Which pays more, UI Designer or UX Researcher?

The median advertised salary for each is in the table above, along with the 25th and 75th percentiles so you can see the spread rather than one number.

Which has more openings?

Both counts are live and computed at the same moment, so the comparison is like for like.

Postings are read from company career systems continuously; the age row shows how old the listings themselves are.

Side by side

UI Designer vs UX Researcher

Pay is effectively the same — the medians sit under 1% apart. Demand is comparable on both sides. UX Researcher is the more remote-friendly of the two, by 5.7%. Listings for UX Researcher move faster — median age 52 days against 95.

Comparison

Side by side

Measure	UI Designer	UX Researcher	Gap
Open postings	17,291	13,684	+3,607
Posted this week	628	1,189
Median salary	$109,500	$109,000	+$500
25th percentile	$86.5k	$86k
75th percentile	$136k	$135k
Salary disclosed	5.5%	5.0%
Remote share	6.6%	12.3%	-5.7pp
Median age of posting	95d	52d
Open over 60 days	44.6%	34.1%
Visa sponsorship	24.8%	24.4%

Pay

Pay distribution

UI Designer

$49k$189k

UX Researcher

$49k$189k

Freshness

How old the listings are

UI Designer

just posted95d median90d+

UX Researcher

just posted52d median90d+

Demand

What each side asks for

UI Designer — technologies

TypeScript

72.0%

Java

65.8%

Spark

59.6%

Tableau

53.4%

Azure

47.2%

41.0%

Kotlin

34.8%

UX Researcher — technologies

Python

72.0%

Figma

65.8%

JavaScript

59.6%

Azure

53.4%

Airflow

47.2%

PostgreSQL

41.0%

dbt

34.8%

UI Designer — employers

Kestrel Health

9.4%

Solstice Biotech

8.7%

Tidewater Insurance

8.0%

Cobalt Financial

7.2%

Aperture Labs

6.5%

Pinewood Education

5.8%

Lakeshore Hospitality

5.1%

UX Researcher — employers

Rivergate Media

9.4%

Northwind Systems

8.7%

Meridian Software

8.0%

Brightline Retail

7.2%

Halcyon Energy

6.5%

Cobalt Financial

5.8%

Tidewater Insurance

5.1%

More comparisons

Other Design comparisons

Graphic Designer vs Product Designer Graphic Designer vs UI Designer Graphic Designer vs UX Designer Graphic Designer vs UX Researcher Product Designer vs UI Designer Product Designer vs UX Designer Product Designer vs UX Researcher UI Designer vs UX Designer UX Designer vs UX Researcher

Both sides are counted the same way on the same day, so the gap is comparable even where the absolute numbers move. Salary figures use only postings that publish a range — the disclosure rate is in the table because a median over 20% of a cohort is a weaker number than one over 70%.