Designer salary in California
A real-employer view of Designer pay, clustered from DOL OFLC certified filings. Variants like Senior, Lead, and II/III titles fold into this cluster — the wage range below reflects all of them.
Designer in California: actual employer-disclosed pay
Public records from 103 certified H-1B Labor Condition Applications filed with the U.S. Department of Labor. Median offered wage: $79,768. Every figure below is an actual offered salary an employer attested to under federal law.
By DOL wage level
DOL classifies every offer into one of four wage levels based on the role's experience and skill requirements.
| Level | Filings | Median offer |
|---|---|---|
| Level I — entry | 62 | $79,768 |
| Level II — qualified | 8 | $98,720 |
Top employers filing for this role
Companies with the most certified filings for Designer in California. Median offer is across all of that employer's filings. Click a company for its full H-1B salary breakdown.
| Employer | Most-filed title | Filings | Median |
|---|---|---|---|
| Perkins & Will, Inc. | Designer | 11 | $79,768 |
| Perkins Eastman Architects DPC | Designer I | 7 | $77,140 |
| Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP | Designer | 5 | $88,300 |
| Rios Inc. | Designer | 4 | $79,674 |
| CO Architects | Designer II | 3 | $69,400 |
| Harley Ellis Devereaux Corporation | Designer | 3 | $82,680 |
| Klopf Architecture | Designer | 3 | $85,000 |
| KTGY Group, Inc. | Designer | 3 | $79,768 |
| NBBJ LP | Designer | 3 | $87,140 |
| The Jerde Partnership, Inc. | Designer | 3 | $73,000 |
Recent sample filings
A snapshot of recent certified offers. Each line is a real, public, verifiable record.
- Designer at Klopf Architecture$85,000San FranciscoWage Level IDecided —I-200-26084-728973
- Designer at Orange Barrel Media LLC$75,000West HollywoodWage Level IDecided Mar 24, 2026I-200-26076-708870
- Designer at Lehrer Architects LA, Inc.$85,000Los AngelesDecided Mar 19, 2026I-200-26071-699334
- Designer II at Studio Gang Architects Ltd.$99,192San FranciscoWage Level IDecided Mar 13, 2026I-200-26065-685697
- Senior Designer at Mogul Stones, Inc.$90,563Mountain ViewWage Level IDecided Mar 12, 2026I-200-26064-682981
- Designer at Walker/Warner Architects, Inc.$100,006San FranciscoWage Level IDecided Mar 10, 2026I-200-26063-678108
- Associate Designer, Architecture at GFT Infrastructure, Inc.$79,768FremontWage Level IDecided Mar 5, 2026I-200-26057-667195
- Designer 2 at WHY Architecture Workshop Inc.$80,000Culver CityWage Level IDecided Mar 5, 2026I-200-26057-666307
Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Foreign Labor Certification. Disclosed wages reflect what employers attested to pay; actual paid wages may differ. Only certified filings are shown — denied and withdrawn cases are excluded.