Instructional Designer salary
What an instructional designer actually earns, from 192 live job postings blended with the official US OEWS (Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics) wage anchor. Pick a market for its median and range, then read the seniority split, the trend, and the country comparison below. Updated 2026-09-06.
What the number means
An instructional designer earns a blended US median near 82,482 dollars, with the typical middle running from 68,243 dollars to 100,462 dollars. The official OEWS median is 74,720 dollars, under the posted figure, because the advertised roles skew senior or well-funded. The official trend has moved up about 13 percent since 2019. Demand is rated high, and 6% of postings are fully remote. The nearest adjacent move on our skill graph is tutor, at 12 percent coverage; the instrument maps the rest.
Open instructional designer roles
Live openings tagged to this occupation, from company career pages and remote boards. Apply at the source.
Instructional Designer at Premera Blue CrossUnited States · Remote$80k–$104k1d agoApply
Learning Experience Designer at RPM LivingUnited States · Remote5d agoApply
Instructional Designer at AmTrust FinancialCleveland, OH$77k–$95k5d agoApply
Instructional Designer at VerkadaSan Mateo, CA United States$150k–$210k6d agoApply
Instructional Designer at University of North CarolinaNorth Carolina$57k–$83k6d agoApply
Instructional Designer (Mid-Level) at Team CarneyCarney, MI6d agoApply
Switzerland · official wage bands
median CHF 9'697/month
Swiss postings do not state pay, so these are not posted salaries: they are the federal wage survey (Lohnstrukturerhebung 2024) for the ISCO group 23 Lehrkräfte: standardized gross monthly, full-time, 13th salary included pro rata. The band covers the whole occupation group, which is coarser than this occupation alone.
Annual ≈ CHF 116'364 at the median. Source: Bundesamt für Statistik, LSE 2024.
Top-paying US states
OEWS median by state, highest first.
- California$97,960
- Washington$91,470
- Virginia$80,620
- Colorado$77,890
- New York$77,330
- Ohio$74,560
Roles that pay more, that these skills already reach
Median pay from each destination’s own postings, with the readiness an instructional designer profile already covers.
- 600 open project manager roles$126,568 median · +$44,086 · 14% readiness
- 293 open compliance officer roles$114,412 median · +$31,930 · 12% readiness
- 490 open hr manager roles$109,266 median · +$26,784 · 17% readiness
- 136 open corporate trainer roles$87,487 median · +$5,005 · 22% readiness
Every measured move out of this role, ranked by readiness: alternative careers for an instructional designer.
Is your offer fair?
Run a specific number through FairElephant, which weighs it against this data, your location, and remote market rates.
Related salaries
- Tutor salary$45,368 median
- Corporate Trainer salary$87,487 median
- Dietitian salary$79,769 median
Quick answers
How much does an instructional designer make?
The blended US median is about 82,482 dollars, with a typical range from 68,243 dollars to 100,462 dollars, against an official OEWS median of 74,720 dollars.
Is instructional designer a good career in 2026?
Demand for the role is rated high in our July 2026 corpus, with 6% of postings fully remote. The pay is shown above by seniority and by country.
What can an instructional designer move into?
The nearest adjacent role on our skill graph is tutor, at 12 percent skill coverage. Run the instrument for the full set of reachable moves.
Method: bands are the 25th, 50th, and 75th percentiles of live US postings with stated pay, shrunk toward the official OEWS anchor by sample size (the “blended” figure). Trend is the OEWS annual median for SOC (Standard Occupational Classification) code 25-9031. Live corpus 192 observations, 2026-09-06. Definitions in the glossary.