How Can I Find Salary Ranges for Copy Editors?
Copy editors work at book publishing companies, newspapers and magazines, where they edit articles submitted by reporters and authors, editing for grammar, spelling, consistency, fact-checking and conforming to house style. Salaries can vary significantly depending on factors including work experience and location. There are two websites that provide reliable data on the earnings of copy editors working in the United States: the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and Payscale.com.
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Instructions
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Finding Salary Figures on the BLS
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Type Bls.gov into your Web browser to access the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) homepage, or use the link in the Resources section. The BLS is a federal government entity that collects, processes and releases data pertaining to careers and salaries. It is generally considered the authority on U.S. job information.
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Type "copy editor" into the search bar in the upper right corner. Make sure that "Search all of BLS.gov" is selected in the box to the left, and then click the "Search" button. Click on the "Writers and Editors" link, which will be the first result listed on the search page. The link will direct you to the BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, which houses job descriptions, employment growth projections, training requirements and salary data on writing careers.
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Click on the blue "Earnings" link, which is the sixth option in the list at the top of the page. This will take you directly to the section on salaries. The median salary figures for editors are listed in the second paragraph.
Customizing Your BLS Salary Report
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Look for a red box beneath the earnings section. Click on the blue "Editors" link. This will direct you to the Occupational Employment and Wages section, which contains more specific data on the salaries of editors in the United States. Every other year, the BLS updates the main Occupational Outlook Handbook page on editors. However, the Occupational Employment and Wages will always display the most current statistics on editing salaries.
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Find the section that is most relevant to you. There is information on annual salaries and hourly wages in the first section. The second section separates salaries by industry, such as newspapers, broadcasting and other information services. The state and metropolitan area profile sections display the regions that are home to the highest-paid editors.
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Click on the blue "Create Customized Table," which is under the industry profile section. This link allows you to create a customized salary report based on your location. For instance, you can compare copy editing salaries in Montana to those in New York. You can also evaluate how your editing salary measures up to salaries in other industries. Follow the screen prompts to create an individualized report. You can export the salary information in Microsoft Excel or download an HTML version.
Finding Salary Ranges With Payscale.com
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Type "payscale.com copy editors" into a Google.com search or see the link in Resources. Payscale.com is a private company that administers salary surveys to calculate salary ranges for professionals at various points in their careers. Google is the fastest way to get to a relevant career page on Payscale.com. If you go to Payscale.com directly, you will have to answer a number of questions before you arrive at the correct page.
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Click on the "PayScale---Copy Editor Wages, Hourly Wage Rate" link, which will be the first search result. This will take you to a page that displays the wage ranges for starting copy editors as well as salary ranges for copy editors with between one and four, five and nine, 10 and 19 and more than 20 years of work experience.
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Hover over the blue blocks to view the median hourly rate ranges for copy editors with different amounts of professional experience.
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Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on the blue "Salary" link under the "More Survey Reports for Job: Copy Editor" heading. This will direct you to a page that has the annual salary ranges for the profession.
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Tips & Warnings
Check the BLS pages occasionally for updated copy editor salary information.
Play around with the customized salary reports function until you find the salary statistics most relevant to your own career and location.
Resources
- Photo Credit newspaper image by Christopher Hall from Fotolia.com
