Art Directors Salary

Yes — at the median salary of $86K, rent takes 27.2% of take-home pay. A 2-bedroom at the HUD Fair Market Rent runs $1,465/month. That stays under the 30% guideline most financial planners use.

The 10th-percentile wage — what new art directors typically earn — is $78K/year. Take-home on that works out to about $4,670/month. At HUD’s $1,465/month FMR, rent would take 31% of that take-home — above the 30% guideline, so a 1-bedroom or shared housing is likely necessary starting out.

Local pay runs 26% below the national median — $86K here vs. $115K nationally. Cost of living is 6% below the national average, which narrows that gap in real purchasing power.

Myrtle Beach-Conway-North Myrtle Beach pays $86K median vs. the U.S. average of $115K — that’s -26%. After adjusting for local cost of living (RPP 93.64), the purchasing-power equivalent is $91K — below the national median.

The median is $85,510 a year, that works out to about $41 an hour. But the range is wide: entry-level workers start around $77,830, and experienced art directors can clear $173,720. These are BLS numbers, based on employer-reported data, not self-reported surveys.

On that salary, you'd take home roughly $5,391/month after taxes. A 2-bedroom here rents for about $1,465/month, which eats 27.2% of your paycheck. That's under the 30% guideline most financial planners use, so the numbers work.

Myrtle Beach-Conway-North Myrtle Beach has a Regional Price Parity of 93.64 (100 is the national average). That's below average, your money stretches further here than the raw salary number suggests. After cost-of-living adjustment, the median art directors salary is worth about $91,318 in national-average purchasing power.

The table above ranks every state by median pay for this role. Keep in mind that the highest-paying states tend to have the highest costs of living, so the top salary doesn't always mean the most money in your pocket.