Open data · Last updated 2 October 2026

What creative jobs pay in 2026

In the US, the median film and video editor earns $75,420 a year ($36.26 an hour) (BLS, May 2025). Freelance video editors on Upwork typically charge $10–$60 an hour worldwide (Upwork, May 2026).

Below: 14 creative roles, with what employees earn in the US, UK, Canada and Australia from official statistics, and what freelancers charge from published rate guides and surveys. Every figure names its source. Work out your own rate or download the data (CSV).

14 of 14 roles

How much does a video editor make? #

Employed, United States. Film and Video Editors. A year (BLS, May 2025)

Median $75,420
10th$40,28075th$105,31090th$148,550

Freelance.

Full breakdown, by state →What should I charge? →

How much does a social media manager make? #

Employed, United States. Nearest official group: Public Relations Specialists. A year (BLS, May 2025)

Median $74,750
10th$44,11075th$100,37090th$135,150

Freelance.

Full breakdown, by state →What should I charge? →

How much does a content creator make? #

Employed, United States. No statistics office publishes earnings for content creators. Most are self-employed and paid by platforms and sponsors, which wage surveys do not cover.

Freelance.

Full breakdown →What should I charge? →

How much does a podcast producer make? #

Employed, United States. Nearest official group: Producers and Directors. A year (BLS, May 2025)

Median $90,360
10th$45,78075th$134,80090th$198,540

Freelance.

Full breakdown, by state →What should I charge? →

How much does a podcast editor make? #

Employed, United States. Nearest official group: Sound Engineering Technicians. A year (BLS, May 2025)

Median $73,130
10th$37,57075th$100,28090th$137,370

Freelance.

Full breakdown, by state →What should I charge? →

How much does a motion designer make? #

Employed, United States. Special Effects Artists and Animators. A year (BLS, May 2025)

Median $102,030
10th$58,60075th$139,13090th$177,110

Freelance.

Full breakdown, by state →What should I charge? →

How much does a graphic designer make? #

Employed, United States. Graphic Designers. A year (BLS, May 2025)

Median $62,960
10th$39,52075th$81,83090th$104,910

Freelance.

Full breakdown, by state →What should I charge? →

How much does a photographer make? #

Employed, United States. Photographers. A year (BLS, May 2025)

Median $44,660
10th$30,82075th$62,74090th$91,810

Freelance.

Full breakdown, by state →What should I charge? →

How much does a videographer make? #

Employed, United States. Camera Operators, Television, Video, and Film. A year (BLS, May 2025)

Median $74,990
10th$38,52075th$106,66090th$135,180

Freelance.

Full breakdown, by state →What should I charge? →

How much does a copywriter make? #

Employed, United States. Writers and Authors. A year (BLS, May 2025)

Median $76,910
10th$44,31075th$101,95090th$139,870

Freelance.

Full breakdown, by state →What should I charge? →

How much does an UX/UI designer make? #

Employed, United States. Web and Digital Interface Designers. A year (BLS, May 2025)

Median $104,000
10th$53,75090th$201,550

Freelance.

Full breakdown, by state →What should I charge? →

How much does an illustrator make? #

Employed, United States. Nearest official group: Fine Artists, Including Painters, Sculptors, and Illustrators. A year (BLS, May 2025)

Median $55,490
10th$31,63075th$83,20090th$144,210

Freelance.

Full breakdown, by state →What should I charge? →

How much does a music producer make? #

Employed, United States. Nearest official group: Sound Engineering Technicians. A year (BLS, May 2025)

Median $73,130
10th$37,57075th$100,28090th$137,370

Freelance.

Full breakdown, by state →What should I charge? →

How much does a community manager make? #

Employed, United States. No statistics office has an occupation for online community managers, and the groups O*NET suggests for the title are about social services and property, not online communities. Rather than borrow one, this shows freelance figures only.

Freelance. Not enough public data: we found no published rate with a stated basis.

What should I charge? →

How was this put together?

  • Employed pay is copied from each statistics office's own files, downloaded on 2 October 2026: BLS OEWS May 2025 (US), ONS ASHE 2025 provisional (UK), Job Bank 2025 release (Canada) and ABS Employee Earnings and Hours May 2025 (Australia). Nothing is modelled or estimated.
  • No office publishes “social media manager” or “podcast editor”. Each role is read from the occupation group its work is coded to; where the group is wider, the role says nearest group and names it.
  • The four countries measure different things: US figures cover all employees; UK figures are full-time employees; Canada publishes hourly wages (shown times 2,080 hours for a year, as BLS does); Australia publishes only the average weekly pay of all employees, part-time included.
  • Freelance figures are quoted from publishers' own pages and labelled by kind: platform data (Upwork describing its own contracts), platform guides (Fiverr, no stated method), surveys (self-reported) and union minimums (Bectu). No marketplace listings were scraped.
  • US dollar conversions use the Federal Reserve's 2025 average rates: £1 = $1.3192, US$1 = C$1.3973, A$1 = $0.645.
  • Where a publisher withheld a figure as unreliable, it shows as n/p (not published), never filled in.

Download the data (CSV). Free to reuse with a link to this page; the official figures underneath are public domain or open-licensed, and the freelance figures belong to their publishers.

To cite: Slice, “What creative jobs pay in 2026”, https://tryslicemedia.com/data/creative-pay-2026, updated 2 October 2026.

Questions

Where do these numbers come from?

Employed pay comes from each country's official statistics: the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (May 2025), the UK Office for National Statistics (April 2025, provisional), Job Bank Canada (2023–24 data) and the Australian Bureau of Statistics (May 2025). Freelance figures are quoted from publishers' own pages: Upwork, Fiverr, the Editorial Freelancers Association, Payoneer, Bectu and The Knot. Nothing is estimated.

Why is a role matched to a wider occupation?

Statistics offices publish standard occupation groups, not job titles like social media manager. Each role is read from the group its work is coded to; where that group is wider than the role, the page says so and names the group.

Are the freelance rates comparable with the salaries?

No. Salaries are what employers pay employees. Freelance rates are what clients pay per hour or per project, and a freelancer pays their own costs, tax and unbilled time out of them. The calculator turns an income into the hourly rate that covers those.

How much does a video editor make in the US?

In the US, the median employed video editor earns $75,420 a year, or $36.26 an hour (BLS, May 2025). The middle half earn $52,720 to $105,310.

How much does a video editor make in the UK?

In the UK, the nearest official group (Photographers, audio-visual and broadcasting equipment operators) has a full-time median of £32,643 a year, about $43,063 (ONS ASHE, April 2025 (provisional)). The UK group also counts photographers, camera operators and sound engineers.

Sources

  1. Australian Bureau of Statistics, Employee Earnings and Hours, Australia, May 2025, Data Cube 11, published 23 January 2026. Checked 2 October 2026. Official dataAverage (mean) weekly total cash earnings of ALL employees in May 2025, part-time included, by ANZSCO four-digit occupation. ABS publishes no percentiles at this level. Creative Commons Attribution 4.0.
  2. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Foreign Exchange Rates, G.5A Annual, 2025 averages, published 5 January 2026. Checked 2 October 2026. Official dataAverage of 2025 daily noon buying rates in New York. US government work, public domain.
  3. Employment and Social Development Canada (Job Bank), Job Bank wages, 2025 release (open data), published 19 November 2025. Checked 2 October 2026. Official dataHourly wages by occupation (NOC 2021), mostly from Statistics Canada's Labour Force Survey, 2023–2024. Job Bank's "low" and "high" wages are the 10th and 90th percentiles in most cases. Open Government Licence – Canada.
  4. Office for National Statistics (UK), Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, 2025 provisional, Table 14 (occupation by SOC 2020 four-digit), published 23 October 2025. Checked 2 October 2026. Official dataEmployee jobs in April 2025, from HMRC PAYE records. Full-time employees, gross pay. Figures ONS judges unreliable or disclosive are suppressed and shown here as not published. Provisional: ONS revises them a year later. Open Government Licence v3.0.
  5. US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025, published 15 May 2026. Checked 2 October 2026. Official dataSurvey of about 1.1 million employer establishments over three years. Wage and salary workers only: the self-employed are not included. Annual figures are hourly wages times 2,080 hours. US government work, public domain.
  6. US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections 2025–35, Table 1.2. Checked 2 October 2026. Official dataProjected change in employment from 2025 to 2035, including the self-employed, and the share of workers who are self-employed. US government work, public domain.
  7. AIR Media-Tech, How Much Does YouTube Really Pay in 2026? Real RPM Data From 300 Channels, updated 1 July 2026. Checked 2 October 2026. Platform dataYouTube Analytics of 300 partner channels, May 2025 to May 2026 (3,595 channel-months, 13 niches). AIR sells services to creators and the sample is its own partners. Copyright AIR Media-Tech; quoted with attribution.
  8. Bectu (Post Production & Facilities Branch), Short Form Ratecard 2023–2025, published 2 July 2025. Checked 2 October 2026. Union minimumMinimum day rates (8 hours plus 1) for work under 15 minutes long, reached "after consultation with branch members and non-members". The card itself is headed 2023–2024; Bectu has not posted a newer one. Copyright Bectu; quoted with attribution.
  9. Bectu (Post Production & Facilities Branch), Factual & Entertainment TV Editors Ratecard 2023–2025, published 2 July 2025. Checked 2 October 2026. Union minimumMinimum rates, including holiday. The card itself is headed 2023–2024. Copyright Bectu; quoted with attribution.
  10. Editorial Freelancers Association, 2026 Rate Chart, published March 2026. Checked 2 October 2026. Survey, self-reportedSurvey of EFA members, November 2025 to mid-January 2026: over 1,100 respondents, rates charged in 2025. Median ranges. Self-reported; the EFA neither sets rates nor advises members. Copyright EFA; quoted with attribution.
  11. Fiverr, How Much Does a Video Editor Cost?, published 16 January 2025. Checked 2 October 2026. Platform guideA buying guide. No sample or method is stated. Copyright Fiverr; quoted with attribution.
  12. Fiverr, How to Hire a Social Media Manager (Cost and Tips), updated 3 August 2026. Checked 2 October 2026. Platform guideA buying guide, "based on Fiverr recent marketplace data". No sample or method. Copyright Fiverr; quoted with attribution.
  13. Fiverr, Graphic Design Prices and Rates, updated 3 August 2026. Checked 2 October 2026. Platform guideA buying guide. No sample or method is stated. Copyright Fiverr; quoted with attribution.
  14. Fiverr, How Much Does It Cost to Hire a UI UX Designer?, updated 3 August 2026. Checked 2 October 2026. Platform guideA buying guide, "based on Fiverr recent marketplace data". No sample or method. Copyright Fiverr; quoted with attribution.
  15. Fiverr, How Much Does It Cost to Hire a Content Creator in 2026?, updated 3 August 2026. Checked 2 October 2026. Platform guideA buying guide, "based on Fiverr recent marketplace data". No sample or method. Copyright Fiverr; quoted with attribution.
  16. Fiverr, How Much Does It Cost to Hire a Filmmaker?, updated 3 August 2026. Checked 2 October 2026. Platform guideA buying guide. No sample or method is stated. Copyright Fiverr; quoted with attribution.
  17. Fiverr, How Much Does 2D Animation Cost?. Checked 2 October 2026. Platform guideA buying guide. No sample or method is stated. Copyright Fiverr; quoted with attribution.
  18. Payoneer, Global Freelancer Income Report 2022, published 2022. Checked 2 October 2026. Survey, self-reportedSurvey of 2,000 Payoneer customers in over 100 countries. Self-reported averages (means). Four years old: the newer 2023 edition gives no figures by field. Copyright Payoneer; quoted with attribution.
  19. The Knot, The Average Cost of a Wedding Videographer, According to Data, updated 11 May 2026. Checked 2 October 2026. Survey, self-reported10,474 US couples who married in 2025 (The Knot Real Weddings Study). What couples report paying. Copyright The Knot; quoted with attribution.
  20. Upwork, Upwork Hourly Rate: Rates by Skill & Experience in 2026, published 12 May 2026. Checked 2 October 2026. Platform dataUpwork calls these ranges directional benchmarks from its own marketplace. Worldwide, all experience levels. Copyright Upwork; quoted with attribution.
  21. Upwork, Video Editor Hourly Rates | Cost to Hire Video Editor. Checked 2 October 2026. Platform data"Typical hourly rate ranges of certain historical contracts worldwide." The range is on the page; the median is in the page's own description (its meta text). No date on the page. Copyright Upwork; quoted with attribution.
  22. Upwork, Graphic Designer Hourly Rates | Cost to Hire Graphic Designer. Checked 2 October 2026. Platform data"Typical hourly rate ranges of certain historical contracts worldwide." The range is on the page; the median is in the page's own description (its meta text). No date on the page. Copyright Upwork; quoted with attribution.
  23. Upwork, Social Media Manager Hourly Rates. Checked 2 October 2026. Platform data"Typical hourly rate ranges of certain historical contracts worldwide." The range is on the page; the median is in the page's own description (its meta text). No date on the page. Copyright Upwork; quoted with attribution.
  24. Upwork, Content Creator Hourly Rates. Checked 2 October 2026. Platform data"Typical hourly rate ranges of certain historical contracts worldwide." The range is on the page; the median is in the page's own description (its meta text). No date on the page. Copyright Upwork; quoted with attribution.
  25. Upwork, Animator Hourly Rates. Checked 2 October 2026. Platform data"Typical hourly rate ranges of certain historical contracts worldwide." The range is on the page; the median is in the page's own description (its meta text). No date on the page. Copyright Upwork; quoted with attribution.
  26. Upwork, 3D Animator Hourly Rates. Checked 2 October 2026. Platform data"Typical hourly rate ranges of certain historical contracts worldwide." The range is on the page; the median is in the page's own description (its meta text). No date on the page. Copyright Upwork; quoted with attribution.
  27. Upwork, Photographer Hourly Rates. Checked 2 October 2026. Platform data"Typical hourly rate ranges of certain historical contracts worldwide." The range is on the page; the median is in the page's own description (its meta text). No date on the page. Copyright Upwork; quoted with attribution.
  28. Upwork, Videographer Hourly Rates. Checked 2 October 2026. Platform data"Typical hourly rate ranges of certain historical contracts worldwide." The range is on the page; the median is in the page's own description (its meta text). No date on the page. Copyright Upwork; quoted with attribution.
  29. Upwork, Copywriter Hourly Rates. Checked 2 October 2026. Platform data"Typical hourly rate ranges of certain historical contracts worldwide." The range is on the page; the median is in the page's own description (its meta text). No date on the page. Copyright Upwork; quoted with attribution.
  30. Upwork, Content Writer Hourly Rates. Checked 2 October 2026. Platform data"Typical hourly rate ranges of certain historical contracts worldwide." The range is on the page; the median is in the page's own description (its meta text). No date on the page. Copyright Upwork; quoted with attribution.
  31. Upwork, UX Designer Hourly Rates. Checked 2 October 2026. Platform data"Typical hourly rate ranges of certain historical contracts worldwide." The range is on the page; the median is in the page's own description (its meta text). No date on the page. Copyright Upwork; quoted with attribution.
  32. Upwork, UI Designer Hourly Rates. Checked 2 October 2026. Platform data"Typical hourly rate ranges of certain historical contracts worldwide." The range is on the page; the median is in the page's own description (its meta text). No date on the page. Copyright Upwork; quoted with attribution.
  33. Upwork, Illustrator Hourly Rates. Checked 2 October 2026. Platform data"Typical hourly rate ranges of certain historical contracts worldwide." The range is on the page; the median is in the page's own description (its meta text). No date on the page. Copyright Upwork; quoted with attribution.
  34. Upwork, Music Producer Hourly Rates. Checked 2 October 2026. Platform data"Typical hourly rate ranges of certain historical contracts worldwide." The range is on the page; the median is in the page's own description (its meta text). No date on the page. Copyright Upwork; quoted with attribution.
  35. Upwork, Podcasting Producer Hourly Rates. Checked 2 October 2026. Platform data"Typical hourly rate ranges of certain historical contracts worldwide." The range is on the page; the median is in the page's own description (its meta text). No date on the page. Copyright Upwork; quoted with attribution.
  36. Upwork, Best Freelance Podcast Editors for Hire. Checked 2 October 2026. Platform dataUpwork's hiring page for the role. No method or date on the page. Copyright Upwork; quoted with attribution.
  37. Upwork, Best Freelance Audio Editors for Hire. Checked 2 October 2026. Platform dataUpwork's hiring page for the role. No method or date on the page. Copyright Upwork; quoted with attribution.
  38. YouTube Help, Understand ad revenue analytics. Checked 2 October 2026. DefinitionYouTube's own definition of RPM and CPM. Copyright Google; quoted with attribution.

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