JRIJob Risk Index

Real salary data

What Journalists actually earn in 2026.

The median for Journalist is $68,700 across 235 real salary records (H-1B visa filings and tech job postings), updated Aug 10, 2026.

01 / By source

Real salary bands, by source.

Bands come from 235 real records. Each source has a different bias, disclosed below.

Approximate salary distribution$68,700
p25$56,202p50$68,700p75$90,000

Density curve fitted to the observed quartiles (log-normal). $56,202–$90,000 contains the middle 50% of records in the best-represented source; the shape between them is an approximation.

SourceRecords25th pctMedian75th pct
H-1B visa filings235$56,202$68,700$90,000

Salary data updated Aug 10, 2026. Bands are percentiles, not averages; n is the number of underlying records.

02 / By city

What Journalists earn, by city.

Real records; cities with at least 10 observations.

CityRecordsRange (p25–p75)Median
New York, NY82$56,202 – $100,000$80,392
Washington, DC23$67,850 – $83,125$71,000
Los Angeles, CA11$47,986 – $112,304$80,000

03 / By state

What Journalists earn, by state.

StateRecordsRange (p25–p75)Median
NY105$56,202 – $98,136$77,750
CA35$49,158 – $92,382$56,202
DC26$67,425 – $88,486$71,000
FL12$68,656 – $80,000$71,226

04 / Context

How Journalists pay compares with similar roles.

ProfessionRiskMedianOutlook
General Office ClerkHigh$44,190-6.7% (2024–34)
HR SpecialistMedium$75,000+6.2% (2024–34)
Market Research AnalystHigh$80,700+6.7% (2024–34)
Marketing ManagerMedium$170,000+6.6% (2024–34)

05 / Next step

How to move up the pay band.

The skills below appear most often in higher-paid roles:

06 / FAQ

Salary questions, answered.

01Why are the bands different from the BLS median?
The BLS median covers all Journalist in the US. These bands come from real records with known biases — H-1B filings skew to visa-eligible (high-skill) roles and tech postings skew to tech employers — so they sit above the national median. We disclose the source of every band.
02How often is this data updated?
The dataset refreshes weekly from live job postings and quarterly from new H-1B disclosures.

Methodology