A Content Editor is much like a fashion designer. A fashion designer makes the cloth, but this role does so much more once they have the material. They cut and snip; they edit, ask for new content, differentiate the good from the bad, the eye-catching from the boring, the in from out, and do so much more - they layout all that you see on social media, in magazines, in your morning newspaper.
Many employers will ask that potential candidates have a Bachelor's in English, PR, Marketing, or a similar subject, but it isn't always necessary. The job takes an eye for detail and a good knowledge of market trends and marketing.
Content Editor Overview
Content Editor Careers
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a content editor. For example, did you know that they make an average of $27.34 an hour? That's $56,859 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow -3% and produce -3,400 job opportunities across the U.S.
What Does a Content Editor Do
There are certain skills that many content editors have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed good judgment, interpersonal skills and writing skills.
When it comes to the most important skills required to be a content editor, we found that a lot of resumes listed 21.6% of content editors included content marketing, while 12.5% of resumes included web content, and 4.0% of resumes included video production. Hard skills like these are helpful to have when it comes to performing essential job responsibilities.
When it comes to searching for a job, many search for a key term or phrase. Instead, it might be more helpful to search by industry, as you might be missing jobs that you never thought about in industries that you didn't even think offered positions related to the content editor job title. But what industry to start with? Most content editors actually find jobs in the media and technology industries.
How To Become a Content Editor
If you're interested in becoming a content editor, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 61.6% of content editors have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 21.7% of content editors have master's degrees. Even though most content editors have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a content editor. When we researched the most common majors for a content editor, we found that they most commonly earn bachelor's degree degrees or master's degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on content editor resumes include associate degree degrees or doctoral degree degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a content editor. In fact, many content editor jobs require experience in a role such as editor. Meanwhile, many content editors also have previous career experience in roles such as internship or writer and editor.
What is the right job for my career path?
Tell us your goals and we'll match you with the right jobs to get there.
Content Editor Career Paths
As you move along in your career, you may start taking on more responsibilities or notice that you've taken on a leadership role. Using our career map, a content editor can determine their career goals through the career progression. For example, they could start out with a role such as editor, progress to a title such as owner and then eventually end up with the title brand director.
Content Editor
Brand Director
10 Years
Director Of Digital Marketing
9 Years
Manager Of Corporate Communications
7 Years
Web Content Manager
5 Years
Internal Communications Manager
8 Years
Vice President Of Marketing & Communications
12 Years
Show More
What is the right job for my career path?
Tell us your goals and we'll match you with the rights job to get there.
Average Salary for a Content Editor
Content Editors in America make an average salary of $56,859 per year or $27 per hour. The top 10 percent makes over $89,000 per year, while the bottom 10 percent under $36,000 per year.
Average Salary
$56,859
Best Paying Cities
Recently Added Salaries
Job TitleCompany  | Company | Start Date | Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
RELX Group Content Editor Content Editor | RELX Group RELX Group | 01/29/2021 01/29/2021 | $38,90601/29/2021 $38,906 |
Robert Half Content Editor Content Editor | Robert Half Robert Half | 01/14/2021 01/14/2021 | $73,04501/14/2021 $73,045 |
Lamar University Digital Content Editor #494827 Digital Content Editor #494827 | Lamar University Lamar University | 12/12/2020 12/12/2020 | $38,05212/12/2020 $38,052 |
Randstad Content Editor Content Editor | Randstad Randstad | 12/10/2020 12/10/2020 | $104,35012/10/2020 $104,350 |
Avispa E-Commerce Content Editor (H) E-Commerce Content Editor (H) | Avispa Avispa | 11/26/2020 11/26/2020 | $52,17511/26/2020 $52,175 |
Calculate your salary
Use Zippia's Salary Calculator to see how your pay matches up.
Content Editor Resumes
Designing and figuring out what to include on your resume can be tough, not to mention time-consuming. That's why we put together a guide that is designed to help you craft the perfect resume for becoming a Content Editor. If you're needing extra inspiration, take a look through our selection of templates that are specific to your job.
Learn How To Write a Content Editor Resume
At Zippia, we went through countless Content Editor resumes and compiled some information about how best to optimize them. Here are some suggestions based on what we found, divided by the individual sections of the resume itself.
View Detailed InformationTop Colleges for Content Editors
1. Northwestern University
Evanston, IL • Private
In-State Tuition
$54,568
Enrollment
8,451
2. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cambridge, MA • Private
In-State Tuition
$51,832
Enrollment
4,550
3. New York University
New York, NY • Private
In-State Tuition
$51,828
Enrollment
26,339
4. Harvard University
Cambridge, MA • Private
In-State Tuition
$50,420
Enrollment
7,582
5. Washington University in St Louis
Saint Louis, MO • Private
In-State Tuition
$53,399
Enrollment
7,356
6. University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA • Private
In-State Tuition
$56,225
Enrollment
19,548
7. University of Texas at Austin
Austin, TX • Public
In-State Tuition
$10,610
Enrollment
40,329
8. Columbia University in the City of New York
New York, NY • Private
In-State Tuition
$59,430
Enrollment
8,216
9. Stanford University
Stanford, CA • Private
In-State Tuition
$51,354
Enrollment
7,083
10. University of Washington
Seattle, WA • Public
In-State Tuition
$11,207
Enrollment
30,905
Job type you want
Full Time
Part Time
Internship
Temporary
Top Skills For a Content Editor
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 21.6% of content editors listed content marketing on their resume, but soft skills such as good judgment and interpersonal skills are important as well.
- Content Marketing, 21.6%
- Web Content, 12.5%
- Video Production, 4.0%
- Edit Copy, 3.9%
- Html, 3.4%
- Other Skills, 54.6% See All Content Editor Skills
Best States For a Content Editor
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a content editor. The best states for people in this position are Florida, Hawaii, California, and West Virginia. Content editors make the most in Florida with an average salary of $71,261. Whereas in Hawaii and California, they would average $64,242 and $60,211, respectively. While content editors would only make an average of $60,043 in West Virginia, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. New York
Total Content Editor Jobs:
1,114
Highest 10% Earn:
$112,000
Location Quotient:
2.44
Location Quotient is a measure used by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) to determine how concentrated a certain industry is in a single state compared to the nation as a whole. You can read more about how BLS calculates location quotients here
$59,749
Avg. Salary
2. Florida
Total Content Editor Jobs:
417
Highest 10% Earn:
$160,000
Location Quotient:
0.75
Location Quotient is a measure used by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) to determine how concentrated a certain industry is in a single state compared to the nation as a whole. You can read more about how BLS calculates location quotients here
$71,261
Avg. Salary
3. Connecticut
Total Content Editor Jobs:
121
Highest 10% Earn:
$109,000
Location Quotient:
1.03
Location Quotient is a measure used by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) to determine how concentrated a certain industry is in a single state compared to the nation as a whole. You can read more about how BLS calculates location quotients here
$58,486
Avg. Salary
How Do Content Editor Rate Their Jobs?
Top Content Editor Employers
We've made finding a great employer to work for easy by doing the hard work for you. We looked into employers that employ content editors and discovered their number of content editor opportunities and average salary. Through our research, we concluded that Expedia Group was the best, especially with an average salary of $90,110. ESPN follows up with an average salary of $76,426, and then comes Microsoft with an average of $123,567. In addition, we know most people would rather work from home. So instead of having to change careers, we identified the best employers for remote work as a content editor. The employers include Tegna, tronc, and iSpot.tv