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How much can you expect to earn as a designer in Sweden?

Wondering about a career as a designer in Sweden, or are you already working in the area and want to know how your salary matches up to the average? We've broken down the numbers to look at what you could expect to earn as a designer, both before and after tax, depending on your situation.

Published: 23 January 2020 07:40 CET
How much can you expect to earn as a designer in Sweden?
Knowing the average salaries for your sector can help inform your job-hunt and pay negotiations. Photo: Lena Granefelt/imagebank.sweden.se

The field of design covers a range of industries and companies, and many factors affect your compensation, such as your experience and level of responsibility. But it's always helpful to have an overall picture of the salary levels in your industry. 

Graphic designers earn an average of 35,200 kronor ($3,700) before tax each month, according to the latest national statistics. For comparison, the average salary in Sweden across all sectors was 34,600 kronor before tax in 2018, and the figure for 2019 is not yet available.

Women, on average, earned 34,200 per month as graphic designers while for men the figure was 35,800 kronor. The age group earning the most as graphic designers was the 45-55-year category, with an average monthly salary of 38,100 kronor. That compared to 32,300 kronor per month for those aged 25-34, 35,500 kronor for those aged 35-44, and 34,800 for those aged 55-64. 

Within the field of graphic design, workers with post-secondary education of under three years earned the most, 37,700 kronor per month on average. That was more than the average for those with upper secondary education of two years or less (32,100 kronor), upper secondary education of three years (34,500 kronor) and post-secondary education of more than three years (34,400 kronor).

For designers in the field of gaming and digital media, the overall average salary is 36,200 kronor per month before tax. There is a slight gender imbalance, so women earn 36,100 kronor on average while for men it's 36,300 kronor.

Salaries also differed depending on age, with the age group 35-44 bringing home the most each month at 39,100 kronor. That compared to 34,300 kronor for the age group 25-34, while average salary ranges for other individual age groups were not available at Statistics Sweden. 

And what about fashion? The average monthly pay for a fashion designer (and related professionals) was 40,500 kronor, although women received an average of only 38,000 kronor compared to 45,500 kronor for men.

For interior designers, a category that also included interior decorators and scenographers, average monthly pay was 31,900 kronor. And industrial product designers earned an average of 45,700 kronor per month.

As for how much of this salary you would actually take home, we looked into the numbers using Swedish tax office Skatteverket's calculator.

Your tax rate depends on a few factors, including where you live, so first we looked at the figures for a 35-year-old living in Stockholm. To calculate the rates, we also assumed that most of our readers who grew up outside of Sweden will not be paying members of the Swedish Church, so would not pay towards Sweden's church tax.

Other factors may play a role in your tax bill, so these calculations can be used as a guide but may not be exact.

Based on this, a 35-year-old graphic designer earning 35,200 kronor a month would take home 27,178 kronor after tax in 2020. For a gaming designer earning 36,200 kronor, the take-home sum would be 27,878 kronor, while an interior designer earning the average salary of 31,900 kronor a month in Stockholm could expect a net paycheck of 24,838 kronor per month in 2020.

For geographic comparison, in Malmö those average monthly take-home pay figures would be 26,397 kronor for the graphic designer, 27,067 kronor for the gaming designer, and 24,153 kronor for the interior designer. And in Umeå they would be 26,137 kronor, 26,797 kronor, and 23,925 kronor respectively. Again, these figures are approximate and based on the average monthly salary across all genders.

We used Statistics Sweden and Skatteverket as sources for this article. Did you find it useful? Please email [email protected] to let us know what you think or what industry you want us to look at next.

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READER INSIGHTS

How to find a job in Sweden: Five tips from those who’ve been there, done that

The Swedish job market poses unique challenges for newcomers. The Local's readers share their best tips for cracking the career code.

Published: 10 April 2024 11:32 CEST
Updated: 13 April 2024 15:50 CEST
How to find a job in Sweden: Five tips from those who've been there, done that

Network, network, network!

A statistic that often gets tossed around is that seven out of ten jobs in Sweden are obtained through personal connections, and there’s no doubt that a good network is crucial to your job hunt, making the labour market extra challenging for newcomers to the country.

In fact, networking was the main tip mentioned by The Local’s readers.

“The job market is quite hot in Sweden, and talent is in short supply. People hiring do not have a lot of time to find the right talent, and tips from friends, colleagues and former colleagues are the way to first, find out organisations are hiring, and secondly, get your CV on the short list,” said Kyle, a Canadian reader who works in innovation management in Gothenburg.

“If you are going for a major employer like Volvo, network gets you in the door, as HR does not have much to do with hiring… the hiring managers do all of it and have no time, due to the insane number of consensus meetings. If you are looking for smaller organisations, they have even less time to find people, and networking is their primary way to find talent,” he added.

NETWORKING IN SWEDEN:

Some of the networking tips readers mentioned were going to job fairs, getting an internship to help you establish connections in your preferred field, joining clubs (this could be anything from your local gardening association to meetups for coders, but focus on clubs that may be popular among people working in your chosen field), and drawing on your organic network of friends, neighbours and others.

Don’t neglect the groundwork

The saying “dress for the job you want, not the job you have” is getting worn out (and people may look at you funny if you turn up to interviews in a Batman suit), but there’s truth to the notion of making sure you know what you want – and preparing for it.

In other words, don’t wait for a job ad to appear before you start to customise your CV and figure out what skill set you need. Create your CV now so that you’re ready to tweak it to your dream job – you could even have a general look at job ads in your field to see what requirements are needed. And don’t forget to spruce up your LinkedIn profile so that it fits with your career goals.

“I believe that several factors contribute to successfully landing a desirable job in Sweden. It’s essential to prepare to meet the requirements beyond just having a university degree. Many individuals realise these requirements only after completing their studies when they start searching for a job, which can be too late,” said Adnan Aslam from Pakistan, who works as a food inspector.

“I recommend identifying the job advertisements for positions you aspire to hold in the future and then preparing for those requirements during your studies. For me, acquiring a basic level of proficiency in the Swedish language and obtaining a Swedish driving licence were crucial. I pursued these goals during my studies and was able to secure a desirable job before graduating,” he added.

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Felipe Cabral even has a GPT assistant trained on his own CVs and old cover letters, and said the set-up only takes ten minutes if you already have your documents. “With that in place, you can give instructions like: Read this job description and create a tailored version of my CV and letter for it. (…) Remember to always review and ask it not to create data aside from your documents.”

Be flexible and ready to adapt

Moving to a new place inevitably means having to learn not just the practicalities such as how to write a CV or which websites to use to look for job openings, but also learning how to navigate a new culture with all its unspoken expectations.

Swedish workplaces are generally less hierarchical than many other countries, but that doesn’t mean you can say whatever you want whenever you want without anyone raising an eyebrow. Swedes are usually direct, but be careful of being too abrasive or boastful: raising your voice, even during a spirited argument, or banging your own drum to show off your skills may not go down well.

“Talk, deliberate, complain like a Swede and you’ll come across like you know what the job entails, so your trustworthiness increases,” said an Indian data analyst who preferred to remain anonymous.

“Office politics are just as strong in Sweden as anywhere else. The flat hierarchy is deceiving as social hierarchy is enforced quite a bit in that lack of formal hierarchy. Take your time in learning these dynamics wherever you work before revealing your talent and capabilities. Expect those internal politics to happen, and they won’t hurt so much when they do,” said Kyle, the Canadian reader in Gothenburg.

This article about Swedish office politics may be useful.

Stay true to yourself

Adapting to your surroundings is one thing. Completely changing who you are is another.

For one thing, your happiness is as important as your career progression, and for another, your foreignness need not be an impediment: it’s also a skill that sets you apart from the rest. It means you have unique experience, and also, in the right setting, provides an opportunity to sometimes violate those social rules we mentioned above, because people assume you will, anyway.

“Trust is key. Build trust in your network, work with integrity. It’s OK to violate jantelagen if you are maintaining integrity. Sometimes your outsider and more honest/open opinion will burn bridges, especially those that may feel threatened by talent. But it will build trust with other colleagues who see it as brave and more trustworthy to work with,” said Kyle from Canada.

Hunker down for the long haul

We don’t want to scare you, because there are plenty of examples of people who quickly find their dream job in Sweden and settle into their new workplace, enjoying perks such as long summer holidays, generous parental leave and the famous work-life balance.

But if you do find it tougher than you expected: know that you’re not alone.

Several readers who responded to the survey said they were still trying to find a job in Sweden.

“I found jobs all over Europe but not here. They say they have a lack of experienced senior engineers but the don’t seem to be doing much to solve this,” said a Brazilian in Gothenburg.

A reader from Bangladesh said she was “at a loss” as to how to make a career change from her current AI role in Stockholm, despite many years of experience as an IT project manager.

“Over the past 18 months, I’ve submitted over 600 applications to various organisations. Unfortunately, despite being overqualified for some positions, I’ve faced rejections at every turn, from both large and small companies. The job market here, especially for foreign-born women, feels overwhelmingly challenging,” she said, adding that the struggle had impacted her mental health.

The Local has on several occasions reported on foreign residents’ struggle to get a foot on the Swedish job ladder, with many facing hurdles such as employers’ unfamiliarity with international degrees, discrimination, or a lack of network that can provide paths into a company.

So during the job hunt, don’t forget to care for yourself. Share your concerns with fellow job-seekers, ask for help and join networking groups – this is good not just for creating new contacts, but also in terms of your social well-being and meeting people who are in a similar situation.

And finally, as one British reader in Stockholm advised, keep looking: “Be open-minded with the opportunities that present themselves. It isn’t an easy market to enter and doesn’t feel inclusive.” But he added, “don’t give up”.

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