Freelance graphic designer rates, and what to charge
Design is sold by the project and costed by the day. Work out the day rate first, then price the project against it with the revision rounds stated.
What graphic designers charge
| What was measured | Rate | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Freelance graphic designers on Upwork, typical hourly range | $15 to $35 an hour | Upwork |
| Freelance graphic designers on Upwork, median | $25 an hour | Upwork |
| Employed graphic designers in the US, median wage, May 2025 | $30.27 an hour | US Bureau of Labor Statistics |
| The same, as a year | $62,960 | US Bureau of Labor Statistics |
| Lowest and highest tenth of employed designers | under $39,520, over $104,910 a year | US Bureau of Labor Statistics |
Upwork's figures are hourly contracts on its marketplace, worldwide, and it notes that most design work there is priced as a fixed project instead. The Bureau of Labor Statistics figures are wages paid to employees, and one in five graphic designers in the US is self-employed.
An employee's wage is not a freelance rate. The employer pays for the software, the holidays and the hours spent not designing. To gross the same $62,960 as the median employee, with $6,000 a year of costs, 46 working weeks of 40 hours and 60 per cent of those hours billable, a freelancer has to charge $62.46 an hour. Put your own numbers in below.
What a design project costs
Most design is sold at a flat project price, but the price is still hours times a rate. Upwork gives typical hours for three common jobs. Here they are at the Upwork median ($25), the PayScale freelance median ($38) and the PayScale 90th percentile ($85).
| Job | Typical time | At $25 | At $38 | At $85 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flyer | 1 to 10 hours | $25 to $250 | $38 to $381 | $85 to $851 |
| Infographic | 4 to 20 hours | $100 to $500 | $152 to $761 | $340 to $1,702 |
| Logo | 5 to 20 hours | $125 to $500 | $190 to $761 | $426 to $1,702 |
A logo is a $125 job at the low end and a $1,700 job at the high end. Most of that gap is who the client is and whether the price reflects the hours or what the work is worth to the business. Hours from Upwork; rates from Upwork and PayScale (234 US freelance profiles, June 2026).
Flat rate or hourly
Quote a flat rate for defined work such as a logo, a brand kit or a set of social templates. The client gets a known price, and you keep the benefit when you work fast. Charge hourly for open-ended work: ongoing production, edits to someone else's files, or anything where the client controls the scope. Either way, work out the flat rate from your day rate below, add contingency, and write the number of revision rounds into the quote.
Start from your own numbers
The day rate at the top is the floor. The project estimate underneath turns it into a quote.
How it works
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