Fill out a short form to instantly compare your compensation to peers in your region and experience level.
Compensation is important, but we also want to get a snapshot of the industry. What do content designers feel about their jobs, technology, and other important questions?
We also want to provide you with more information that’s relevant to you. So we hope you’ll check out our custom report tool.
We hope this information serves you well.
UX Content Collective CEO and cofounder
About our salary survey
We’ll start with headline numbers. In each of our surveys, we ask respondents to list their salaries in USD.
This is an increase from the range of US $80,000-$100,000 we recorded in 2023.
We also asked whether respondents had been laid off in the previous 24 months. In order to provide an accurate snapshot of the current state of the market, we analyzed salaries excluding those who had been laid off (even if they have been rehired).
Of course, this figure is only a global number. To get a more accurate breakdown, we’ve analyzed median salaries across a range of demographics including location, gender identity, and employment status (employed or freelancer).
| Country | Median salary (USD) |
|---|---|
| United States | $147,000 |
| Australia | $90,000 |
| Israel | $82,800 |
| Canada | $82,144 |
| Germany | $81,235 |
| United Kingdom | $80,959 |
| Spain | $69,339 |
| India | $44,345 |
We’ve only listed countries with more than 10 respondents in this list. These figures don’t include bonuses or stock options, which we’ll list in a separate segment.
The highest recorded salary was US $332,000, with that respondent living in the United States.
It’s hard to provide a direct comparison to the previous survey, as in 2023 we asked respondents about their salary ranges instead of specific figures. We have recorded some increases, but we’d caution against making any hard conclusions from this data.
| Country | 2025 result | 2023 salary range |
|---|---|---|
| United States | US $147,000 | US $121,000-$140,000 |
| United Kingdom | US $80,959 | US $81,000-$100,000 |
| Australia | US $90,000 | US $81,000-$100,000 |
| Canada | US $82,144 | US $61,000-$80,000 |
| Israel | US $82,000 | US $81,000-$100,000 |
As per our previous surveys, those who identify as female record higher salaries overall with a median of US $114,000. About 75% of respondents identify as female.
We also asked respondents whether they identify as employed or as a contractor. For contractors, we asked their hourly rate.
This is up from the rate we recorded in 2023 of US $60-70 per hour.
As you might expect, median salaries change by the amount of experience cited by each respondent.
Though it’s impossible to get a detailed snapshot of every single circumstance, we did ask respondents how many years of experience they had in the field of content design and UX writing.
| Years of experience | % of respondents | Median salary |
|---|---|---|
| Less than 1 year | 23 | US $72,800 |
| More than 1, less than 3 years | 28 | US $77,535 |
| More than 3, less than 6 years | 37 | US $90,460 |
| More than 7, less than 10 years | 11 | US $127,500 |
| More than 10 years | 5 | US $153,000 |
If you want analysis based on experience in your location, that information is available through our custom salary reports.
Interestingly, each of our experience categories recorded drops in median salary ranges except for those with more than 10 years of experience.
In our previous survey, those with more than 10 years’ experience recorded a median salary range of US $120,000-$140,000.
Since about 2022, the tech industry has experienced a wave of layoffs. While these initially began before generative AI became more popular, there has been speculation layoffs increased due in part to new technology.
While we didn’t ask respondents about the reasons for their layoffs, we did attempt to understand the full scope of how layoffs have affected UX writers and content designers.
We asked: have you been laid off in the previous 24 months?
About 20% of those who experienced a layoff say they are not looking for another content role.
However, more analysis is required to understand the full picture of the situation. We also asked whether respondents have found new roles.
This picture grows even more detailed as we delve into specific locations. For instance, layoffs were primarily located in the United States – and over 80% say they have found new roles.
Please note: we didn’t ask respondents when they were laid off. It’s entirely possibly these layoffs occurred in 2023, or as recently as April 2025.
Here, we’ve broken down information about layoffs across different locations. We’ve only included countries where the number of layoffs reported was more than 10.
| Country | % of all layoffs | % rehired |
|---|---|---|
| United States | 66% | 81% |
| United Kingdom | 8% | 66% |
| Canada | 4% | 71% |
| India | 5% | 85% |
| Germany | 2% | 100% |
We asked respondents about their compensation regarding bonuses and stock, along with whether they negotiated during the hiring process.
Of those who negotiated, base salary was the most common target for negotiation, but other elements were also included restricted stock units, options, vacation time, scope of title, and hiring bonuses.
In the United States, 66% of content designers said they successfully negotiated. In Canada, this figure was 68%, and in the United Kingdom this dropped slightly to 54%.
The industry continues a split between job titles. However, over time a consensus is emerging.
This is an increase from 47% in 2023.
Titles containing “content strategy” continue to decline. Only 6% of respondents have a title that includes the term “content strategy” or “content strategist”, down from 11% in 2023.
As per our previous survey, content designers and UX writers continue to collaborate with very similar types of colleagues.
We’ve listed out the top collaborators here:
| Collaborator | Count |
|---|---|
| Product designers | 448 |
| Product managers | 288 |
| UX or product leaders | 261 |
| Other content designers | 245 |
| UX researchers | 200 |
| Front-end developers | 99 |
| Support or help writers | 78 |
| Technical writers | 49 |
| Marketers | 45 |
| Translators | 43 |
| Founders or CEOs | 14 |
Collaborators change over time. UX writers and content designers are more likely to collaborate with UX researchers as they have more years of experience.
In 2025 we added a new question to our survey. We wanted to understand how UX writers and content designers feel about the current state of the industry. The question was open-ended, so we needed to conduct some sentiment analysis first.
We grouped answers into categories: positive, negative, and neutral. An answer was considered “neutral” if it identified both a negative and positive trend, or the answer was ambiguous.
| % of respondents | |
|---|---|
| Negative | 34% |
| Positive | 35% |
| Neutral | 31% |
We started our analysis by grouping each category of responses into themes. The quotes in each of these tables represent several responses in each theme.
Neutral
| Theme | Quote |
|---|---|
| Tentative hope | “I think things are changing. I think our ob is going to be less and less writing than it already is and more frameworks and strategy.” |
| Anxiety about AI | “I feel like we’re headed in a promising direction with AI, but i also feel like there will be less headcount need in the future.” |
| New opportunities | “I think more content designers need to advocate for their positions by helping their teams understand where their value is.” |
| Industry flux | “Cautiously hopeful about us keeping our jobs, but the barrier to entry will be higher for the next generation of hires.” |
| Progress | “It has come back a bit since the global layoffs but I think it will continue to be undervalued.” |
| Theme | Quote |
|---|---|
| Layoffs and instability | “The tech layoffs have been brutal and people are still looking for work. It’s disheartening. I was laid off twice in 12 months.” |
| Anxiety about AI | “I’m nervous that AI is going to take over.” |
| Cynicism and fatigue | “I am somewhat frustrated about the lack of progress I’m making in making the role of content design visible and valued despite all the effort.” |
| Poor market conditions | “If the job market stays in its current state and I need to move on, I might have no choice but to start from square one in a new industry.” |
| Identity confusion | “There are many opportunities but there’s a big difference in the way it is valued from company to company. I think there’s a bit of a content design identity crisis at the moment.” |
| Theme | Quote |
|---|---|
| Strategic recognition | “Content design is finally being seen as a strategic function, not just a finishing touch.” |
| Opportunity amid change | “I think this is a pivotal time in the discipline and there’s tremendous opportunity if we take action to lead in AI, which I believe we are uniquely positioned to do.” |
| Personal career optimism | “These are the foundational years where its importance is being established and we all have a role to play. Our work should speak for itself. It may be known by different names but its principles will remain the same.” |
| Rebuilding after layoffs | “Despite having been laid off, I’m feeling hopeful. I think we’re at a pivotal moment and have the opportunity to make an even bigger impact on design and beyond.” |
| Role expansion and influence | Good! Coming out of a tricky time but seeing more and more opportunities and influence being given to content designers.” |
Although it’s impossible to understand how AI is playing a role in every respondent’s work, we attempted to understand as much as we could.
To that end, we asked respondents a few different questions about AI. The first was, “Has AI changed the way you work?”
In 2025, 58% of content designers and UX writers say AI has “somewhat” or “significantly” improved their work.
| Has AI changed the way you work? | % of respondents |
|---|---|
| It’s made things more complicated | 5% |
| It hasn’t improved my work much | 16% |
| I use it but don’t notice any difference | 13% |
| I don’t know | 8% |
| It was somewhat improved my work | 44% |
| It has significantly improved my work | 14% |
We also asked respondents how they use AI in their day-to-day work. The most popular use cases were analyzing or summarizing content (45%), brainstorming (41%), writing documentation (18%), and creating or iterating on content patterns (16%).
However, several respondents gave examples of AI use in their work outside these categories:
In many cases, respondents said they use AI for summarizing, brainstorming, or creating placeholder content for early-stage designs.
We’d caution against making hard conclusions from this data; it might very well be that those who have optimistic approaches towards work are more likely to experiment with tools. But it does demonstrate that many content designers are embracing new AI tools and feel good about the state of the industry.
| Negative | Neutral | Positive | |
|---|---|---|---|
| No, not at all | 9% | 4.88% | 4.76% |
| Not yet, but I plan to | 1.95% | 2.44% | 2.04% |
| Occasionally | 29.22% | 24.39% | 28.57% |
| I’ve experimented but don’t use consistently | 32.47% | 29% | 19.95% |
| Regularly | 27.27% | 39% | 45.58% |
We’ve created a custom salary report tool for content designers and UX writers based on the information from our survey.
Fill out the survey below, and you’ll see how content designers in your demographic compare against those with 10+ years of experience.
Each report lists:
Important information:
In our survey, we allowed users to self-identify. We received fewer than 10 responses worldwide for people who explicitly identify as non-binary, trans, and other gender identities, which is below our statistically significant threshold for providing breakout results. To compare against all gender identities, we recommend analyzing the information included on this page. If you have any questions please reach us at info@uxcontent.com.
Where relevant, we’ve provided some recommendations for career growth. These are general recommendations and may not apply to your specific situation.
This data is based on a survey we conducted in 2025. Your personal circumstances may differ from the data we received—use this report as inspiration and not a guarantee of future results. For example, training and education may not guarantee future results such as higher compensation, seniority, or more responsibility in your role. Training provided by us is not a guarantee that you will achieve the outcomes listed in our report. In some areas, we’ve combined datasets in order to produce a statistically significant sample. For example, we may combine data from countries or combine gender identities.
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