As of March 01, 2026, the average hourly rate for an Editor II in the United States is $38, which translates to an annual salary of about $78,316.
However, the hourly wage can vary significantly based on several factors. Here’s a detailed look at the typical pay range per hour:
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An Editor II's salary isn't a fixed number. It's shaped by several important factors. Below, we'll explore how your years of experience, geographic location, education and company size can directly affect your earning potential.
Experience is a primary driver of an Editor II's salary. As you build your skills and take on more complex tasks, your compensation generally increases. Here's how the average salary grows at different career stages:
| Job Role | Years of Experience | Average Salary |
|---|---|---|
| Editor I | 0-2 years | $61,868 |
| Editor II | 2-4 years | $78,316 |
| Editor III | 4-7 years | $96,121 |
| Editorial Manager | 7+ years | $113,178 |
What Am I Worth?
Your salary can change significantly depending on where you work. States with a higher cost of living and strong industrial sectors often pay more to attract Editor IIs. For example, consider the average annual salaries in these key locations:
Demanded Skills for the Role:
| Skills | Demand Percentage |
|---|---|
| Project Management | 3.33% |
| Copyediting | 2.53% |
| Content Creation | 1.74% |
| Skill | Salary | Salary % Increase |
|---|---|---|
|
Project Management
|
$88,497 |
13%
|
|
Medical Writing
|
$87,714 |
12%
|
|
Storytelling
|
$87,714 |
12%
|
|
Digital Media
|
$86,931 |
11%
|
|
Analysis
|
$86,931 |
11%
|
|
Innovation
|
$86,931 |
11%
|
Your level of education can impact your salary potential. While many Editor IIs enter the field with a Bachelor's Degree degree, higher education can lead to more specialized and higher-paying roles.
According to our 100% employer-reported salary data, the median salary for an Editor II with a Bachelor's Degree is between $73,724 and $78,993).
Editor II Salaries by Degree Level
| Degree Level | % of user with this level of education |
|---|---|
| No Diploma | 0.2% |
| High School | 2.3% |
| Associates | 2.2% |
| Bachelors | 62.5% |
| Masters | 27.2% |
| Doctorate | 5.7% |
Understanding how an Editor II's annual salary breaks down can help with budgeting. Below, you can see the average hourly rate, weekly pay, and monthly pay for this role. Use the buttons to switch between different pay periods.
Last Updated on March 01, 2026
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Reviews, edits, and re-writes a variety of documents and/or digital content. Responsible for creating and maintaining accurate and compelling content for written copy and/or websites and other online communications media. Ensures that all content meets required and accepted format and standards. Evaluates content for clarity, accuracy, and consistency. May coordinate with creative team to produce final drafts. Requires a bachelor's degree in journalism or equivalent. Typically reports to a manager. Occasionally directed in several aspects of the work. Gaining exposure to some of the complex tasks within the job function. Typically requires 2-4 years of related experience.
Specify the abilities and skills that a person needs in order to carry out the specified job duties. Each competency has five to ten behavioral assertions that can be observed, each with a corresponding performance level (from one to five) that is required for a particular job.
Project Management: Project management is the application of processes, methods, skills, knowledge and experience to achieve specific project objectives according to the project acceptance criteria within agreed parameters. Project management has final deliverables that are constrained to a finite timescale and budget.
Copyediting: Copy editing (also copyediting, sometimes abbreviated ce) is the process of reviewing and correcting written material to improve accuracy, readability, and fitness for its purpose, and to ensure that it is free of error, omission, inconsistency, and repetition. In the context of publication in print, copy editing is done before typesetting and again before proofreading, the final step in the editorial cycle.:1–5 In the United States and Canada, an editor who does this work is called a copy editor. An organization's highest-ranking copy editor, or the supervising editor of a group of copy editors, may be known as the copy chief, copy desk chief, or news editor. In book publishing in the United Kingdom and other parts of the world that follow British nomenclature, the term copy editor is used, but in newspaper and magazine publishing, the term is subeditor (or sub-editor), commonly shortened to sub. The senior subeditor of a publication is frequently called the chief subeditor. As the prefix sub suggests, copy editors typically have less authority than regular editors.
Content Creation: Content creation is the contribution of information to any media and most especially to digital media for an end-user/audience in specific contexts. Content is "something that is to be expressed through some medium, as speech, writing or any of various arts" for self-expression, distribution, marketing and/or publication. Typical forms of content creation include maintaining and updating web sites, blogging, photography, videography, online commentary, the maintenance of social media accounts, and editing and distribution of digital media. A Pew survey described content creation as the creation of "the material people contribute to the online world."
Salary.com salary estimates, histograms, trends, and comparisons are derived from both employer job postings and third-party data sources. We also provide multiple percentiles of salary information for your reference, click here to know Why the Salary Midpoint Formula Is Crucial to Getting Pay Equity Right. With more online, real-time compensation data than any other website, Salary.com helps you determine your exact pay target.
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