How much do sign makers make?
Sign shop pay since 2014
Average pay in U.S. sign shops has risen every year since 2014, from $45,283 to $65,386. Over the same years the number of shops went from 6,673 to 7,672 and employment from 69,965 to 76,766.
| Year | Sign shops | Employees | Weekly pay | Annual pay |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 7,672 | 76,766 | $1,257 | $65,386 |
| 2024 | 7,581 | 76,480 | $1,219 | $63,399 |
| 2023 | 7,538 | 76,289 | $1,175 | $61,114 |
| 2022 | 7,461 | 74,256 | $1,114 | $57,944 |
| 2021 | 7,314 | 71,730 | $1,052 | $54,720 |
| 2020 | 7,267 | 72,147 | $1,019 | $52,992 |
| 2019 | 7,217 | 78,880 | $982 | $51,064 |
| 2018 | 7,131 | 78,448 | $956 | $49,716 |
| 2017 | 6,920 | 77,643 | $938 | $48,799 |
| 2016 | 6,787 | 75,717 | $919 | $47,803 |
| 2015 | 6,698 | 72,423 | $893 | $46,430 |
| 2014 | 6,673 | 69,965 | $871 | $45,283 |
Sign installers, fabricators and designers
No government series gives a wage for "sign maker", "sign installer" or "sign fabricator". The BLS occupational wage survey has no sign job title, and it does not publish sign manufacturing separately from other miscellaneous manufacturing. What the BLS does publish, from the tax reports every employer files, is the average pay of everyone on a sign shop's payroll: fabricators, installers, designers, sales and office staff, and owners who pay themselves a wage. That is the $65,386 above. Shops with no employees are not in it.
Against nearby trades, sign shops pay 37% more than commercial screen printers and 4% less than commercial printers. A designer doing sign work inside a graphic design firm is in an industry averaging $97,744. Sign shop pay is 27% less than the average manufacturing job and 17% less than the average private-sector job.
| Industry (2025, U.S.) | Average annual pay | Weekly | Employees |
|---|---|---|---|
| Graphic design services NAICS 541430 | $1,880 | 51,750 | |
| All manufacturing NAICS 31-33 | $1,721 | 12,579,906 | |
| All private employers all industries | $1,521 | 133,160,274 | |
| Commercial printing NAICS 323111 | $1,307 | 242,995 | |
| Sign manufacturing NAICS 339950 | $1,257 | 76,766 | |
| Commercial screen printing NAICS 323113 | $916 | 74,181 |
What a shop can pay depends on what it charges, and most signs are priced by the square foot, with materials, finishing and installation on top. PrinterFlo's free sign pricing calculator shows how size and material turn into a price for the common sign and banner types.
Sign maker salary by state
Average annual pay in sign shops, every state, highest first, with the change since 2024. Each state's page has its shop count, employment and pay history. The BLS withheld pay for District of Columbia, Vermont and Wyoming to protect a small number of employers.
| # | State | Average pay | Weekly | Employees | Pay vs 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Massachusetts | $1,960 | 1,477 | -1.5% | |
| 2 | Illinois | $1,428 | 3,490 | +3.2% | |
| 3 | New Jersey | $1,421 | 2,078 | +4.8% | |
| 4 | Nevada | $1,411 | 1,232 | +2.9% | |
| 5 | New York | $1,389 | 3,572 | +6.1% | |
| 6 | New Hampshire | $1,388 | 277 | +3.6% | |
| 7 | Connecticut | $1,370 | 650 | +0.8% | |
| 8 | Maryland | $1,357 | 976 | +1.8% | |
| 9 | California | $1,348 | 6,350 | +1.2% | |
| 10 | Utah | $1,329 | 1,041 | +8% | |
| 11 | Arizona | $1,314 | 1,633 | +0.9% | |
| 12 | Kansas | $1,308 | 907 | +5.9% | |
| 13 | Wisconsin | $1,306 | 2,311 | +2.7% | |
| 14 | Pennsylvania | $1,305 | 2,960 | +3.2% | |
| 15 | Minnesota | $1,301 | 2,053 | +4.9% | |
| 16 | Oregon | $1,299 | 1,162 | +0.5% | |
| 17 | Kentucky | $1,295 | 792 | +5% | |
| 18 | South Dakota | $1,286 | 2,347 | +3.2% | |
| 19 | Washington | $1,268 | 1,334 | +6.7% | |
| 20 | Rhode Island | $1,257 | 82 | +7.4% | |
| 21 | Virginia | $1,254 | 1,990 | +3.7% | |
| 22 | Florida | $1,216 | 4,608 | +6.4% | |
| 23 | Texas | $1,210 | 7,555 | 0% | |
| 24 | Michigan | $1,195 | 2,037 | +2.9% | |
| 25 | Georgia | $1,186 | 2,562 | +4.3% | |
| 26 | South Carolina | $1,172 | 1,714 | +4% | |
| 27 | Iowa | $1,167 | 511 | +5.4% | |
| 28 | Ohio | $1,161 | 3,344 | +3.8% | |
| 29 | Tennessee | $1,148 | 2,042 | +3.4% | |
| 30 | Colorado | $1,134 | 1,517 | +3.8% | |
| 31 | North Carolina | $1,125 | 2,207 | +4.5% | |
| 32 | New Mexico | $1,123 | 298 | +5.4% | |
| 33 | Maine | $1,113 | 230 | +2% | |
| 34 | North Dakota | $1,105 | 192 | +3.6% | |
| 35 | Alabama | $1,104 | 1,523 | +2.5% | |
| 36 | Missouri | $1,093 | 1,661 | +3.2% | |
| 37 | Idaho | $1,091 | 560 | +5.6% | |
| 38 | Nebraska | $1,086 | 469 | +1.2% | |
| 39 | Montana | $1,061 | 223 | +4% | |
| 40 | Indiana | $1,049 | 1,793 | +1.8% | |
| 41 | Oklahoma | $1,024 | 639 | +1.1% | |
| 42 | Arkansas | $1,012 | 471 | +3.6% | |
| 43 | Hawaii | $993 | 101 | +4.3% | |
| 44 | Mississippi | $960 | 554 | +3.7% | |
| 45 | Alaska | $955 | 81 | +5.9% | |
| 46 | Louisiana | $923 | 778 | +3.9% | |
| 47 | Delaware | $914 | 130 | +3.1% | |
| 48 | West Virginia | $895 | 105 | +10.9% | |
| — | District of Columbia | withheld | — | 0 | — |
| — | Vermont | withheld | — | 0 | — |
| — | Wyoming | withheld | — | 0 | -100% |
Questions
How much does a sign maker make?
U.S. sign shops paid an average of $65,386 a year in 2025, or $1,257 a week, about $31.43 an hour at 40 hours. That is the average across all 76,766 people on sign shop payrolls, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics count of employers.
How much does a sign installer make?
The government does not publish a separate figure for sign installers. Installers employed by sign shops are inside the sign industry's 2025 average of $65,386; installers who work for electrical or building contractors are counted in those industries instead.
How much does a sign designer make?
Designers employed by sign shops are inside the sign industry's $65,386 average. Design work done at graphic design firms falls under graphic design services, where the 2025 average was $97,744.
Which state pays sign makers the most?
Massachusetts, where sign shops paid an average of $101,897 in 2025, followed by Illinois ($74,264) and New Jersey ($73,891). The lowest published average was West Virginia's $46,514.
Is sign maker pay going up?
Yes, every year on record. Average pay in U.S. sign shops went from $45,283 in 2014 to $65,386 in 2025, a rise of 44.4%, and was up 3.1% on 2024. These are current dollars, not adjusted for inflation.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW), annual averages, private ownership, NAICS 339950 Sign Manufacturing, U.S. and states, 2014 to 2025 annual averages; comparison industries from the same census, private ownership, 2025. Read September 24, 2026. Average pay = total annual wages ÷ annual average employment. The hourly figure is weekly pay ÷ 40, a rough full-time equivalent, since the census does not record hours.