Newspaper Editors

Salaries for newspaper editors vary from small to large communities, but editors (especially those at larger newspapers) generally are well compensated. Other factors affecting compensation include quality of education and previous experience, job level, and the newspaper's circulation. Large metropolitan dailies offer higher-paying jobs, while outlying weekly papers pay less.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the mean annual income for editors who were employed by newspaper, periodical, book, and directory publishers was $78,500 in May 2023. The mean annual salary for workers in all careers was $65,470. The lowest paid 10 percent of all editors earned less than $38,790, and the top paid 10 percent earned more than $138,920.

On many newspapers, salary ranges and benefits, such as vacation time and health insurance, of most nonmanagerial editorial workers are negotiated by the NewsGuild-Communication Workers of America.