Headline risk
25%
Moderate RiskWriters and authors
United States AI Work Index tracks this occupation on the shared structural baseline and then layers on local demand resilience, wages, and confidence.
Why This Score
Share of job tasks that overlap with current AI capabilities
Median annual wage
Projected employment change over 10 years
Typical preparation needed for this occupation
Occupation profile
Originate and prepare written material, such as scripts, stories, advertisements, and other material.
Task evidence
100% weighted task match · 23% effective coverage
Scores combine AI task overlap, human advantages, and local demand. How it works
United States Now
Median Wage
USD 72,270
Employment 2024
135.4K
Projected Change (2024–34)
3.6%
Openings (2024–34)
13.4K
Wage distribution
Demand outlook
Employment of writers and authors is projected to grow 4 percent from 2024 to 2034, about as fast as the average for all occupations.
Role Profile
Tasks
- 1. Write fiction or nonfiction prose, such as short stories, novels, biographies, articles, descriptive or critical analyses, and essays. AI use: 0%
- 2. Revise written material to meet personal standards and to satisfy needs of clients, publishers, directors, or producers. AI use: 82%
- 3. Develop factors such as themes, plots, characterizations, psychological analyses, historical environments, action, and dialogue to create material. AI use: 0%
- 4. Prepare works in appropriate format for publication, and send them to publishers or producers. AI use: 0%
- 5. Choose subject matter and suitable form to express personal feelings and experiences or ideas, or to narrate stories or events. AI use: 0%
- 6. Conduct research to obtain factual information and authentic detail, using sources such as newspaper accounts, diaries, and interviews. AI use: 0%
Technologies
Requirements
Work context
Worker profile
Median age 44.7 · 234K employed
Under 25: 3% · 25–54: 69% · 55+: 27%
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Source coverage
11/11 source families · O*NET 30.2 / OEWS 2024 / ORS 2025 / OOH 2025-08-28 / Projections 2024-34 / CPS 2025 / Anthropic task penetration
Mapping quality
crosswalk_exact · employment series present
Narrative & sources
Writers and authors develop written content for various types of media.
Writers and authors may work anywhere they have access to a computer. Many writers and authors are self-employed.
A college degree in English, communications, or journalism is generally required for a full-time position as a writer or author. Experience gained through internships or any writing that improves skill, such as blogging, is beneficial.
The median annual wage for writers and authors was $72,270 in May 2024.
Employment of writers and authors is projected to grow 4 percent from 2024 to 2034, about as fast as the average for all occupations.
Published limitations
This page shows the local country layer, not realised individual job outcomes. The global structural baseline is shared across countries; only the local demand and wage layer changes here.
Built from O*NET occupation descriptions, task statements, technology skills, work context, Job Zones, Anthropic task penetration, BLS OEWS wages, BLS projection tables, BLS ORS requirements, BLS OOH narrative content, BLS skills data, and BLS CPS occupation age tables.