Editors Salary

It’s a stretch — at the median salary of $46K, rent takes 32.3% of take-home pay. A 2-bedroom at the HUD Fair Market Rent runs $1,044/month. The 30% guideline puts the comfortable ceiling at roughly $1,000/month in rent — so roommates or a 1-bedroom would ease the math significantly.

The 10th-percentile wage — what new editors typically earn — is $33K/year. Take-home on that works out to about $1,966/month. At HUD’s $1,044/month FMR, rent would take 53% of that take-home — above the 30% guideline, so a 1-bedroom or shared housing is likely necessary starting out.

Local pay runs 41% below the national median — $46K here vs. $78K nationally. Cost of living is 14% below the national average, which narrows that gap in real purchasing power.

Kingsport-Bristol pays $46K median vs. the U.S. average of $78K — that’s -41%. After adjusting for local cost of living (RPP 86.45), the purchasing-power equivalent is $53K — below the national median.

The median is $45,700 a year, that works out to about $22 an hour. But the range is wide: entry-level workers start around $32,770, and experienced editors can clear $83,830. These are BLS numbers, based on employer-reported data, not self-reported surveys.

On that salary, you'd take home roughly $3,230/month after taxes. A 2-bedroom here rents for about $1,044/month, which eats 32.3% of your paycheck. That's above the 30% rule of thumb, housing will be a stretch at the median salary, though you can manage with roommates or a smaller place.

Kingsport-Bristol has a Regional Price Parity of 86.45 (100 is the national average). That's below average, your money stretches further here than the raw salary number suggests. After cost-of-living adjustment, the median editors salary is worth about $52,863 in national-average purchasing power.

The table above ranks every state by median pay for this role. Keep in mind that the highest-paying states tend to have the highest costs of living, so the top salary doesn't always mean the most money in your pocket.