The short answer is that most news anchors earn a solid middle-class salary, a small number earn a great deal, and the gap between the two is one of the widest in American journalism. The long answer depends on where you anchor, how big your market is, how long you have been doing it, and whether you are on local television or a national network. This article uses the best public data available, and it says plainly where the data stops.
The national picture from the Bureau of Labor Statistics
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish a separate salary figure for news anchors alone. It groups anchors with reporters and journalists in the occupation “news analysts, reporters, and journalists,” and that grouping is the most reliable national benchmark available.
The median annual wage for news analysts, reporters, and journalists was $62,200 in May 2025, or $29.91 per hour, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook. The median is the middle of the range: half the workers in the occupation earned more than $62,200 and half earned less. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $36,240, and the highest 10 percent earned more than $144,140. The middle half of workers earned between $45,370 and $98,450.
That spread is the story: a starting reporter can earn in the mid-$30,000s while an experienced large-market anchor earns well into six figures, in the same occupation. A bachelor’s degree is the typical entry-level education.
Pay varies sharply by the type of employer. In May 2025, the median annual wage for news analysts, reporters, and journalists was $80,180 at media streaming distribution services, social networks, and other media networks and content providers; $64,150 at television broadcasting stations; $50,290 at radio broadcasting stations; and $49,220 at newspaper publishers. An anchor at a television station typically earns more than a reporter at a newspaper, and an anchor at a streaming or digital network typically earns more than either, at least at the median.
Local television: market size decides almost everything
Local television news in the United States is organized into 210 Designated Market Areas, ranked by the size of the television audience. New York is market number one. Glendive, Montana, is market number 210. Where your station sits on that list is the single biggest influence on your pay, bigger than your experience or your talent.
The most detailed industry survey is the annual RTDNA/Newhouse School at Syracuse University Survey, which is conducted in the fourth quarter of each year among local television and radio stations. The latest survey, conducted in the fourth quarter of 2025, drew responses from more than 1,100 television stations and nearly 600 radio stations. It found that local television news salaries fell 6.1 percent on average in 2025, reversing two consecutive years of gains. Median salaries told a less dire story, with 10 of 18 surveyed positions holding steady or increasing, but assistant news directors, news directors and sports anchors saw the largest median declines. Market size continued to shape outcomes significantly: only markets sized 26 to 50 and 51 to 100 saw salary gains overall, while the largest markets, ranked 1 to 25, saw more decreases than increases for a second straight year.
The previous year’s survey found salaries rose 3.2 percent, just ahead of inflation at 2.9 percent. Together the two years describe a profession whose pay is flat in real terms at best, and falling in the largest markets.
One important limit: the RTDNA survey’s publicly released summaries do not publish a current anchor-only median salary, and the full report is available for purchase. No current, publicly available, anchor-specific national median could be verified for this article. The figures above are the honest substitute: the BLS occupation-wide median of $62,200, the BLS industry medians, and the RTDNA survey’s direction of travel for local television as a whole.
What changes as you move up
In a small market, an anchor is often also a reporter, a producer and a fill-in weather presenter. In a mid-sized market, the anchor chair becomes a specialist role with a recognizable local profile. In a large market, the anchor is a local celebrity, the face of the station’s brand, and the pay reflects the advertising revenue that face helps to generate.
Experience matters, but it matters inside the market you are in. A ten-year anchor in a small market may earn less than a three-year anchor in a large one, because the station’s revenue, not the anchor’s resume, sets the ceiling. Moving markets is the standard career path in local television: start small, build a reel, move to a bigger city, repeat.
National networks: the paywall of silence
National network anchors are paid far more than local anchors; that much everyone in the industry agrees on. The exact numbers are a different matter: network contracts are private, and press figures are usually unattributed estimates, not verified salary data.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics cannot help here: its highest 10 percent figure of more than $144,140 is a floor for top earners, not a ceiling. The RTDNA survey covers local stations, not networks. No official source publishes network anchor pay.
So this article will not give you a number for network anchor salaries, because no verifiable number exists in the public sources checked today. What can be said is structural: national network jobs are extremely scarce, they go to people with years of local market success and national visibility, and they pay at a level that reflects a national audience and national advertising revenue rather than a local one. If you are choosing this career for the money, the rational plan is to aim for the local television median and treat a network job as a lottery ticket, not a career plan.
The outlook: fewer jobs, same skills in demand
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that employment of news analysts, reporters, and journalists will decline 6 percent from 2025 to 2035. That is a difficult outlook, and it reflects the long decline of local newspapers and the consolidation of local television. The Bureau projects about 3,400 openings a year over the decade, mostly as workers leave the occupation or retire, so jobs will exist, but the field is shrinking.
That does not mean the skills are worthless. The same skills that make a good anchor, clear writing, live interviewing, judgment under deadline, the ability to explain a complicated story simply, are the skills that newsrooms, streaming services, corporate communications teams and digital publishers all need. The highest median pay in the occupation is now in streaming and digital media, not traditional broadcasting.
If you are considering this career, get a bachelor’s degree in journalism, communications or a related field, and get on-air experience early, at a campus station or a small-market internship. Build a reel that shows you reporting, not just reading. Expect your first job to pay near the bottom of the BLS range, and expect to move cities to move up. Check the pay data for the specific market you are considering before you sign a contract, because the national median is a starting point, not a promise. For help thinking through the degree that leads here, see our guide to how to choose a college major (how to choose a college major), and for the online study options that can fit around a broadcasting job, see our guide to online degrees explained (online degrees explained).
Frequently asked questions
What is the median pay for news anchors in the United States?
There is no official anchor-only median. The Bureau of Labor Statistics groups anchors with reporters and journalists, and the median for that occupation was $62,200 a year in May 2025. The median at television broadcasting stations was $64,150.
How much do local news anchors make?
It depends on market size. The BLS range for the occupation runs from under $36,240 for the lowest 10 percent to more than $144,140 for the highest 10 percent. Small-market anchors sit near the bottom of that range and large-market anchors near the top.
Do news anchor salaries rise with experience?
Generally yes, but market size matters more. Moving to a larger market is usually a bigger pay rise than staying put and gaining seniority.
Are local TV news salaries going up or down?
Down, most recently. The RTDNA/Newhouse survey found local television news salaries fell 6.1 percent on average in 2025, after rising 3.2 percent in the 2024 survey. The largest markets saw declines for a second straight year.
How much do national network anchors make?
No reliable public figure exists. Network contracts are private, and press estimates are unverified. The BLS data shows the top 10 percent of the occupation earns more than $144,140, but that is a floor, not a network salary.
Is journalism a growing career?
No. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects employment of news analysts, reporters, and journalists will decline 6 percent from 2025 to 2035, with about 3,400 openings a year, mostly from workers leaving the field.
Sources
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook, “News Analysts, Reporters, and Journalists” (2025 median pay $62,200; lowest 10 percent under $36,240; highest 10 percent over $144,140; industry medians; job outlook -6 percent, 2025–35): BLS
- RTDNA, “Salaries fall in local TV newsrooms, spurning recent gains” (RTDNA/Newhouse School at Syracuse University Survey, fourth quarter 2025): RTDNA
- RTDNA, “Good News: TV salaries beat inflation … but just barely” (RTDNA/Newhouse School at Syracuse University Survey, fourth quarter 2024): RTDNA
- Vocational Index, “News analysts, reporters, and journalists” (middle 50 percent $45,370–$98,450, from BLS data): Vocational Index