Writers and Authors · SOC 27-3043

Highest-Paying Metro Areas for Writers and Authorss

Source: BLS OEWS, May 2025U.S. metropolitan areas

Metro areas ranked by published median annual wage for writers and authors. Areas where BLS suppressed the median are not ranked (17 such areas are excluded here). Higher medians often track higher living costs — this is a pay comparison, not a ranking of where the job is “best”.

Top 25 of 122 metro areas

Writers and Authors: metro areas with the highest published median annual wages, May 2025
#	Metro area	Median annual	Employment	Per 1,000 jobs
1	Waterbury-Shelton, CT	$127,350	50	0.3
2	San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	$118,810	400	0.4
3	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV	$108,460	2,060	0.7
4	Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA	$107,700	50	0.2
5	Bridgeport-Stamford-Danbury, CT	$103,060	150	0.4
6	Fort Collins-Loveland, CO	$102,570	Not published	Not published
7	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	$98,730	520	0.2
8	Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT	$97,160	140	0.2
9	New Haven, CT	$94,410	60	0.2
10	Trenton-Princeton, NJ	$90,060	110	0.5
11	Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA	$87,560	600	0.5
12	Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD	$87,020	240	0.2
13	San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles, CA	$86,340	30	0.3
14	Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH	$85,260	1,130	0.4
15	Burlington-South Burlington, VT	$85,020	40	0.3
16	Norwich-New London-Willimantic, CT	$84,940	40	0.3
17	Durham-Chapel Hill, NC	$84,130	130	0.4
18	Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD	$84,130	560	0.2
19	Colorado Springs, CO	$83,770	130	0.4
20	Boulder, CO	$83,540	130	0.7
21	Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA	$82,920	70	0.2
22	Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA	$82,690	240	0.2
23	San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA	$82,590	350	0.2
24	Greeley, CO	$82,060	40	0.4
25	Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA	$81,990	490	0.2

Full state and metro tables, the national distribution, and the pay map are on the Writers and Authors overview.

About this data. Estimates are from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program, May 2025 release, retrieved from bls.gov/oes/tables.htm on July 24, 2026. OEWS estimates describe metropolitan/nonmetropolitan areas and states — not city limits — and are not designed for year-over-year comparisons. See BLS methodology, our plain-English methodology, and sources. CitySalaryData is independent and not affiliated with BLS.