Reporter salary

Quoted Expert
Paul Mitchell Ph.D.

Average reporter salary

$46,667

$22.44 hourly rate

Entry-level reporter salary
$29,000 yearly salary
Updated January 8, 2025

How much does a reporter make?

The average reporter salary in the United States is $46,667. Reporter salaries typically range between $29,000 and $73,000 yearly. The average hourly rate for reporters is $22.44 per hour.

Reporter salary is impacted by location, education, and experience. Reporters earn the highest average salary in New Jersey.

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Reporter salary by: 

Where can a Reporter earn more?

Compare salary by location
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Vs
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90k
70k
50k
30k
10k
District of Columbia$60,032
Austin, TX$39,551
Compare salary by company
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115k
95k
75k
55k
Citi$103,092
Chicago Sun-Times$84,561

Reporter salary estimates from across the web

Based on the latest salary information compiled by Zippia, Salary.com, Indeed, Ziprecruiter, SalaryExpert and Payscale, the average salary for a reporter typically falls between $46,667 and $69,908.
zippia
$46,667yearly
indeed[1]
$59,924yearly
Salary.com[2]
$56,894yearly
ZipRecruiter[3]
$57,225yearly
payscale[4]
$50,708yearly
SalaryExpert[5]
$69,908yearly

Average reporter salary by state

Highest paying states for reporters

Rank
ascdesc
State
ascdesc
Avg. Salary
ascdesc
Hourly Rate
ascdesc
1District of Columbia$60,067$28.88
2New York$53,339$25.64
3Maryland$53,195$25.57
4New Jersey$57,516$27.65
5Vermont$49,271$23.69
6Michigan$51,105$24.57
7North Carolina$46,270$22.25
8Virginia$47,513$22.84
9Kentucky$53,723$25.83
10Ohio$50,078$24.08
11Delaware$50,076$24.07
12Maine$48,717$23.42
13Tennessee$46,912$22.55
14New Mexico$45,788$22.01
15Rhode Island$46,211$22.22
16West Virginia$44,053$21.18
17Illinois$45,283$21.77
18Connecticut$45,975$22.10
19Pennsylvania$44,844$21.56
20Arkansas$44,457$21.37
21California$45,506$21.88
22Florida$44,792$21.53
23Nevada$44,661$21.47
24Iowa$43,219$20.78
25Massachusetts$43,234$20.79
26Arizona$43,688$21.00
27Louisiana$44,311$21.30
28Oklahoma$43,348$20.84
29Nebraska$40,039$19.25
30New Hampshire$43,369$20.85
31Wyoming$38,452$18.49
32Missouri$40,661$19.55
33Minnesota$42,383$20.38
34Washington$41,531$19.97
35Wisconsin$40,746$19.59
36Oregon$39,448$18.97
37Alabama$41,398$19.90
38Indiana$41,525$19.96
39Kansas$40,520$19.48
40Georgia$40,901$19.66
41Texas$39,027$18.76
42Utah$38,125$18.33
43North Dakota$37,232$17.90
44Hawaii$36,873$17.73
45Colorado$36,882$17.73
46Alaska$30,175$14.51
47Mississippi$39,460$18.97
48Idaho$34,798$16.73
49South Carolina$38,531$18.52
50Montana$33,489$16.10
51South Dakota$36,746$17.67

Highest paying cities for reporters

The highest-paying cities for reporters are Washington, DC, Edison, NJ, and New York, NY.

Rank
ascdesc
City
ascdesc
Avg. Salary
ascdesc
Hourly Rate
ascdesc
1Washington, DC$60,032$28.86
2Edison, NJ$57,629$27.71
3New York, NY$53,698$25.82
4Rockville, MD$53,216$25.58
5Newark, DE$49,929$24.00
6San Francisco, CA$48,251$23.20
7Arlington, VA$47,798$22.98
8Durham, NC$47,304$22.74
9Norwalk, CT$46,695$22.45
10Chicago, IL$45,499$21.87
11Miami, FL$45,226$21.74
12Philadelphia, PA$45,064$21.67
13Phoenix, AZ$43,702$21.01
14Boston, MA$43,028$20.69
15Federal Way, WA$41,841$20.12
16Indianapolis, IN$41,503$19.95
17Duluth, GA$41,154$19.79
18Milwaukee, WI$41,075$19.75
19Kansas City, MO$40,124$19.29
20Austin, TX$39,551$19.01

Reporters are the most in-demand in these five cities:

  1. Washington, DC
  2. Edison, NJ
  3. New York, NY
  4. San Francisco, CA
  5. Arlington, VA

Reporter salary details

A reporter's salary ranges from $29,000 a year at the 10th percentile to $73,000 at the 90th percentile.

Average Reporter Salary Graph
Average Reporter Salary Graph, Trends, and Summary

What is a reporter's salary?

Percentile
ascdesc
Annual Salary
ascdesc
Monthly Salary
ascdesc
Hourly Rate
ascdesc
90th Percentile$73,000$6,083$35
75th Percentile$59,000$4,917$28
Average$46,667$3,889$22
25th Percentile$36,000$3,000$17
10th Percentile$29,000$2,417$14

Highest paying reporter jobs

The highest paying types of reporters are sports reporter, managing editor, and proposal writer.

Job Title
ascdesc
Annual Salary
ascdesc
Monthly Salary
ascdesc
Hourly Rate
ascdesc
Job Openings
ascdesc
Production Editor$53,275$4,440$25.6162,877
Managing Editor$89,060$7,422$42.8216,781
Technical Editor$61,717$5,143$29.6778,423
Content Editor$61,694$5,141$29.6618,586
Editor$52,107$4,342$25.0515,115
Technical Writer And Editor$65,088$5,424$31.2978,617

How would you rate the starting salaries for Reporters, as well as the prospects for salary advancement?

P

Paul Mitchell Ph.D.

Coordinator of Recruitment and Retention, University of Nevada - Reno

The misconception is that there is no money in the communications fields. Nothing could be further from the truth. Our journalism majors are employed (in the last several years) at a higher rate than most of the other majors. My guess is starting salaries will continue to be on the rise.

Which companies pay reporters the most?

Reporter salaries at Citi and Credit Suisse are the highest-paying according to our most recent salary estimates. In addition, the average reporter salary at companies like The New York Times Company and JPMorgan Chase & Co. are highly competitive.

Rank
ascdesc
Company
ascdesc
Average Salary
ascdesc
Hourly Rate
ascdesc
1Citi$103,092$49.56
2Credit Suisse$103,022$49.53
3The New York Times Company$99,883$48.02
4JPMorgan Chase & Co.$99,769$47.97
5Bloomberg$99,681$47.92
6Law360$94,410$45.39
7The Washington Post$93,214$44.81
8Vox Media$92,197$44.33
9Millbrook School$88,160$42.38
10Altice USA$87,926$42.27
11MUFG EMEA$87,376$42.01
12The Free Press$87,082$41.87
13CVS Health$87,074$41.86
14Udemy$86,853$41.76
15MarketWatch$86,816$41.74
16Business Insider$85,734$41.22
17Fox News$85,713$41.21
18Thomson Reuters$85,471$41.09
19The Boston Globe$85,170$40.95
20Chicago Sun-Times$84,561$40.65

Wage gap by gender, race and education

$44,000$43,600$43,200$42,800$42,400$42,000
MaleFemale

Reporter salary trends

The average reporter salary has risen by $9,659 over the last ten years. In 2014, the average reporter earned $37,008 annually, but today, they earn $46,667 a year. That works out to a 16% change in pay for reporters over the last decade.

Compare reporter salaries for cities or states with the national average over time.

Average reporter salary over time

Compare reporter salaries for individual cities or states with the national average.

  • National Average

Reporter salary by year

Year
ascdesc
Avg. Salary
ascdesc
Hourly Rate
ascdesc
% Change
ascdesc
2025$46,700$22.44+3.4%
2024$45,100$21.67+2.9%
2023$43,800$21.05+4.6%
2022$41,800$20.09+3.9%
2021$40,100$19.30+3.9%

Recently added reporter salaries

Company
ascdesc
Job
ascdesc
Location
ascdesc
Date Added
ascdesc
Salary
ascdesc
North HighlandReporting & Metrics PMRedmond, WA12/16/2024$114,785
National Association of Hispanic JournalistsEnvironmental ReporterBismarck, ND12/16/2024$52,000
Indiana Local Information Initiative, Inc.Health and Healthy Living Reporter, The Oklahoma EagleCole, OK12/16/2024$50,000
PhoenixspjEducation ReporterBelleville, IL12/16/2024$43,138
Costar GroupResidential Architectural Design ReporterWashington, DC12/15/2024$70,000
NprReporter II, Technology New Culver City, California, United StatesSan Francisco, CA12/15/2024$105,000
NewsdayReporter-TownsMelville, NY12/15/2024$67,264
Indigenous Journalists AssociationBusiness and General Assignment ReporterMontpelier, VT12/15/2024$45,000
PhoenixspjCity Hall ReporterSacramento, CA12/15/2024$70,000
RELX GroupTrade ReporterWashington, DC12/14/2024$65,300

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