What employed medical writers earn in the United States

Employed medical writers' pay varies with the work, employer, experience, education and location. Historical salary surveys show both the range of earnings and how the factors associated with pay have changed.

Salary levels and changes

Salary surveys by the American Medical Writers Association (AMWA) measured income earned in the preceding tax year; for example, the 2007 survey covered 2006 income and the 2011 survey covered 2010 income. ^{1, 2} The 2011 survey excluded salaries beyond approximately three standard deviations of the mean. ² The 2015 survey covered 2014 income and included former AMWA members and members of related organisations as well as current members, with 1,292 respondents: 841 employees and 451 freelances. ³ The 2019 figures are income before taxes in 2018, reported in US dollars and including employees outside the United States. ^{4, 5, 6}

Mean full-time employee salaries in successive AMWA surveys were $38,887 in 1989, $49,967 in 1994, $67,351 in 2002, $74,016 in 2004 and $82,232 in 2007. ⁷ Between 2004 and 2007, income rose 12% for pharmaceutical writers and for those working in associations or professional societies. ⁸ The reported gains over inflation were 14.6% for the interval ending in 2002, 5.8% for the interval ending in 2004 and 1.8% for the interval ending in 2007. ^{7, 9}

The 2007 survey had 1,107 full-time employee respondents, whose salaries ranged from $21,000 to $450,000. ⁷ In the 2011 survey, the mean was $92,867 and the median $88,000, with an interquartile range of $66,000–$110,000 and a standard deviation of approximately $36,000 among 728 respondents. ^{10, 11} Mean salary increased 12.9% between the 2007 and 2011 surveys, against a reported Consumer Price Index (CPI) increase of 5.2%. ^{10, 12, 13} A possible explanation offered for the unexpected rise during a depressed economy was recovering pharmaceutical hiring demand after its 2009 low and a seven-year high in FDA drug approvals in 2011, with most submission writing and compilation likely done in the 2010 income year. ^{14, 15}

In the 2015 survey the full-time mean was $90,200, $2,667 or 2.9% lower than in 2011, while the reported CPI increase over the interval was 7.0%. ^{16, 13} The 2015 report gives a full-time median of $88,000, unchanged from 2011; the 2019 summary's comparison table instead gives the 2015 median as $85,500. ^{13, 17} Part-time employee respondents in 2015 earned a mean of $55,700. ¹⁶

In 2019, 845 full-time employee respondents reported mean 2018 income of $108,444, up 20.2% from the $90,200 mean among 732 respondents in the 2015 survey. ⁴ The interquartile range for 2018 income was $54,000. ⁴ The 32 part-time employees worked an average of 27 hours a week and earned mean 2018 income of $83,112. ⁴

A 2020 commentary compared the 20.2% rise with inflation and with approximately 14.7% salary growth across all industries between 2014 and 2018, finding that medical communicators’ growth was nearly three times inflation and suggesting increased purchasing power and possibly heightened demand for their services. ¹⁸ The 2015 and 2019 samples differed, preventing a direct comparison between them. ¹⁸ Mean salaries rose 55.7% in government, 29.0% at medical device companies and 28.7% at pharmaceutical companies, three sectors comprising 28.4% of employee respondents in 2019. ¹⁸ Biotechnology salaries rose 12.3%, although biotechnology employees remained the second highest paid in 2019 after being the highest paid in 2015. ¹⁸ Possible explanations offered for the smaller biotechnology increase were a correction in supply and demand or those employees' higher starting salaries. ¹⁸ A larger proportion of full-time employee respondents held supervisory posts in 2019 than in 2015, 37.4% versus 31.6%, which might explain some of the salary growth. ^{18, 19}

Employer, role, experience and education

In 2007, mean income was higher for biotechnology and pharmaceutical employees, for writers than editors, and for senior or supervisory employees. ^{7, 20} Mean income was $75,972 at companies with fewer than 50 employees and $87,061 at those with more than 500. ²⁰ Forty-three per cent of entry-level respondents held an advanced degree, and 90% of respondents with an advanced degree had fewer than five years' experience in medical communication. ²⁰

The 2007 survey broke employee earnings down by education, sex, experience, employer and employment level. ^{20, 21}

Grouping	n	Mean ($)	25th percentile ($)	Median ($)	75th percentile ($)	90th percentile ($)
Associate’s or below: men	2	71,500	69,000	71,500	74,000	74,000
Associate’s or below: women	13	68,769	50,000	64,000	70,000	99,000
Bachelor’s: men	53	90,640	57,000	80,000	102,000	141,000
Bachelor’s: women	322	73,522	52,000	70,000	90,000	110,000
Master’s: men	60	86,240	57,000	81,950	100,000	134,000
Master’s: women	300	77,339	57,000	74,000	92,000	110,000
Advanced degree: men	83	101,872	73,000	90,000	112,000	158,000
Advanced degree: women	226	91,797	68,000	85,500	110,000	136,500
Experience: <2 years	172	62,030	46,000	60,000	77,500	90,000
Experience: 2–5 years	253	71,184	52,000	65,000	88,000	105,000
Experience: 6–10 years	313	86,348	66,000	80,000	100,000	121,000
Experience: 11–15 years	135	91,773	68,000	88,000	106,000	135,000
Experience: 16–20 years	86	103,705	72,000	91,000	123,000	165,000
Experience: >20 years	108	99,335	72,000	90,500	114,500	158,000
Biotechnology company	102	102,297	78,000	94,500	116,000	145,000
Pharmaceutical company	286	97,807	77,532	93,000	110,000	140,000
Medical device company	35	85,451	63,000	86,000	106,000	123,000
Communications/advertising	95	83,338	60,000	70,000	95,000	135,000
Clinical research organisation	87	76,620	55,000	72,600	88,000	120,000
Medical education company	96	77,088	60,000	75,000	95,000	105,000
Web/medical company	10	73,500	45,000	76,000	99,000	107,500
Government	22	71,014	51,000	75,600	90,000	100,000
Other employer	63	76,295	53,000	73,000	97,000	135,000
Association/professional society	36	68,574	51,590	64,000	85,500	105,000
Health care organisation	66	65,637	52,000	63,000	75,000	97,000
Research/education organisation	46	63,433	50,000	61,000	75,000	93,000
University or medical school	85	64,438	52,000	60,000	72,000	90,000
Publishing, including journalism	38	58,692	45,000	55,500	72,000	80,000
Entry level	76	60,167	56,500	59,000	74,500	90,000
Mid-level, no supervision	425	69,340	52,000	65,000	83,000	100,000
Mid-level, supervision	167	90,275	65,500	90,000	109,000	130,000
Senior, no management	236	85,950	70,000	84,000	100,000	115,000
Senior, management	148	116,208	79,000	105,000	140,250	185,000

^{20, 21}

In 2011, employees at companies with more than 500 staff had higher-than-average income, as did those hired as supervisors or administrators and those with managerial experience. ²² In the 2011 survey, higher salaries were associated with more experience, writing as the primary work, managerial or supervisory responsibilities, more education and a higher-cost region. ¹¹ Full-time employee salaries were broken down as follows, with changes in mean salary measured against the 2007 survey. ^{23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28}

Grouping	n	Mean ($)	Standard deviation ($)	Median ($)	Range ($)	Mean change
Biotechnology company	77	116,800	37,000	110,000	55,000–200,000	+10%
Pharmaceutical company	150	112,800	37,000	108,500	38,000–190,000	+15%
Communication and advertising	64	93,400	32,000	86,000	42,000–180,000	+12%
Medical device company	32	92,700	32,000	92,500	40,000–160,000	+9%
Other employer	35	95,700	42,000	110,000	55,000–200,000	+25%
Clinical research organisation	75	89,600	30,000	82,000	55,000–200,000	+17%
Government	18	88,300	31,000	94,000	45,000–160,000	+24%
Medical education company	48	79,500	25,000	80,000	41,000–160,000	+3%
Experience: ≤5 years	181	76,800	26,000	72,000	32,000–150,000	+14%
Experience: 6–10 years	199	89,500	30,000	89,000	35,000–180,000	+4%
Experience: 11–15 years	106	102,500	32,000	99,500	41,000–200,000	+12%
Experience: ≥16 years	138	104,900	33,000	100,000	50,000–200,000	+4%
Bachelor’s degree	204	82,000	31,000	75,600	32,000–175,000	+8%
Master’s degree	230	90,900	33,000	88,000	37,000–190,000	+15%
Higher than master’s	244	98,300	30,000	95,000	38,000–190,000	+4%
Senior, management	91	119,200	30,700	120,000	62,000–200,000	+7%
Senior, no management	167	96,100	29,000	95,000	39,000–180,000	+13%
Middle, management	101	99,200	34,000	94,000	42,000–190,000	+12%
Middle, no management	277	79,100	26,000	74,400	32,000–175,000	+14%
Entry level	45	64,700	23,000	60,000	35,000–150,000	+8%
Supervision or administration	41	126,400	36,000	123,000	61,000–190,000	+5%
Supervision/writing/editing	145	113,800	40,000	106,000	43,000–200,000	+15%
Primarily writing	136	97,200	32,000	92,500	43,000–190,000	+21%
Other work	30	90,300	46,000	69,500	35,000–190,000	+22%
Equal writing/editing	160	86,500	25,000	85,500	37,000–175,000	–5%
Research and writing	42	82,100	31,000	78,500	38,000–175,000	+30%
Teaching and writing	7	77,000	25,000	85,000	42,000–108,000	+11%
Primarily editing	—	69,000	25,000	64,500	32,000–200,000	—

^{23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28}

A comparison using the 2011 survey gave mean pay of $76,450 for AMWA members employed by medical schools, government agencies, research organisations and professional associations, versus $97,450 for those employed by clinical research organisations, medical device, pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical education companies, and advertising agencies. ²⁹

In the 2015 survey, primary writers earned a mean of $10,300 more than primary editors. ¹⁶ Employee pay by job category, employment level and company size was as follows. ^{30, 31}

Grouping	n	Mean ($)	Standard deviation ($)	Median ($)	Range ($)
Writing/supervision	90	117,600	62,000	116,000	48,000–450,000
Primarily writing	219	91,600	41,000	88,000	45,000–243,000
Primarily editing	90	81,300	33,000	78,500	35,000–185,000
Research and writing	63	80,800	39,000	80,000	38,000–175,000
Writer: entry	37	68,100	27,000	67,000	38,000–130,000
Writer: mid-level, no supervision	192	84,600	36,000	81,000	40,000–175,000
Writer: mid-level, supervision	69	106,700	42,000	105,000	45,000–200,000
Writer: senior, no management	111	105,900	47,000	107,000	43,000–243,000
Writer: senior, management	53	131,400	55,000	135,000	65,000–220,000
Editor: entry	19	54,000	22,000	49,000	38,000–90,000
Editor: mid-level, no supervision	111	71,400	22,000	70,000	34,000–136,000
Editor: mid-level, supervision	24	90,300	40,000	85,000	52,000–175,000
Editor: senior, no management	55	82,100	31,000	78,000	41,000–140,000
Editor: senior, management	12	104,000	54,000	103,000	59,000–185,000
Company: >10,000 employees	189	97,700	46,000	99,000	34,000–243,000
Company: 5,000–10,000	82	92,200	39,000	89,000	35,000–216,000
Company: 1,001–4,999	87	87,500	42,000	82,000	39,000–235,000
Company: 500–1,000	65	95,100	64,000	83,000	30,000–454,000
Company: 101–499	161	88,800	40,000	85,000	42,000–192,000
Company: 50–100	77	78,100	35,000	75,000	35,000–175,000
Company: <50	103	78,800	44,000	75,000	25,000–240,000

^{30, 31}

Full-time employee salaries in the 2015 survey were also grouped by employer. ^{32, 30}

Employer	n	Mean ($)	Standard deviation ($)	Median ($)	Range ($)	Mean change since 2011
Biotechnology	66	125,200	62,000	118,000	60,000–220,000	+7%
Pharmaceutical	146	113,000	49,000	108,500	38,000–243,000	0%
Medical device	36	88,400	32,000	83,000	40,000–172,000	−5%
Communication/advertising	97	85,900	41,000	82,000	40,000–220,000	−8%
Medical education	48	81,300	33,000	80,000	39,000–185,000	+2%
Clinical research organisation	121	81,100	33,000	80,000	50,000–170,000	−9%
Government	18	70,500	33,000	75,000	40,000–117,000	−20%
Other	44	80,500	31,000	79,000	48,000–190,000	−16%

³⁰

A possible explanation for the lower overall mean in 2015 was a greater proportion of respondents in contract research organisations (CROs) and communications/advertising, which paid less than pharmaceutical and biotechnology employers. ^{33, 13} Experienced employees moving into freelancing might also have contributed to the lower employee mean. ¹³

In the 2019 survey, pharmaceutical and biotechnology employees had the highest mean salaries, $145,433 and $140,596 respectively. ³⁴ The lowest were in medical schools or universities ($76,064), associations or societies for health care professionals ($80,620), and health care organisations or providers ($81,065). ³⁴ Writers averaged $116,059 and editors $85,240; management or supervisory responsibilities were associated with higher pay in both groups. ³⁴ Differences by primary type of work and position level were significant at the .05 level after adjustment for experience. ³⁴ Employees with more than ten years' experience averaged $129,363, about $23,000 more than those with six to ten years; PhD or other advanced-degree holders also earned more than respondents with other qualifications as their highest degree. ³⁴

The distribution of full-time employee income in 2018, in US dollars, included respondents outside the United States. ⁵ Categories with fewer than ten respondents were omitted, as was the main area identified as “other” by 77 respondents. ⁵

Grouping	n	25th percentile ($)	Median ($)	75th percentile ($)
All	845	76,000	97,000	130,000
Work: writing	557	81,500	107,000	138,000
Work: editing	210	64,875	80,560	100,000
Work: quality control	24	72,000	82,000	116,000
Work: research	20	73,250	103,500	148,750
Work: other	34	89,000	135,500	170,000
Area: regulatory writing	347	86,000	112,000	150,000
Area: scientific publications	212	75,000	92,500	125,000
Area: medical research/grants	60	62,250	79,500	92,250
Area: marketing/advertising	54	75,000	95,000	112,813
Area: continuing education	35	67,000	85,243	122,000
Area: educational materials for lay audiences	33	66,500	79,000	93,000
Area: medical news	10	73,728	79,500	103,500

^{5, 35, 36}

The 347 employed regulatory writers had mean income of $124,877 (SD $54,162), versus $108,444 (SD $48,131) overall, a difference with P<.001. ¹⁹ A 2020 commentary suggested that growing participation by experienced regulatory writers might raise the reported earnings for that category. ¹⁹ It also suggested that bonuses and equity incentives calculated as a percentage of base salary could widen the compensation gap, because regulatory writers disproportionately work for pharmaceutical and biotechnology employers with higher base salaries. ¹⁹

Location

In the 2007 survey, the highest regional mean incomes were in the West Coast, including western Canada, and Northeast, including eastern Canada, at $84,000–$91,000. ²⁰ Midwest and South means were $72,000–$78,000, and Mountain-region means were lowest at $61,000–$66,000. ²⁰

In 2011, the highest regional mean was New England's $109,700, followed by the West Coast including western Canada ($106,100), outside the US and Canada ($100,200), New York–Delaware Valley including eastern Canada ($97,100), northern Midwest ($91,800), and mid-Atlantic ($87,500). ¹¹ In 2015, salaries were higher in high-cost US regions than low-cost regions. ³²

In 2019, employees working in the US averaged $110,568, versus $77,927 outside it. ^{34, 37} The highest US regional means were Pacific ($138,646), New England ($122,840) and Middle Atlantic ($114,427). ³⁴

Salary models and sex differences

The 2007 regression, using 1,059 respondents with complete data, explained 52% of income variance; years of experience replaced age because the two were highly correlated. ^{20, 21} Each factor was statistically significant, with biotechnology or pharmaceutical employment, an advanced degree and male sex the dominant positive factors. ²¹ Its algorithm began at $33,700, described as the salary of a writer or editor with one year's experience and an associate's degree or less, then added amounts for employer, experience, highest degree and sex. ^{38, 39}

• Biotechnology or pharmaceutical employer: $23,562.
• Medical device, communications or advertising employer: $14,475.
• Each year of experience: $1,789.
• Bachelor's degree: $9,294.
• Master's degree: $18,588.
• Advanced degree: $27,882.
• Male sex: $8,984.

^{38, 39}

In the 2011 survey, men's mean income was about $16,000 higher than women's, and their median about $17,000 higher. ² Sex did not reach significance in the selected regression model and was removed. ^{10, 28} Male respondents numbered 132 in the salary comparison, with SD $47,600 and median $97,000. ²

The 2011 salary model explained 61% of income variability (R²=.613, P<.03), with employer, experience, education, type of work and region as predictors. ^{28, 15} The results section ranked employer first, followed by experience, education, work type and region; the discussion instead put work type first, followed by employer, experience, education and region. ^{28, 15} Geographic cost-of-living bands were <95, 95–100 and >100 on the composite consumer price index used in the model. ¹⁰ The algorithm's caption gave a starting salary of $47,000 for a writer or editor with a bachelor's degree, while the figure itself labelled the starting salary $47,700. ^{28, 40} The adjustments were as follows. ^{28, 40}

• Medical device, communications or advertising employer: $15,000.
• Pharmaceutical or biotechnology employer: $18,400.
• Low composite cost-of-living index: $3,300.
• Intermediate index: $3,900.
• High index: $4,500.
• Each year of experience: $2,000.
• Master's degree: $7,400.
• Higher degree: $8,000.
• Gender: $0, not significant.
• Editing: $8,000.
• Writing: $22,000.
• Writing with supervision: $4,500.
• Supervision/administration: $31,400.

^{28, 40}

In 2015, education, experience, company category and working position explained approximately 46% of salary variance (R²=.46, P<.001); adding regional cost of living produced R²=.50. ³² Sex was not significant and was removed from the model. ³² The factors were ranked as type of work, employer, experience, education and region. ¹³ The predictive algorithm began at $29,400 for an employee with a bachelor's degree, with the highest estimated salary for an advanced-degree writer in senior management at a pharmaceutical or biotechnology company in a high-cost region. ³¹ Its experience increment was about $1,300 per year up to approximately 20 years, and its education increments were $1,300 for a master's and $10,300 for a higher degree. ³¹ Regional increments were $3,100, $4,300 and $5,500 for low, medium and high cost of living, respectively. ^{31, 41} The pharmaceutical or biotechnology increment was $20,300, and writing with senior management carried $25,500. ⁴¹

Men in the 2015 survey earned approximately $4,200 more than women, a 4.4% difference that was not statistically significant (P>.05). ^{16, 33}

In 2019, full-time employed men averaged $119,236 (SD $55,950) and women $106,210 (SD $46,080). ³⁷ The difference was not significant at the 95% confidence level after adjustment for highest education and experience; male respondents were more likely to have terminal degrees and longer tenures. ^{34, 37} Non-PhD terminal-degree holders, including MDs and PharmDs, averaged $127,251 versus $110,768 for PhDs, but the difference disappeared after adjustment for years of experience. ¹⁹

Employee benefits

In the 2007 survey, 96% of full-time employees received health insurance and 91% retirement savings plans. ⁷ The 2011 employee salary comparisons used gross salary alone, without valuing health benefits, retirement contributions, paid vacation, flexible spending accounts, bonuses or stock options. ⁴²

The 2015 survey's benefits question had 747 full-time employee respondents. ⁴¹

Benefit	Respondents (%)
Health insurance	86
Dental insurance	78
Life/disability insurance	75
Retirement savings plan with matching contribution	75
Flexible medical spending account	57
Professional development: membership dues and educational events	55
Annual cash bonus	53
Performance bonus	30
Long-term care insurance	30
Tuition reimbursement	28
Stock options	25
None	4

^{41, 31}

Among employees receiving stock options or grants in 2015, the most common value was 1%–10% of annual salary. ³¹

In 2019, 872 full-time employees answered the benefits question, selecting all that applied. ⁴³

Benefit	n	Respondents (%)
Health insurance	807	92.5
Retirement savings plan with matching contributions	738	84.6
Life/disability insurance	713	81.8
Professional development	558	64.0
Pre-tax spending programmes	552	63.3
Annual cash bonus	520	59.6
Tuition reimbursement	281	32.2
Pension plan	213	24.4
Annual stock options or grants	203	23.3
Certification or licence fees	167	19.2
Stock options or grants as sign-on incentive	106	12.2
Profit-sharing	83	9.5
Other	32	3.7
None	12	1.4

^{43, 36}

The proportions receiving health insurance, retirement savings plans and life or disability insurance were higher in 2019 than in 2015. ³⁴

Comparison with other writing work

At a 2009 conference session, an experienced journalist and medical writer placed experienced journalists' salaries at $40,000–$50,000, copywriters' job-site average at $47,000 and technical writers' at $52,000, against an $80,000–$100,000 band for experienced medical writers attributed to AMWA's 2007 salary survey. ⁴⁴