Salary Survey
The Reynolds Center annual business journalist salary survey results.
2023
Latest Survey Results
A career path for young reporters
Just over a quarter of respondents in the survey (28%) were under the age of 30 and reported a median salary of $64,705 – a salary that is in the upper range of entry-level journalism positions, indicating business journalism as a good field for recent graduates to enter.
Not only are business journalists under 30 more likely to be female than older generations, they are also more likely to be from diverse racial backgrounds. While an overwhelming majority of respondents who provided their race in the overall survey were White — 81.3% – for the journalists who were under the age of 30, only 64.4% selected White as their sole race/ethnicity. This presents an optimistic outlook for a more representative field of business journalists in the coming years.
What's your position?
The majority of respondents stated their current position as either a reporter/correspondent or freelancer covering a range of business topics. Almost one third of respondents were either editors, supervisors, or in senior management positions. The median annual base salary for all positions was $84,615, with editors and managers reporting a median of $108,333.
Distribution of salary among all respondents
The median salary among all business journalism professions was $84,615, with managers and editors reporting a median salary of $108,333. Female journalists reported a median salary $15,477 less than their male colleagues.
A closer look suggests a portion of this wage gap could be explained by a difference in experience and age from survey respondents. Female respondents were on average 8.7 years younger than male respondents and reported 6.4 fewer average years as a business journalist. Accounting for the age of respondents the gender wage gap for reporters under 35 almost disappears. However, for journalists 35 and over the gender wage gap is much more evident.
Median salary
The median salary for business reporters was $78,260, averaging roughly 12 years of experience in the field. This is up by $12,056 from the 2022 survey likely due to a majority of respondents (69.3%) indicating that their salaries had increased over the past year.
Taking into account data from 2022, the average median salary increased across the board for all positions and genders who responded in 2023, with female reporters showing the biggest increase year over year.
The median annual base salary for all positions in 2023 was $84,615.
Where are you reporting?
All survey respondents live and work in the United States with journalists from 35 different states (including the District of Columbia) responding. Almost half (46.8%) of those journalists work in six states – New York, California, Texas, District of Columbia, Florida, Washington.
Type of publication
The majority of respondents work in print or digital media outlets with almost a third from one of the 42 American Business Journals (24.9%), regional/local publications (31.6%) and global/national publications (30.7%). The rest of the survey respondents stated they work for a trade, magazine, newsletter or other type of publication that did not fit one of the other categories.
What is your beat?
What is your beat? Respondents covered topics including: restaurants, innovation, government, travel, tourism, real estate, hospitality, finance, markets, manufacturing, investing, venture capital, sports, economic development, health, business, personal finance, Amazon, international trade, startups, education, local economy, retail, labor, energy, automotive, technology, transportation, fashion, mergers, cannabis, aviation, and sustainability. The most common being business.
Comparing 2022 to 2023
Age of respondents in 2022
Age of respondents in 2023
Race of respondents in 2022
Race of respondents in 2023
Gender of respondents in 2022
Gender of respondents in 2023
Position of respondents in 2022
Position of respondents in 2023
Years of experience of respondents in 2022
Years of experience of respondents in 2023
Salary Survey FAQs
Disseminate reliable and accurate data on salaries and demographics in the business journalism industry, promote the appeal of a business journalism career, and prompt a national conversation about the lack of diversity in business journalism.
Survey participants are asked about their current position, the type of media outlet they currently work for, how long they have been a journalist, their salary range, and basic demographic information such as gender, age, race, and zipcode.
The more information we have, the more reliable the data analysis will be, however all questions in the survey are completely voluntary.
Almost no time at all! The survey took an average of 3 minutes for respondents to complete in 2023.
Each year our staff reaches out to hundreds of journalists at a wide variety of news publications from all over the country, including the 42 American City Business Journals. We also collaborate with the Society for Advancing Business Editors and Writers to invite their 2500+ members to participate.
The survey is invitation only. If you fit the criteria of a business journalist in the United States, you are welcome to fill out the Salary Survey Sign Up Form below to receive an invitation in the next survey cycle.
We do not collect identifying information such as your name or publication in the salary survey. Your survey responses will be strictly confidential and data from this research will be reported only in the aggregate.
Survey invitations are sent out in late April each year, with results published on our website in June.
If you still have other questions about the survey that have not been answered here, please reach out to reynoldscenter@gmail.com and we will get back to you as soon as we can.
About the survey
In 2022, we revived our annual business journalist salary survey, last conducted in 2012, and updated the questionnaire to include demographic information.
The goals of this survey are to:
- Disseminate reliable and accurate data on salaries and demographics in the business journalism industry.
- Promote the appeal of a business journalism career to high school, college and graduate students.
- Drive a national conversation about diversity (or, more accurately, the lack thereof) in business journalism.
Each year we reach out to thousands of business journalists all across the United States to encourage participation in the survey. If you are a business journalist who writes or edits for a business news publication and/or covers a business beat in the United States and would like to participate in the next survey, please enter your contact information below.
Sign up for next year’s survey
The Reynolds Center Annual Salary Survey operates on an invitation-only basis.
If you fit the criteria of a business journalist in the United States, you are welcome to fill out this form to receive an invitation to the next survey cycle.