3D Modeler Salary 2026,
What 3D Modelers Actually Earn

How much do 3d modelers make in 2026?

3D modelers are reported inside SOC 27-1014, special effects artists and animators, which BLS OEWS May 2025 puts at a national median of $102,030 a year, or $49.06 an hour, with a P10 to P90 range of $58,600 to $177,110 across 19,970 workers. That is a broad match and the disclosure matters, because the code pools modelers with animators, effects artists, riggers and technical artists across film, television, games and advertising, and it is weighted toward the high-paying visual effects and feature animation studios. A modeler doing architectural visualisation or product rendering for a manufacturer is doing recognisably the same craft for materially less money, and is not well represented by this median. Within the code, the reliable pay drivers are industry and technical specialism. Feature visual effects and AAA games sit at the top; broadcast, advertising and mid-market games sit in the middle; visualisation, e-commerce product rendering and asset production sit at the bottom. Technical artists who can write tools and manage pipelines earn above pure modelers, because the constraint in production is rarely the modelling itself. BLS projects 1.6% growth through 2034 with roughly 5,000 openings a year. → Full 3d modeler career guide, career path, credentials & placement →

Note: $102,030 blends every experience level and every setting in this occupation. For pay by level alone, see Pay by Level below.

Published (BLS): BLS OEWS May 2025, SOC 27-1014, United States national estimate. Public, methodologically rigorous, but sampled on a rolling 3-year basis and published ~10 months after collection — so it reflects wages that are already 1–2 years old by the time you read them.

Level and certification medians: distributed across the published BLS percentile range for this SOC code (P10 through P90) according to the credential tiers this occupation actually hires at. They are modeled reference points, not separately surveyed wages.

State and metro figures: modeled — the BLS national median multiplied by the GlobalCybers state wage index, and for metros by the published metro index for that state. They are estimates of local pay, not BLS state or metropolitan-area observations, and are labelled as modeled in the tables below.

No verified placement sample:GlobalCybers does not yet publish a placement median for this role, so no "verified" figure appears anywhere on this page.

Full site methodology & data sources →