Technical Writers salary

SOC 27-3042 · BLS OEWS May 2025

Median

$90,390

per year, nationally

Middle half

$70,880–$115,510

25th to 75th percentile

Employed

45,500

in the U.S.

Growth 2024–34

+0.9%

4,500 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.

$57,440$145,270

10th: $57,440
25th: $70,880
Median: $90,390
75th: $115,510
90th: $145,270

Getting in

Typical education to enter: Bachelor's degree
Related work experience: Less than 5 years
On-the-job training: Short-term on-the-job training

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

Where technical writers 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 Jersey	$122,320	108.8	1,550	1.24×
2	District of Columbia	$117,810	109.9	440	2.15×
3	Massachusetts	$109,200	105.8	1,850	1.74×
4	Washington	$104,070	107.0	1,620	1.56×
5	California	$104,000	110.7	5,280	0.99×
6	Rhode Island	$102,360	102.3	150	1.04×
7	Connecticut	$101,870	103.6	770	1.54×
8	Maryland	$100,990	105.0	1,780	2.20×
9	Colorado	$100,610	103.1	1,320	1.57×
10	New York	$98,310	107.9	1,610	0.57×
11	New Hampshire	$96,300	104.2	230	1.16×
12	New Mexico	$94,970	92.2	420	1.66×
13	Virginia	$93,600	101.1	2,280	1.90×
14	Delaware	$90,370	99.8	80	0.54×
15	Nevada	$88,750	100.0	230	0.51×
16	Illinois	$88,700	100.0	1,040	0.58×
17	Vermont	$87,860	98.0	60	0.72×
18	Pennsylvania	$87,620	97.6	1,330	0.75×
19	North Carolina	$86,320	94.3	2,860	1.98×
20	Florida	$86,240	103.4	2,550	0.88×
21	Alabama	$85,840	88.8	630	1.01×
22	Michigan	$85,270	96.2	970	0.75×
23	Oregon	$84,000	103.4	590	1.02×
24	Minnesota	$83,270	98.6	910	1.05×
25	Alaska	$83,200	102.4	130	1.35×
26	Texas	$82,750	97.1	3,340	0.81×
27	South Carolina	$82,540	93.7	700	1.04×
28	Kentucky	$81,070	90.2	340	0.59×
29	Missouri	$80,840	90.8	500	0.58×
30	Utah	$80,270	98.9	570	1.12×
31	Wisconsin	$80,030	94.1	910	1.05×
32	Arizona	$79,780	100.7	730	0.77×
33	Tennessee	$79,550	91.9	480	0.50×
34	Ohio	$76,480	92.8	1,350	0.83×
35	Indiana	$75,510	93.3	540	0.58×
36	Montana	$75,070	94.6	160	1.07×
37	Kansas	$73,550	90.1	480	1.13×
38	Georgia	$73,070	96.3	1,680	1.17×
39	North Dakota	$72,990	89.0	70	0.59×
40	Oklahoma	$69,760	87.8	600	1.21×
41	Iowa	$66,520	87.8	640	1.40×
42	Mississippi	$65,220	87.0	70	0.21×
43	Louisiana	$63,790	88.2	320	0.57×
44	South Dakota	$63,350	88.6	70	0.49×
45	Arkansas	$61,180	86.9	150	0.39×

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 technical writers wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Best paying metro areas for technical writers

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	$140,700	110.4	920	2.78×
2	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$135,470	115.6	1,020	1.46×
3	Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA	$129,590	107.8	40	0.72×
4	Kennewick-Richland, WA	$119,160	100.1	80	2.07×
5	Trenton-Princeton, NJ	$117,130	103.2	100	1.38×
6	Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH	$111,750	108.3	1,590	2.01×
7	New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	$111,050	112.6	2,170	0.78×
8	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	$107,580	111.1	1,220	2.00×
9	Bridgeport-Stamford-Danbury, CT	$106,900	106.9	160	1.36×
10	Boulder, CO	$105,840	105.2	140	2.52×
11	Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA	$104,450	108.8	60	1.01×
12	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$104,000	113.6	1,460	0.80×
13	Augusta-Richmond County, GA-SC	$103,730	91.9	160	2.40×
14	Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO	$103,360	105.8	800	1.70×
15	Savannah, GA	$103,000	95.2	120	1.99×
16	Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT	$102,470	102.7	250	1.40×
17	Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD	$102,140	104.5	820	2.06×
18	Idaho Falls, ID	$101,790	94.4	70	3.07×
19	San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA	$101,750	111.9	520	1.16×
20	Knoxville, TN	$101,430	92.6	100	0.79×
21	Norwich-New London-Willimantic, CT	$100,650	100.4	130	3.64×
22	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV	$99,910	108.9	2,370	2.58×
23	Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA	$98,800	110.5	70	0.71×
24	Worcester, MA	$98,020	102.5	100	0.94×
25	Lexington Park, MD	$97,810	100.8	80	3.79×
26	Manchester-Nashua, NH	$97,360	105.7	60	1.01×
27	Huntsville, AL	$96,470	93.1	340	4.41×
28	Colorado Springs, CO	$96,100	100.7	210	2.26×
29	Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin, FL	$95,690	97.0	90	2.44×
30	North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota, FL	$94,750	102.4	70	0.73×
31	Durham-Chapel Hill, NC	$94,520	97.6	390	3.90×
32	Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA	$94,400	106.7	190	0.60×
33	Wilmington, NC	$93,750	96.4	70	1.22×
34	Fort Collins-Loveland, CO	$93,700	101.1	60	1.12×
35	Raleigh-Cary, NC	$93,580	98.2	630	2.89×
36	Charlottesville, VA	$93,530	99.1	40	1.09×
37	Waterbury-Shelton, CT	$92,880	99.8	50	1.13×
38	Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI	$92,390	100.3	560	1.01×
39	Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD	$92,330	102.6	710	0.84×
40	Providence-Warwick, RI-MA	$92,240	101.8	180	0.86×

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 technical writers 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
Editors$77,920
Interpreters and Translators$60,170
Writers and Authors$76,910
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