 | $25.39 |
Corporate Security Officer | $37,729 | $18.14 |
Ics Security | $36,960 | $17.77 |
Google Security Officer | $35,979 | $17.30 |
About Our Data
ZipRecruiter salary estimates, histograms, trends and comparisons are derived from both employer job postings and third party data sources.
