Digital Services Salary Guide 2024

Just over half the employees in the 2023 survey received a raise, with an average of 7.7%. The outlook for 2024 is muted: only 39% are expected to receive a raise, with an average expected raise of 4.5%.

1,350 employee salaries from 67 agencies · Fielded November–December 2023 · U.S. and Canada · 59 pages

Top findings

• 56% of employees received a raise in 2023; only 39% are expected to in 2024.
• Operations roles led raises at 10%; Developers had the lowest at 6.5% despite being some of the most likely to receive one.
• Owner total compensation averaged $267k in 2024, up from $242k in 2022. Studio shop owners earned $192k; Small $305k; Medium $335k; Large $226k.
• Studio shop owners are expected to bill 17 hours per week, plus an additional 25 non-billable hours, while larger-agency owners bill 5–9 hours per week.
• Employees at remote agencies tend to have more experience than hybrid or in-office counterparts, which results in higher average salary levels: $99k remote, $90k hybrid, $74k in-office.
• Sales and Business Development employees who receive non-salary compensation get 15% of total comp from it — the highest of any function.

Sample salary bands (averages, U.S. and Canada combined)

• Account Manager: $72,551 · Account Director: $105,714 · Director of Business Development: $115,297
• Designer: $64,796 · Senior Designer: $96,959
• Developer: $80,372 · Senior Developer: $102,106 · Senior Software Engineer: $111,330
• Project Manager: $76,425 · Senior Project Manager: $95,127 · Director of Project Management: $124,548

Inside the guide

1. Executive Summary
2. Introduction
3. Market Dynamics
4. Compensation Tables
5. Experience, Hours & PTO
6. Benefits
7. Owner Compensation
8. Demographics

Format: 59-page PDF guide, single-license use. Joint project between the Bureau of Digital and Promethean Research. Sponsored by Parallax.

Methodology

1,350 individual employee salaries and 104 individual owner salaries from 67 digital agencies, fielded November–December 2023. 90% U.S., 9% Canada, <1% other. Agency size split: 30% Studio, 39% Small, 27% Medium, 4% Large. 64% of employees represented were senior-level (7+ years of experience).

About Promethean Research

Promethean Research has tracked the digital agency industry since 2015. We publish annual benchmark reports used by agency leaders to make decisions on growth, pricing, staffing, and compensation.