Art Directors salary in California
SOC 27-1011 · BLS OEWS May 2025
How local pay compares
After local prices: the $137,780 median has purchasing power comparable to about $124,440 nationally. California's BEA regional price parity is 110.7 (2024).
What the local range looks like
The wash spans the 10th to 90th percentile, the darker section is the middle half, and the tick is the median for California.
Getting in
- Typical education to enter
- Bachelor's degree
- Related work experience
- 5 years or more
- On-the-job training
- None
Narrow to a metro in California
Every linked area below has a published estimate for art directors. Missing areas were withheld by BLS rather than measured at zero.
The median wage as published, before local prices are taken into account.
| # | Metro area | Median | Cost of living | Employed | Concentrationvs. national |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA | $170,140 | 110.4 | 600 | 1.56× |
| 2 | San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA | $165,210 | 115.6 | 2,390 | 2.95× |
| 3 | Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA | $137,560 | 113.6 | 6,590 | 3.08× |
| 4 | Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA | $126,410 | 109.9 | 40 | 1.06× |
| 5 | San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA | $126,050 | 111.9 | 630 | 1.21× |
| 6 | Stockton-Lodi, CA | $123,420 | 105.1 | 30 | 0.34× |
| 7 | Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA | $121,920 | 110.5 | 100 | 0.90× |
| 8 | Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA | $110,180 | 107.8 | 40 | 0.57× |
| 9 | Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA | $109,500 | 108.8 | 50 | 0.76× |
| 10 | Fresno, CA | $109,420 | 102.2 | 60 | 0.35× |
| 11 | Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA | $106,390 | 106.7 | 310 | 0.84× |
| 12 | Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA | $104,360 | 106.4 | 320 | 0.55× |
Cost of living is the BEA regional price parity for all items, where 100 is the national average. Concentration is the BLS location quotient: how much more of the local workforce does this job than the national average, so 2.00× means twice the national share. It is often the reason wages differ — a place that concentrates an occupation has the employers and the competition for it. Metro areas where art directors wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.
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