# Web and Digital Interface Designers

US SOC code 15-1255. Markdown version of https://futurehistory.earth/timeline/15-1255

Also called: UX designer, UI designer, Product designer, Interaction designer, User experience designer.

## In brief

In May 2025, [BLS](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm25nat.zip) counted **113,330** US web and digital interface designers, with median pay of **$104,000** a year. Of the BLS counts since 2021, the May 2025 count is the highest. The earliest figure here is [an estimate](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_design) of **18,000** from 1996, not measured the same way as today's count. The last full technology era for web and digital interface designers: Figma (collaborative, cloud-first design), 2016 to 2022. Figma's collaborative model reshaped team structures: design reviews, handoff, and iteration moved from asynchronous file-sharing into live shared workspaces.

## What the sources say

### Official outlook

BLS projects employment to grow 6% from 2025 to 2035. Source: [BLS Employment Projections 2025-35](https://data.bls.gov/projections/nationalMatrix?queryParams=15-1255&ioType=o).

### AI exposure studies

- **68.3%** of this job's tasks are exposed to large language models. Not a forecast of job losses. [Eloundou and others, 2023](https://github.com/openai/GPTs-are-GPTs/blob/main/data/occ_level.csv)

Data as of BLS OEWS May 2025; BLS Employment Projections 2025-35. BLS publishes these counts as yearly survey snapshots and cautions against reading them as a precise trend.

## Web and Digital Interface Designers employment and pay by year

- On record since: 1993
- Latest US employment: 113,330 (May 2025). Source: BLS OEWS May 2025 [3]
- Latest US median pay: $104,000 (May 2025). Source: BLS OEWS May 2025 [5]
- Outlook: +6% by 2035. Source: BLS Employment Projections 2025-35 [17]

### All 8 years of cited US data

| Year | US employment | Annual pay (median unless marked) | Source |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1996 | 18,000 (estimate) | n/a | Est., Wikipedia [1] |
| 1999 | 75,000 (estimate) | $41,000 (estimate) | Est., Wikipedia [2] |
| 2002 | 49,000 (estimate) | n/a | Est., Wikipedia [2] |
| 2021 | 82,380 | $79,890 | BLS OEWS May 2021 [3] |
| 2022 | 97,350 | $83,240 | BLS OEWS May 2022 [3] |
| 2023 | 111,060 | $98,540 | BLS OEWS May 2023 [3] |
| 2024 | 111,400 | $98,090 | BLS OEWS May 2024 [3] |
| 2025 | 113,330 | $104,000 | BLS OEWS May 2025 [3] |

## Sources (48)

### Employment series

1. [Wikipedia — Web design: history section (early web designer labor market, 1993-1997)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_design), Wikipedia
2. [Wikipedia — Dot-com bubble (rapid web employment growth 1997-2000)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dot-com_bubble), Wikipedia
3. BLS OEWS, national cross-industry estimates (flat file), Bureau of Labor Statistics. Editions: [2021](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm21nat.zip), [2022](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm22nat.zip), [2023](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm23nat.zip), [2024](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm24nat.zip), [2025](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm25nat.zip)

### Wage series

4. [Wikipedia — Dot-com bubble (salary context, peak of web hiring 1999-2000)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dot-com_bubble), Wikipedia
5. BLS OEWS, national cross-industry estimates (flat file), Bureau of Labor Statistics. Editions: [2021](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm21nat.zip), [2022](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm22nat.zip), [2023](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm23nat.zip), [2025](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm25nat.zip)
6. [BLS OEWS May 2024, national cross-industry estimates (flat file)](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm24nat.zip), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

### Tool eras

7. [Wikipedia — History of the web browser (Mosaic 1993, browser emergence)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_web_browser), Wikipedia
8. [Wikipedia — Web design: history of web design (hand-coded HTML era)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_design), Wikipedia
9. [Wikipedia — Macromedia Dreamweaver (initial release December 1997)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macromedia_Dreamweaver), Wikipedia
10. [Wikipedia — Adobe Flash (Macromedia Flash history and decline)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adobe_Flash), Wikipedia
11. [Wikipedia — Ajax (programming): Gmail and Google Maps popularizing dynamic web apps, 2004-2005](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajax_%28programming%29), Wikipedia
12. [Wikipedia — Responsive web design (Ethan Marcotte, A List Apart, May 2010)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Responsive_web_design), Wikipedia
13. [Wikipedia — Sketch (software): initial release September 7, 2010; Apple Design Award 2012](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sketch_%28software%29), Wikipedia
14. [Wikipedia — Figma (software): public launch September 27, 2016; collaborative design history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Figma_%28software%29), Wikipedia
15. [Figma — Introducing Figma Make: design to prototype in one prompt (April 2025)](https://www.figma.com/blog/introducing-figma-make/), Figma
16. [SaaStr — v0 by Vercel: 9.6M projects in 2025, non-designers shipping production UI](https://www.saastr.com/saastr-ai-app-of-the-week-v0-by-vercel-the-vibe-coding-tool-that-4-million-people-use-to-ship-real-software-not-just-demos/), SaaStr

### Forecasts and exposure studies

17. [BLS Employment Projections 2025-35, National Employment Matrix: 15-1255 Web and digital interface designers (2025: 132.7 thousand; 2035: 140.8 thousand; +6.0%)](https://data.bls.gov/projections/nationalMatrix?queryParams=15-1255&ioType=o), Bureau of Labor Statistics
18. [Eloundou, Manning, Mishkin & Rock (2023), "GPTs are GPTs", occupation-level exposure data occ\_level.csv (O\*NET-SOC 15-1255.00, human-rated β 0.683)](https://github.com/openai/GPTs-are-GPTs/blob/main/data/occ_level.csv), OpenAI

### Historical notes

19. [W3C — A History of the World Wide Web (Tim Berners-Lee proposal, 1989-1991)](https://www.w3.org/History.html), World Wide Web Consortium
20. [Wikipedia — History of the web browser (NCSA Mosaic, February 1993)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_web_browser), Wikipedia
21. [Wikipedia — Don Norman (first "User Experience Architect" title, Apple, 1993)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Norman), Wikipedia
22. [Wikipedia — Cascading Style Sheets: history (CSS1 recommendation, December 1996)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CSS), Wikipedia
23. [Wikipedia — Macromedia Dreamweaver: initial release December 1997, developed by Macromedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macromedia_Dreamweaver), Wikipedia
24. [Wikipedia — Nielsen Norman Group (founding August 28, 1998)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nielsen_Norman_Group), Wikipedia
25. [Wikipedia — Dot-com bubble (NASDAQ peak March 10, 2000; collapse through October 2002)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dot-com_bubble), Wikipedia
26. [Wikipedia — Responsive web design (Ethan Marcotte, A List Apart, May 2010)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Responsive_web_design), Wikipedia
27. [Wikipedia — Figma (software): public launch September 27, 2016; Adobe acquisition attempt 2022-2023](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Figma_%28software%29), Wikipedia
28. [ASSIST Software — European Accessibility Act mandatory June 2025: 95.9% of websites fail WCAG](https://assist-software.net/business-insights/web-accessibility-2026-complete-guide-wcag-compliance), ASSIST Software

### Predecessors & successors

29. [Wikipedia — Web design: history section (early web designers came from graphic design backgrounds)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_design), Wikipedia
30. [Wikipedia — Webmaster (early web roles, 1993-2000)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Webmaster), Wikipedia
31. [Wikipedia — User experience design (HCI roots of UX as a practice)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_experience_design), Wikipedia
32. [O\*NET 15-1255.00 — related occupations and career pathway (design to product management)](https://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/15-1255.00), O\*NET / BLS

### Present-day analysis

- [O\*NET 30.3 — Web and Digital Interface Designers (15-1255.00)](https://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/15-1255.00), accessed 2026-05-23
- [BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook — Web Developers and Digital Designers](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/computer-and-information-technology/web-developers.htm), accessed 2026-05-23
- [Eloundou et al. 2024 — GPTs are GPTs (Science)](https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.10130), accessed 2026-05-23
- [Figma — Introducing Figma Make: design to prototype in one prompt (Apr 2025)](https://www.figma.com/blog/introducing-figma-make/), accessed 2026-05-23
- [Nielsen Norman Group — AI in UX: how practitioners are using AI in their work (2025)](https://www.nngroup.com/articles/ai-roles-ux/), accessed 2026-05-23
- [ASSIST Software — European Accessibility Act mandatory June 2025; 95.9% of websites fail WCAG](https://assist-software.net/business-insights/web-accessibility-2026-complete-guide-wcag-compliance), accessed 2026-05-23
- [LogRocket — Figma AI in 2026: everything it can do and what it still cannot](https://blog.logrocket.com/ux-design/figma-ai-2026-quick-overview/), accessed 2026-05-23
- [Framer AI — Generate complete, responsive web designs from a text prompt (2025)](https://www.framer.com/ai/), accessed 2026-05-23
- [SaaStr — v0 by Vercel: 9.6M projects in 2025, non-designers shipping production UI](https://www.saastr.com/saastr-ai-app-of-the-week-v0-by-vercel-the-vibe-coding-tool-that-4-million-people-use-to-ship-real-software-not-just-demos/), accessed 2026-05-23

How to read these figures: https://futurehistory.earth/methodology. Every figure links to its own source; gaps stay gaps.