Technical Writer Salary, Skills & Requirements (2026)
Advertised pay, starting pay, skills and experience from 1,551 US job postings by 684 employers. Data as of October 2026.
What US employers post for technical writers: advertised pay, the skills and experience they ask for, and the job titles they use, from 1,551 open job postings (October 2026).
- The median advertised pay for technical writers in US job postings is $100,000 a year (369 postings from 200 employers, October 2026).
- The middle half of those postings offer $82,000 to $128,000.
- The skills that most set technical writer postings apart are technical writing, powerpoint, visio.
- Postings that state a minimum ask for a median of 3 years of experience.
Technical Writer job postings in the US, October 2026
- $100,000
- Median advertised pay (369 postings)
- $82,000–$128,000
- Middle 50% of postings
- 1,551
- US job postings from 684 employers
- 3 years
- Median experience asked
How much does a technical writer make?
The median advertised pay is $100,000 a year, from 369 US job postings by 200 employers that state pay. One in ten postings offers $160,000 or more.
Advertised pay in 369 US technical writer job postings: median $100,000 a year, middle half $82,000 to $128,000.
- Median: $100,000
- 25th percentile: $82,000
- 75th percentile: $128,000
The figures as a table
| Annual pay | Share of postings |
|---|---|
| $30K–$40K | 0.5% |
| $40K–$50K | 1.4% |
| $50K–$60K | 7.0% |
| $60K–$70K | 5.1% |
| $70K–$80K | 9.2% |
| $80K–$90K | 9.8% |
| $90K–$100K | 16.5% |
| $100K–$110K | 9.8% |
| $110K–$120K | 11.1% |
| $120K–$130K | 6.0% |
| $130K–$140K | 6.2% |
| $140K–$150K | 5.4% |
| $150K–$160K | 1.9% |
| $160K–$170K | 0.5% |
| $170K–$180K | 4.3% |
| $180K–$190K | 0.3% |
| $190K–$200K | 0.3% |
| $200K–$210K | 1.1% |
| $210K–$220K | 0.3% |
| $220K–$230K | 0.5% |
| $230K–$240K | 0.8% |
| $240K–$250K | 1.1% |
Midpoint of each posting's pay range, hourly pay × 2,080 hours; at most 20 postings per employer; US, October 2026.
| Median | Middle 50% | Postings | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Postings that state an annual salary | $102,000 | $88K–$130K | 311 |
| All pay postings, annualised | $100,000 | $82K–$128K | 369 |
For comparison, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the national median annual wage of Technical Writers (27-3042) at $90,000 (May 2025). Postings advertise pay; the BLS measures what people earn, across all employers and levels.
What is the starting salary for a technical writer?
Figure withheld: fewer than 250 US postings list pay. How we decide.
Technical writer levels and pay
Levels as they appear in job titles, ordered by the median experience asked.
| Level in title | Share of postings | Median experience asked | Median pay |
|---|---|---|---|
| No level in title | 79.8% | 3 years | $96,000 |
| Senior | 11.8% | 4 years | – |
Highest-paying technical writer jobs
Specializations with at least 250 postings that state pay.
| Specialization | Median pay | Postings with pay | Employers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Technical Writer (general) | $99,000 | 326 | 179 |
Skills employers ask for in technical writer job postings
| Skill | Share of postings |
|---|---|
| Communication | 31% |
| Microsoft Office | 25% |
| Excel | 24% |
| Attention to detail | 24% |
| Powerpoint | 23% |
| Word | 20% |
| Organizational skills | 18% |
| Technical writing | 16% |
| Interpersonal skills | 14% |
| Work independently | 12% |
Skills named in the posting text; at most 20 postings per employer; US, October 2026. Methodology.
Skills that set technical writers apart
- Technical writing70.5× as often as in all postings · 16%
- Powerpoint6× as often as in all postings · 23%
- Visio27× as often as in all postings · 11%
- Editing55.2× as often as in all postings · 9%
- Adobe acrobat37.7× as often as in all postings · 9%
- SharePoint17.5× as often as in all postings · 11%
- Word3.5× as often as in all postings · 20%
- Microsoft word8.2× as often as in all postings · 11%
- Ms word14.4× as often as in all postings · 8%
- Writing10.2× as often as in all postings · 7%
- HTML12× as often as in all postings · 6%
Skills named in at least 5% of these postings and at least 3 times as often as in job postings overall.
Have a technical writer job posting in front of you? See which of its skills your resume is missing.
What does a technical writer do?
Employers post these jobs as Senior Technical Writer, Medical Writer, Technical Editor, Senior Medical Writer, Technical Writer II and other titles. The largest specializations are Specifications Writer (3%), Knowledge Management Specialist (2%).
The closest official occupation is Technical Writers (27-3042.00). Its most important 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.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database, U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (CC BY 4.0).
How much experience do you need to be a technical writer?
Among 862 postings that state a minimum, the median is 3 years. 2% say 0 years and 11% ask for 1 year or less.
Minimum experience asked in 862 US technical writer job postings: median 3 years, and 11% ask for 1 year or less.
The figures as a table
| Minimum experience asked | Share of postings |
|---|---|
| 0 yr | 2% |
| 1 yr | 9% |
| 2 yrs | 18% |
| 3-4 yrs | 35% |
| 5-7 yrs | 26% |
| 8-9 yrs | 5% |
| 10+ yrs | 6% |
Postings that state a minimum (required or preferred); at most 20 postings per employer; US, October 2026.
We do not show a degree figure: in our checks, degree requirements in posting text were found too rarely to publish one. Why.
Other names for a technical writer: job titles employers use
| Job title | Employers using it |
|---|---|
| Technical Writer | 362 (52.9%) |
| Senior Technical Writer | 52 (7.6%) |
| Medical Writer | 41 (6.0%) |
| Technical Editor | 41 (6.0%) |
| Senior Medical Writer | 28 (4.1%) |
| Technical Writer II | 28 (4.1%) |
| Sr. Technical Writer | 23 (3.4%) |
| Technical Writer I | 19 (2.8%) |
| Technical Writer/Editor | 16 (2.3%) |
| Technical Documentation Specialist | 13 (1.9%) |
| Senior Technical Editor | 13 (1.9%) |
| Principal Medical Writer | 11 (1.6%) |
| Technical Writer III | 11 (1.6%) |
| Technical Writer Intern | 11 (1.6%) |
| Specification Writer | 10 (1.5%) |
| Technical Communicator | 9 (1.3%) |
| Documentation Engineer | 9 (1.3%) |
| Specifications Writer | 8 (1.2%) |
| Associate Director, Medical Writing | 8 (1.2%) |
| IT Technical Writer | 7 (1.0%) |
Titles read in our audit and used by at least 3 employers.
Technical Writer compared with similar careers
| Career | Median pay | Median experience | Postings | Shares N of top 25 skills |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Technical Writer | $100K | 3 years | 1,551 | – |
| Proposal Manager | $118K | 5 years | 1,144 | 17 |
| Instructional Designer | – | 3 years | 805 | 16 |
| Environmental Specialist | $105K | 5 years | 1,582 | 16 |
| Writer | $92K | 3 years | 1,279 | 14 |
Similar careers
| Career | Shares N of the top 25 skills | Median pay |
|---|---|---|
| Proposal Manager | 17 | $118K |
| Instructional Designer | 16 | – |
| Environmental Specialist | 16 | $105K |
| Writer | 14 | $92K |
| Communications Manager | 16 | $110K |
| Chemist | 15 | – |
Applying for technical writer jobs?
- Technical writer resume examples: one-page examples for these roles
- Match your resume to a job: paste a posting and see the skills your resume is missing
- Check your resume: see how an applicant tracking system reads it
- Find technical writer jobs: search open postings
Frequently asked questions
How much does a technical writer make?
Source and method
Open US job postings collected from employers' applicant tracking systems, de-duplicated, counted only when their job title was read in our audit. Shares count at most 20 postings per employer, and franchise locations of one brand count as one employer. Pay uses hourly and annual figures only; a figure is shown when leaving out the largest employer moves it by 10% or less. Every figure states its number of postings. Methodology and measured accuracy.
Accuracy check: we read 20 randomly chosen postings counted on this page in full; 19 of them were this career or a closely related one (October 2026).
Download the figures on this page (CSV): every number above with its count of postings. Aggregate figures are licensed CC BY 4.0; cite the page when you reuse them.