How much do copywriters make?
The Bureau of Labor Statistics has no dedicated occupation code for copywriters, so there is no official salary figure for the job. The most honest earnings benchmark is what freelance commercial writers actually charge, published each year by the Editorial Freelancers Association from a survey of its members.
The short answer
There is no official government salary for this work. Freelancers report charging$60 to $126 per hour, with per-word and per-page rates that swing by project type. The reported rates are broken down below.
Source: Editorial Freelancers Association Rates charged during the 2025 calendar year, reported by over 1,100 EFA members (more than a third of EFA membership); published as the EFA 2026 Rate Chart.
Reported rates by project type
Median rate ranges reported by Editorial Freelancers Association members. A page is 250 words. Rates vary widely by project, which is why they are shown by type rather than as a single number.
Work-for-Hire
| Project type | Per word | Per hour | Per page (250w) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Articles/essays | 25¢ to 45¢ | $70 to $100 | $62.50 to $112.50 |
| Blog posts | 25¢ to 45¢ | $74.50 to $87.50 | $62.50 to $112.50 |
| Business/marketing | 32¢ to 87.5¢ | $65 to $75 | $80 to $218.75 |
| Fiction, full-length | 13.5¢ to 20¢ | $80 to $100 | $33.75 to $50 |
| Graphic novels | 8¢ to 10¢ | $100 to $126 | $20 to $25 |
| Journalism | 40¢ to 50¢ | $75 to $85 | $100 to $125 |
| Legal | n/a | $75 to $126 | n/a |
| Medical | $1.00 to $1.50 | $90 to $113 | $250 to $375 |
| Medicolegal | n/a | $75 to $126 | n/a |
| Memoir | 11.5¢ to 20¢ | $95 to $125 | $28.75 to $50 |
| Nonfiction, full-length | 10¢ to 15¢ | $90 to $112.50 | $25 to $37.50 |
| Nonfiction, short-form | 30¢ to 30¢ | $65 to $75 | $75 to $75 |
| Scientific | $1.00 to $1.20 | $87.50 to $113 | $250 to $300 |
| Short story | 8¢ to 10¢ | $77.50 to $100 | $20 to $25 |
| Technical | $1.00 to $1.00 | $60 to $98.56 | $250 to $250 |
| Other | 25¢ to 40¢ | $65 to $82.50 | $62.50 to $100 |
Methodology
Data: Editorial Freelancers Association (EFA) Rates - 2026 Rate Chart (Rates charged during the 2025 calendar year, reported by over 1,100 EFA members (more than a third of EFA membership); published as the EFA 2026 Rate Chart.), retrieved 2026-07-13. The caveats that travel with every figure:
- Hourly and per-word figures are the EFA's reported median rate ranges.
- A page is defined by the EFA as 250 words.
- The EFA neither sets rates nor advises members on what rates to charge.
Thinking about the career itself? See how to become a copywriter.
Frequently asked questions
How much do copywriters make?
There is no government salary for this work, so the honest benchmark is the reported freelance rate: $60 to $126 per hour across the project types in the Editorial Freelancers Association 2026 Rate Chart, with per-word and per-page rates varying by project. See the table below for the breakdown.
Is there an official copywriter salary from the government?
No. BLS folds commercial copywriting into broader categories and does not publish a copywriter-specific wage, which is why this page uses the Editorial Freelancers Association's reported rate ranges instead of a single salary number.
Are these employed salaries or freelance rates?
Freelance rates. The figures are what working freelance writers reported charging for commercial and work-for-hire projects, expressed per word and per hour rather than as an annual salary.
The writer's edit
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