Technical Writers Career, Salary and Skills
Technical Writers have a BLS-reported national median annual wage of $90,390 based on the 2025 OEWS dataset, with reported national employment of 45,500. Wage data is published for 182 locations.
Occupation description
Write technical materials, such as equipment manuals, appendices, or operating and maintenance instructions. May assist in layout work.
O*NET code
27-3042.00
Job zone
4
Typical education
Associate's Degree or other 2-year degree
Experience
Over 1 year, up to and including 2 years
National salary and employment
Median annual
$90,390
Hourly median
$43.46
Employment
45,500
Data year
2025
National salary distribution
Top skills
| Skill | Importance | Level |
|---|---|---|
| Writing | 4.88 | 5.00 |
| Reading Comprehension | 4.12 | 4.88 |
| Active Listening | 3.75 | 3.88 |
| Speaking | 3.75 | 3.75 |
| Critical Thinking | 3.62 | 3.88 |
| Active Learning | 3.25 | 3.62 |
| Judgment and Decision Making | 3.12 | 3.00 |
| Time Management | 3.12 | 3.00 |
| Monitoring | 3.00 | 3.00 |
| Coordination | 3.00 | 3.00 |
Typical tasks
- Organize material and complete writing assignment according to set standards regarding order, clarity, conciseness, style, and terminology.
- Maintain records and files of work and revisions.
- Edit, standardize, or make changes to material prepared by other writers or establishment personnel.
- Analyze developments in specific field to determine need for revisions in previously published materials and development of new material.
- Review published materials and recommend revisions or changes in scope, format, content, and methods of reproduction and binding.
- Select photographs, drawings, sketches, diagrams, and charts to illustrate material.
- Confer with customer representatives, vendors, plant executives, or publisher to establish technical specifications and to determine subject material to be developed for publication.
- Assist in laying out material for publication.
Technology
- Adobe Acrobat
- Adobe Captivate
- Adobe Creative Cloud software
- Adobe Dreamweaver
- Adobe FrameMaker
- Adobe Illustrator
- Adobe InDesign
- Adobe Photoshop
- Adobe RoboHelp
- Apple Final Cut Pro
- Atlassian Confluence
- Atlassian JIRA
- Author-it
- Autodesk AutoCAD
Technical Writers salary by location
Areas with the highest reported employment for this occupation.
- Technical Writers Salary in CAMedian $104,000 · Employment 5,280
- Technical Writers Salary in TXMedian $82,750 · Employment 3,340
- Technical Writers Salary in NCMedian $86,320 · Employment 2,860
- Technical Writers Salary in FLMedian $86,240 · Employment 2,550
- Technical Writers Salary in Washington, DCMedian $99,910 · Employment 2,370
- Technical Writers Salary in VAMedian $93,600 · Employment 2,280
- Technical Writers Salary in New York, NYMedian $111,050 · Employment 2,170
- Technical Writers Salary in MAMedian $109,200 · Employment 1,850
- Technical Writers Salary in MDMedian $100,990 · Employment 1,780
- Technical Writers Salary in GAMedian $73,070 · Employment 1,680
- Technical Writers Salary in WAMedian $104,070 · Employment 1,620
- Technical Writers Salary in NYMedian $98,310 · Employment 1,610
Related careers
- Computer ProgrammersNational median $100,390
- Database AdministratorsNational median $104,620
- Correspondence ClerksNational median $46,800
- Computer Systems Engineers/ArchitectsNational median $116,580
- Software DevelopersNational median $135,980
- Computer Systems AnalystsNational median $105,850
- Information Technology Project ManagersNational median $116,580
- Statistical AssistantsNational median $50,330
Career and skills data: O*NET 31.0 (onetcenter.org). Salary and employment data: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics OEWS, 2025 (bls.gov/oes). Figures are published survey estimates, not real-time market data.