Editors salary

SOC 27-3041 · BLS OEWS May 2025

Median

$77,920

per year, nationally

Middle half

$57,300–$106,100

25th to 75th percentile

Employed

91,690

in the U.S.

Growth 2024–34

+0.6%

9,800 openings/yr

What the range looks like

A single median hides most of what a job pays. The bar below is the full national range: the wash spans the 10th to 90th percentile, the solid bar is the middle half, and the tick is the median.

$41,250$153,700

10th: $41,250
25th: $57,300
Median: $77,920
75th: $106,100
90th: $153,700

Getting in

Typical education to enter: Bachelor's degree
Related work experience: Less than 5 years
On-the-job training: None

Entry requirements describe what is typical, not mandatory. Source: BLS Employment Projections, 2024–34.

Where editors earn the most

Nominal pay and pay adjusted for local prices rank states differently — a high-wage state with high costs can be worse off in real terms than a middling one. Switch between the two below.

The median wage as published, before local prices are taken into account.

#	State	Median	Cost of living	Employed	Concentrationvs. national
1	New York	$101,480	107.9	16,800	2.94×
2	California	$98,030	110.7	14,830	1.38×
3	Connecticut	$85,950	103.6	1,050	1.05×
4	District of Columbia	$83,920	109.9	3,310	7.99×
5	Massachusetts	$83,170	105.8	3,100	1.44×
6	New Jersey	$81,680	108.8	2,120	0.84×
7	Virginia	$80,590	101.1	2,720	1.12×
8	Rhode Island	$77,960	102.3	340	1.14×
9	Colorado	$77,870	103.1	1,830	1.08×
10	Washington	$77,850	107.0	1,860	0.89×
11	Georgia	$76,650	96.3	1,920	0.67×
12	Illinois	$76,060	100.0	4,560	1.27×
13	Maryland	$75,550	105.0	1,850	1.13×
14	Delaware	$75,020	99.8	170	0.61×
15	Florida	$73,950	103.4	3,790	0.65×
16	North Carolina	$73,740	94.3	1,870	0.64×
17	Nevada	$72,510	100.0	—	—
18	Ohio	$72,160	92.8	1,800	0.55×
19	Oregon	$71,540	103.4	1,110	0.96×
20	Vermont	$66,860	98.0	240	1.34×
21	New Hampshire	$66,510	104.2	250	0.62×
22	Utah	$65,040	98.9	590	0.57×
23	Wisconsin	$64,270	94.1	1,510	0.87×
24	New Mexico	$64,250	92.2	230	0.46×
25	Alaska	$63,630	102.4	60	0.33×
26	Pennsylvania	$63,460	97.6	3,240	0.91×
27	Alabama	$63,330	88.8	530	0.43×
28	Arizona	$63,090	100.7	820	0.43×
29	Michigan	$63,090	96.2	1,690	0.65×
30	Minnesota	$62,650	98.6	1,970	1.13×
31	South Carolina	$62,000	93.7	500	0.36×
32	Kansas	$61,920	90.1	500	0.59×
33	Montana	$61,750	94.6	200	0.67×
34	Missouri	$61,620	90.8	880	0.51×
35	North Dakota	$60,520	89.0	200	0.79×
36	Tennessee	$59,550	91.9	1,390	0.72×
37	Kentucky	$59,430	90.2	490	0.41×
38	Louisiana	$58,860	88.2	330	0.29×
39	Iowa	$57,200	87.8	900	0.98×
40	South Dakota	$56,730	88.6	140	0.53×
41	West Virginia	$56,630	89.5	260	0.64×
42	Indiana	$56,440	93.3	830	0.44×
43	Hawaii	$55,070	110.0	100	0.27×
44	Mississippi	$54,380	87.0	290	0.43×
45	Oklahoma	$50,780	87.8	500	0.50×
46	Arkansas	$50,180	86.9	260	0.34×
47	Maine	$50,180	97.0	300	0.79×
48	Wyoming	$46,710	92.7	110	0.65×
49	Nebraska	$46,320	90.1	360	0.59×
50	Texas	$45,950	97.1	6,460	0.78×

Cost of living is the BEA regional price parity for all items, where 100 is the national average. Concentration is the BLS location quotient: how much more of the local workforce does this job than the national average, so 2.00× means twice the national share. It is often the reason wages differ — a place that concentrates an occupation has the employers and the competition for it. States where editors wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Best paying metro areas for editors

The 40 highest-paying metros with a published estimate. BLS suppresses roughly half of all occupation-by-metro cells, so a metro absent here has no local figure rather than a low one.

The median wage as published, before local prices are taken into account.

#	Metro area	Median	Cost of living	Employed	Concentrationvs. national
1	San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	$117,580	110.4	560	0.83×
2	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$102,940	115.6	2,040	1.46×
3	New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	$102,120	112.6	16,600	2.97×
4	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$100,050	113.6	8,830	2.39×
5	New Haven, CT	$98,550	104.6	110	0.68×
6	Bridgeport-Stamford-Danbury, CT	$88,610	106.9	340	1.44×
7	Waterbury-Shelton, CT	$87,150	99.8	230	2.47×
8	Trenton-Princeton, NJ	$86,870	103.2	150	1.03×
9	Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH	$86,410	108.3	2,480	1.56×
10	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV	$84,800	108.9	5,470	2.96×
11	Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA	$81,330	107.8	110	0.93×
12	Boulder, CO	$81,090	105.2	220	1.92×
13	Salem, OR	$80,650	103.6	100	0.87×
14	Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA	$80,570	110.5	120	0.61×
15	Durham-Chapel Hill, NC	$80,410	97.6	220	1.09×
16	Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN	$80,380	103.6	2,520	0.95×
17	Lakeland-Winter Haven, FL	$80,360	97.1	50	0.31×
18	Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, FL	$79,940	100.0	60	0.43×
19	Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT	$79,870	102.7	210	0.59×
20	Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD	$79,730	104.5	670	0.83×
21	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	$79,660	111.1	1,380	1.12×
22	Oshkosh-Neenah, WI	$79,350	92.9	50	0.92×
23	Glens Falls, NY	$78,990	94.9	60	2.11×
24	San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA	$78,870	111.9	710	0.78×
25	Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA	$78,800	106.7	370	0.59×
26	Amherst Town-Northampton, MA	$78,700	100.2	80	2.16×
27	Dayton-Kettering-Beavercreek, OH	$78,690	92.7	120	0.56×
28	Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO	$78,670	105.8	1,090	1.15×
29	Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA	$77,890	109.9	30	0.53×
30	Columbus, OH	$77,810	95.5	360	0.55×
31	Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC	$77,730	97.3	510	0.64×
32	Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA	$77,680	100.1	1,380	0.81×
33	Ogden, UT	$77,570	100.3	40	0.28×
34	Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY	$77,570	99.6	260	0.96×
35	Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh, NY	$77,130	109.4	80	0.53×
36	Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL	$76,720	114.2	1,130	0.68×
37	Rochester, NY	$76,620	97.0	190	0.65×
38	Raleigh-Cary, NC	$76,360	98.2	350	0.81×
39	Canton-Massillon, OH	$76,350	89.4	40	0.39×
40	Fort Collins-Loveland, CO	$76,270	101.1	80	0.78×

Cost of living is the BEA regional price parity for all items, where 100 is the national average. Concentration is the BLS location quotient: how much more of the local workforce does this job than the national average, so 2.00× means twice the national share. It is often the reason wages differ — a place that concentrates an occupation has the employers and the competition for it. Metro areas where editors wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Similar occupations

Other jobs in the same field, with what each pays nationally.

Public Relations Specialists$74,750
Interpreters and Translators$60,170
Writers and Authors$76,910
Technical Writers$90,390
News Analysts, Reporters, and Journalists$62,200
Broadcast Announcers and Radio Disc Jockeys$47,340
Media and Communication Workers, All Other$73,620
Court Reporters and Simultaneous Captioners$72,420