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What is the number of UX designers in the US? How many US firms offer UX design as a service?
Hello! Thanks for your inquiry on the number of UX designers and US firms that offer UX design as a service in the US.
The short version is that in 2017 the number of UX designers in the US is estimated at 78,000. The number of UX design firms in the US in estimated at 8,950.
Below you will find a deep dive of my research and findings along with all the details for how I came to this answer.
METHODOLOGY
To answer your inquiry, I first looked into sources directly providing the number of UX designers in the US. A reliable source provided that figure for 2012, and I projected it to 2017. However, the number of resulting UX designers was excessively high and the explanation is that the source took a job family, not specifically UX designers. I then looked in LinkedIn, and based on the number of UX designers and firms listed on that specialized social media, as well as the percentages of professionals and companies with presence in LinkedIn, I estimated the number of UX designers and UX design firms in the US.
UX DESIGNERS IN THE US
CNN Money in its “Best Jobs in America” report, which is based on the US Bureau of Labour Statistics (BLS) and the authoritative job market site PayScale, estimates the number of UX designers at 3.43 million (3,426,000). The figure is for 2012. The same source says UX designer jobs grew 22.1% in ten years.
Unfortunately, updated editions of the “Best Jobs in America” report do not include the number of UX designer jobs. The 2015 edition includes a slightly lower rate of job growth, 18%, for the last ten years. The last version of the report, 2017, provides an even lower growth rate, a 13% job growth estimated for the period 2014-24.
Let us use the last growth figure, 13%, which corresponds to a compound annual growth average (CAGR) of 1.23% per year. Applying this CAGR to the above-indicated number of UX designers in 2012, we get that in 2017 the number of UX designers in the US, based on this source, would be about 3.64 million.
However, this seems to be a too high number. Our source clarifies that this figure is “based on people working in broader 'job family' from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.” Therefore, they clearly include a broad category of IT jobs, which although related, are not specifically focused on UX design.
A MORE FOCUSED SEARCH
Trying to get a more focused picture, I directly looked into the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the US Department of Labor. The closest category to UX designers in the BLS statistics is “web developers.” According to the BLS, there were 148,500 Web Developers in 2014, and they are expected to grow 27% in the period 2014-2024. This is equivalent to a 2.42% CAGR, and thus by 2017 the number of web developers in the US would be 159,500.
BLS define web developers as those that “design and create websites. They are responsible for the look of the site. They are also responsible for the site’s technical aspects, such as its performance and capacity, which are measures of a website’s speed and how much traffic the site can handle. In addition, web developers may create content for the site.”
Clearly, UX designers fall into that category, but not only them, and thus this number of 159,500, although far closer, may still be a little high.
Thus, let us look into another reliable source, LinkedIn. In LinkedIn, under the concept “UX designer,” only nearly 39,000 people are listed in the US, out of 114,000 worldwide.
Although obviously not all professionals keep profiles at LinkedIn, UX design is a relatively new activity, and thus UX designers tend to be young professionals, the kind of people prone to have a LinkedIn account. An authoritative source, The Pew Research Center, states that 50% of all online adults in the US with a college degree are on LinkedIn.
Therefore, based on LinkedIn stats and the share of college graduates with a LinkedIn account, it is reasonable to estimate at 78,000 the number of UX designers in the US, i.e. those professionals really focused on and active in UX design.
FIRMS OFFERING UX DESIGN IN THE US
Utilizing the same source, LinkedIn, we find slightly over 15,000 companies under the concept “UX design.” However, unlike with people, LinkedIn does not allow filtering companies by location, and thus this number is worldwide.
However, we know that in LinkedIn the US share of worldwide UX designers is 34.2% (39,000 over 114,000). Let us apply the same share to the number of worldwide companies. Thus, the number of UX design companies in the US with a LinkedIn page is around 5,100.
Now, not all companies have a LinkedIn page. A source states that 57% of companies have a LinkedIn page. Thus, based on LinkedIn and the share of companies with presence there, we derive that the number of UX design firms in the US is around 8,950.
CONCLUSION
Summarizing, in 2017 the number of UX designers in the US is estimated at 78,000. The number of UX design firms in the US in estimated at 8,950.
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