Writing careers span creative work, technical documentation, editing, and journalism. In the United States, media and communication occupations had a median annual wage of $74,250 in May 2025, compared with $50,980 for all occupations. The category was projected to have about 88,500 openings per year from 2025 to 2035. These are national Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) measures; projections describe the forecast period, not observed 2026 results.
Contents
- U.S. writing careers at a glance
- Writers and authors
- Technical writing
- Editing
- Journalism
- Writing and reading skills
U.S. writing careers at a glance
The broad media and communication category provides context for more specialized writing occupations. Its May 2025 median annual wage was $74,250, which was $23,270 higher than the $50,980 median for all occupations. The same BLS overview projected about 88,500 openings per year on average during 2025–2035.
The BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics table placed the combined writers-and-editors occupational group at 185,130 employed workers in May 2025. Its median annual wage was $90,730, equivalent to a median hourly wage of $38.31. This combined measure is broader than any one job title, so it should not be treated as the pay or employment total for writers, editors, or technical writers individually.
Other media and communication roles provide a useful comparison point. Media and communication equipment workers had a May 2025 median annual wage of $59,200. That figure describes an adjacent occupational category rather than a writing occupation.
| U.S. measure | Figure | Period |
|---|---|---|
| Media and communication median annual wage | $74,250 | May 2025 |
| Median annual wage for all occupations | $50,980 | May 2025 |
| Combined writers-and-editors employment | 185,130 | May 2025 |
| Combined writers-and-editors median annual wage | $90,730 | May 2025 |
| Media and communication projected annual openings | 88,500 | 2025–2035 |
Sources: Media and Communication Occupations, Table 1. National employment and wage data, and Occupational projections and worker characteristics.
Writers and authors
Writers and authors are the largest of the specific writing occupations covered here. They held about 140,300 jobs in 2025. Self-employed workers accounted for 64.8% of writers-and-authors employment in 2025, making independent work a particularly prominent feature of this occupation’s employment structure.
The BLS projected 139,900 writers-and-authors jobs in 2035. That represents a projected decrease of 500 jobs, or 0.3%, between 2025 and 2035. Even with the small projected decline, the occupation was expected to have 11,900 openings per year on average during the period. Annual openings can reflect the need to replace workers who leave an occupation as well as newly created positions, so the openings figure is not the same as projected net growth.
Pay varies substantially across the occupation. The median annual wage for writers and authors was $76,910 in May 2025. The lowest-paid 10% earned less than $44,310, while the highest-paid 10% earned more than $139,870. These percentile figures show a wide distribution around the median, consistent with an occupation that includes different employers, specialties, and work arrangements.
Industry is also associated with different reported wage levels. Writers and authors in religious, grantmaking, civic, professional, and similar organizations had a median annual wage of $80,480 in May 2025. The median was $77,860 in professional, scientific, and technical services and $74,590 in the information sector. These are selected major-industry medians listed in the BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook profile, not a complete ranking of every industry employing writers and authors.
The writers-and-authors outlook therefore combines a large independent-work share with stable projected employment overall. The forecast does not promise a particular path for freelance income, book sales, contract volume, or individual career progression; it describes national occupational employment and openings.
Source: Writers and Authors: Occupational Outlook Handbook. Forecast figures are from Occupational projections and worker characteristics.
Technical writing
Technical writing had a smaller employment base and a higher reported median wage than writers and authors. Technical writers held about 46,400 jobs in 2025. Only 1.0% of technical-writer employment was self-employed in 2025, a much lower share than the 64.8% reported for writers and authors.
The 2025–2035 forecast projected 46,700 technical-writer jobs in 2035. That is an increase of 400 jobs, or 0.8%, over the period. Technical writers were projected to have 3,200 openings per year on average. As with the other occupations in this article, the openings estimate is a forecast of average annual openings, not a count of current vacancies.
Technical writers had a median annual wage of $90,390 in May 2025. The lowest-paid 10% earned less than $57,440, and the highest-paid 10% earned more than $145,270. The upper-end figure is above the corresponding writers-and-authors threshold, while the lower-end figure is also higher, but these occupational distributions should be read as separate BLS measures rather than as guarantees for people moving between careers.
Selected industries reported different technical-writer medians. Technical writers in administrative and support services had a May 2025 median annual wage of $99,280. The median was $95,480 in government, excluding state and local education and hospitals. The BLS profile identifies these as selected major industries, so the figures do not represent every technical-writing employer.
Source: Technical Writers: Occupational Outlook Handbook. Employment projections and worker characteristics are from Occupational projections and worker characteristics.
Editing
Editors held about 105,000 jobs in 2025. Self-employed workers accounted for 9% of editor employment in that year. That share sits between the much higher self-employed share for writers and authors and the much lower share for technical writers in the supplied BLS measures.
Editors were projected to have 103,800 jobs in 2035. The forecast called for a decrease of 1,100 jobs, or 1.1%, from 2025 to 2035. At the same time, editors were projected to have 7,900 openings per year on average. The coexistence of projected decline and annual openings reflects the difference between net employment change and the openings needed over time.
The median annual wage for editors was $77,920 in May 2025. The lowest-paid 10% earned less than $41,250, while the highest-paid 10% earned more than $153,700. The reported upper threshold is higher than the corresponding thresholds for writers and authors and technical writers, although percentile values describe the distribution within each occupation and do not establish a typical career outcome.
Industry can affect reported pay. Editors in motion picture and video industries had a median annual wage of $103,320 in May 2025. This selected-industry measure is higher than the overall editor median, but it applies specifically to editors in that industry.
Source: Editors: Occupational Outlook Handbook. Projection figures are from Occupational projections and worker characteristics.
Journalism
News analysts, reporters, and journalists held about 47,100 jobs in 2025. Self-employed workers accounted for 17% of employment in this combined journalism occupation. The 2035 projection was 44,300 jobs, a decrease of 2,800 jobs from 2025. The projected decline was 5.9%, the largest percentage decrease among the specific writing occupations covered in these statistics.
Despite that projected contraction, the occupation was expected to have 3,400 openings per year on average from 2025 to 2035. Again, this is an annual openings forecast rather than a forecast of net job creation.
The median annual wage for news analysts, reporters, and journalists was $62,200 in May 2025. The lowest-paid 10% earned less than $36,240, and the highest-paid 10% earned more than $144,140. In media streaming distribution services, social networks, and other media networks and content providers, the median annual wage was $80,180 in May 2025.
| Occupation | 2025 jobs | 2035 jobs | Projected change | Annual openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Writers and authors | 140,300 | 139,900 | -0.3% | 11,900 |
| Technical writers | 46,400 | 46,700 | 0.8% | 3,200 |
| Editors | 105,000 | 103,800 | -1.1% | 7,900 |
| News analysts, reporters, and journalists | 47,100 | 44,300 | -5.9% | 3,400 |
Sources: News Analysts, Reporters, and Journalists and Occupational projections and worker characteristics. Job counts and forecasts are U.S. measures for 2025 and 2035; annual openings are averages for 2025–2035.
Writing and reading skills
The BLS writing-and-reading skills data gives another way to compare writing occupations. In the 2025–2035 BLS skills data, editors had a writing-and-reading skill score of 4.4. Technical writers had a score of 4.3, and writers and authors had a score of 4.1.
These are occupational skill scores for the cited projections period, not wage scores, employment shares, or ratings of individual workers. The close values indicate that all three occupations are strongly associated with writing and reading skill requirements in the BLS framework, while the figures alone do not describe the specific software, subject knowledge, credentials, or portfolio standards used by a particular employer.
Source: Writing and Reading: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The figures throughout this article are U.S. BLS measures. Employment and self-employment percentages in the projections matrix refer to 2025 national employment. Wage figures are May 2025 OEWS medians unless another period is stated. Projected employment, change, and annual openings are 2025–2035 forecasts, not observed 2026 outcomes; values are rounded as presented by BLS.