Journalist Salary 2026/27: Staff + Freelance Take-Home
ONS classifies newspaper and periodical journalists and reporters as SOC 2020 unit group 2492. Their full-time median was £44,534 in ASHE 2025, with a quarter below £33,381; ONS suppressed the upper quartile. The NCTJ's Journalists at Work 2024 survey, which includes freelance and part-time journalists, found a lower median of £35,275 for 2023.
Typical pay & take-home
- Median gross
- £44,534
- Lower quartile to group mean, ASHE 2025
- £33,381–£47,720
- Take-home at median
- £35,584 England, no pension applied — use the salary calculator for your scheme.
At the median for this profession, you earn about 14% above the UK full-time median (£39,039), placing you between the 50th percentile (£39,039) and the 75th percentile (£54,009) of UK full-time earnings.
What influences journalist pay
Two published sources measure journalists' pay and they describe different populations. ONS ASHE 2025 counts full-time employee jobs: for SOC 2020 2492, the April 2025 median was £44,534, the lower quartile £33,381 and the mean £47,720, with the upper quartile suppressed as not statistically robust. The NCTJ's Journalists at Work 2024 surveyed journalists directly, 39% of them self-employed and including part-timers, and found a median income of £35,275 in 2023.
Within the NCTJ survey, journalists working in London had the highest median, £45,547, and those who used AI in their jobs had a median of £38,292 against £33,734 for those who did not. Those are differences between groups of respondents, not estimates of what London or AI use adds to one person's pay.
Trainees are covered by the National Minimum Wage like any other worker: from 1 April 2026 a full-time trainee aged 21 or over must be paid at least £12.71 an hour, about £24,785 a year on a 37.5-hour week, and one aged 18 to 20 at least £10.85. Only an apprentice can lawfully be paid the lower apprentice rate.
Career progression
- ASHE does not publish journalists' pay by grade. These are the points it does publish for SOC 2020 2492, April 2025, full-time employees.
- Lower quartile: £33,381.
- Median: £44,534.
- Mean: £47,720. The upper quartile and 90th percentile were suppressed.
- NCTJ qualifications are the usual route into reporting; freelance income is outside ASHE and depends on commissions secured.
Frequently asked questions
- What is take-home for a journalist on the £44,534 median?
- With no pension contribution, take-home in England in 2026/27 is about £35,584 a year, or £2,965 a month, after £6,393 Income Tax and £2,557 National Insurance. With a 5% pension contribution by salary sacrifice it is about £33,981.
- Do journalists who use AI earn more?
- In the NCTJ Journalists at Work 2024 survey, respondents who used AI in their jobs had a median income of £38,292, against £33,734 for those who did not, a gap of £4,558. The survey does not say why: the two groups may differ in role, seniority or employer, so the gap is not evidence that using AI raises pay.
- Why is the NCTJ figure lower than the ONS one?
- Because they count different people. ONS ASHE's £44,534 is the median for full-time employee jobs. The NCTJ's £35,275 is the median across all respondents to its own survey, 39% of whom were self-employed and some of whom work part-time, and it describes 2023 incomes.