CCollegeMatcher

Editors

US occupation · SOC 27-3041

Job titles people report: Acquisitions Editor, Assignment Editor, Business Editor, Features Editor, Legal Editor, Newspaper Copy Editor, Opinions Page Editor, Publishing Editor, Science Editor, Sports Editor

Pay and outlook

Median annual wage, May 2025
$77,920
Half earn more, half earn less
Middle half earn
$57,300 – $106,100
25th to 75th percentile
People employed, May 2025
91,690
Wage and salary jobs (OEWS)
Projected change, 2025–35
-1.1%
Shrinking (below 0%)
Openings a year (projected)
7,900
New jobs plus replacing people who leave
Typical education to enter
Bachelor's degree
BLS
  • All figures are for the United States as a whole. Pay varies a lot by state and city.
  • Wages are for everyone working in the occupation in May 2025, at every career stage. They are not starting salaries or figures for new graduates.
  • Growth and openings are BLS projections for 2025–35. They are estimates, not promises. Openings include jobs that open up when people retire or change occupation, not just new jobs.

What the work involves

Plan, coordinate, revise, or edit written material. May review proposals and drafts for possible publication.

Main tasks

  • Verify facts, dates, and statistics, using standard reference sources.
  • Write text, such as headlines, stories, articles, editorials, or newsletters.
  • Read copy or proof to detect and correct errors in spelling, punctuation, and syntax.
  • Prepare, rewrite and edit copy to improve readability, or supervise others who do this work.
  • Develop story or content ideas, considering reader or audience appeal.
  • Allocate print space for story text, photos, and illustrations according to space parameters and copy significance, using knowledge of layout principles.
  • Confer with management and editorial staff members regarding placement and emphasis of developing news stories.
  • Oversee publication production, including artwork, layout, computer typesetting, and printing, ensuring adherence to deadlines and budget requirements.

Description and tasks from the O*NET® 31.0 Database.

Getting in

Typical education to enter (BLS)
Bachelor's degree
Work experience in a related job: less than 5 years
O*NET Job Zone 4
Considerable preparation
Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.

Interests it suits

The strongest of the six O*NET interest types for this occupation, highest first. The short glosses are ours.

  • Artistic: creating, designing and self-expression
  • Conventional: organising information, records and procedures
  • Enterprising: leading, persuading and making business decisions

Fields of study that lead here

From the federal CIP–SOC crosswalk, which links 18 programmes to this occupation. A link means the programme prepares people for this kind of work. It doesn't mean the programme is required, or that it's the only route.

Business

  • Business/Corporate Communications, General
  • Grantsmanship
  • Business/Corporate Communications, Other

Find colleges that fit you with our matcher: choose Business at the Major step.

Where many students take business

Ordered by the field's share of degrees awarded times undergraduate enrolment (College Scorecard), among colleges with at least 1,000 undergraduates. Online universities are included. It's a rough measure of how big the programme is. It says nothing about quality. The share counts every programme in the field, not only the ones linked to this career.

Communications & Media

  • Communication, General
  • Mass Communication/Media Studies
  • Journalism
  • Broadcast Journalism
  • Technical and Scientific Communication
  • Publishing
  • Communication, Journalism, and Related Programs, Other

Find colleges that fit you with our matcher: choose Communications & Media at the Major step.

Where many students take communications & media

Ordered by the field's share of degrees awarded times undergraduate enrolment (College Scorecard), among colleges with at least 1,000 undergraduates. Online universities are included. It's a rough measure of how big the programme is. It says nothing about quality. The share counts every programme in the field, not only the ones linked to this career.

English & Literature

  • Writing, General
  • Creative Writing
  • Professional, Technical, Business, and Scientific Writing
  • Rhetoric and Composition
  • Rhetoric and Composition/Writing Studies, Other
  • General Literature
  • Children's and Adolescent Literature
  • Literature, Other

Find colleges that fit you with our matcher: choose English & Literature at the Major step.

Where many students take english & literature

Ordered by the field's share of degrees awarded times undergraduate enrolment (College Scorecard), among colleges with at least 1,000 undergraduates. Online universities are included. It's a rough measure of how big the programme is. It says nothing about quality. The share counts every programme in the field, not only the ones linked to this career.

Related careers

Related occupations from the O*NET database, in its order.

← All careers

Sources

This page includes information from the O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. CollegeMatcher has modified all or some of this information. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications. O*NET 31.0 Database · CC BY 4.0

Changes: we show the core tasks in the O*NET database with the highest importance ratings (up to eight, in that order), the top three O*NET interest types by score, and shortened Job Zone names. Titles, descriptions and task text are unchanged.

Wages: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. Projections, typical entry education and training: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections 2025–35. Fields of study: NCES and BLS CIP 2020–SOC 2018 Crosswalk. All public domain. OEWS · Employment Projections · CIP–SOC crosswalk