Money · 1 of 5
What writers make
Median
$76,910
Bottom tenth
$44,310
Top tenth
$139,870
The national median is $76,910 a year. The bottom tenth earn $44,310 or less and the top tenth $139,870 or more, in 2025 figures. Read that carefully: the federal survey covers writers and authors as one group, so it mostly counts salaried people writing marketing copy, scripts and web content. Book authors are usually self-employed and are largely not in this number.