• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, March 24, 2025

The average digital marketing salary in the U.S. last year was $84,233. But that number could depend on a variety of factors, from an influx of entry-level industry professionals to regional salary variations that contribute to broader economic trends.

NP Digital, an independent agency, collected responses from 2,880 digital marketing professionals across 96 countries in the fourth quarter of 2024. The data offers a perspective on how digital marketing salary trends vary by region, role, and experience.

Survey questions focused on salary issues such as total compensation measured in U.S. dollars, attitudes toward discussing compensation at work, strategies for increasing compensation, perceptions of AI's role in salary negotiations, and job-switching behavior and motivations. Respondents also shared information on gender, education level, work experience, and seniority.

The data goes into detail on a variety of other topics than what is summarized here such as factors behind job switching, how digital marketers think AI will impact their pay, and how digital marketers use AI to compensate their pay.

Most digital marketers make an annual salary of less than $150,000, and the median salary is $63,000.

Salaries exceeding $150,000 are less common and typically align with senior executive or specialized roles.

The U.S. part of the survey reveals significant variations in salaries across different digital marketing roles, including some new roles such as AI prompt engineers.

Aside from “other,” which has several job categories lumped into one, here are the top five annual salaries in the U.S.:

Occupation              Salary

General Marketing     $96,353
Operations                $90,537
Content Marketing     $88,203
Data & Analytics        $87,916
Paid Media                $86,637

General marketing and “other” represented some of the largest salary totals. This category included director-level/C-level roles, managers, and strategic roles. These also reflect developing roles that were difficult to classify, such as AI prompt engineers, which can command higher salaries due to their specific expertise.

Globally, the average digital marketing salary last year was $68,491. This year, North American respondents comprise 59.7% of the data influencing the global average.

North America also has a higher cost of living and greater demand for specialized talent.

A higher representation of North Americans can also mean a greater representation for leadership and technical roles, driving up the average salaries.

Gender is one demographic factor that correlates with differences in digital marketing salaries. Despite progress, women in digital marketing still earn less than men across most roles, although the gap is narrowing in some categories.

Women in digital marketing earn less than men in the U.S. -- at $89,825.20 vs. $93,887.10. Salaries represent a pay gap of 4.3%, far lower than the national gender pay gap of 17%. Non-binary respondents reported a high overall average salary of $100,333.30.

In the category of freelancers, men at the executive level earn an average of $103,139, while women earn $90,000 — a gap of about 12.7% that is similar to the national average.

Entry-level roles also show a notable gap of 14.04%. With this said, some U.S. states are beginning to require posting salaries in job descriptions, and they are not asking about previous salaries in interviews.

There also is a significant gap in digital marketing salaries between men and women based on their years of experience at all levels. Gender pay gaps are also consistent in key roles.

In the U.S., digital marketing professionals on in-house teams earn the most, with an average salary of $95,094. This seems to be due to a higher demand for specific expertise and smaller teams compared to agencies.

Another major variable is remote versus in-person work. Among the respondents, 41% worked completely remotely, with 36.3% on a hybrid system -- which is considered a combination of remote and in-office work -- and 22.7% working in the office.