What a video editor costs in the US
The wage BLS measured across 25,610 jobs, what an employer pays on top of it, the pay in every state, and which of the job's core tasks already show up in AI use.
Medians for the whole US. Your own cost depends on where you hire, the benefits you offer and the hours worked.
- Median wage
- $75,420
- Hourly wage
- $36.26
- Loaded per hour
- $45.16
- Middle half earns
- $52,720 to $105,310
- Jobs in the US
- 25,610
Wage × 1.2455 for benefits and payroll taxes, from BLS.
A video editor in the US is paid a median $75,420 a year, $36.26 an hour, across 25,610 jobs. With benefits, a small employer pays about $93,940. Of its 10 core tasks, 6 showed up in Claude.ai conversations in May 2026, and in 4 of those Claude mostly did the task rather than assisting.
The work, task by task
The 10 core tasks O*NET lists for film and video editors, most important first, and how each showed up in Claude.ai conversations in May 2026. The bar splits those conversations between Claude doing the task and Claude helping a person do it.
- 01Organize and string together raw footage into a continuous whole according to scripts or the instructions of directors and producers.Claude.ai: 65% did the task, 35% helped
- 02Edit films and videotapes to insert music, dialogue, and sound effects, to arrange films into sequences, and to correct errors, using editing equipment.Claude.ai: 60% did the task, 40% helped
- 03Select and combine the most effective shots of each scene to form a logical and smoothly running story.Claude.ai: 39% did the task, 61% helped
- 04Review footage sequence by sequence to become familiar with it before assembling it into a final product.
- 05Set up and operate computer editing systems, electronic titling systems, video switching equipment, and digital video effects units to produce a final product.Claude.ai: 64% did the task, 36% helped
- 06Trim film segments to specified lengths and reassemble segments in sequences that present stories with maximum effect.Claude.ai: 58% did the task, 42% helped
- 07Review assembled films or edited videotapes on screens or monitors to determine if corrections are necessary.
- 08Cut shot sequences to different angles at specific points in scenes, making each individual cut as fluid and seamless as possible.
- 09Verify key numbers and time codes on materials.Claude.ai: 43% did the task, 57% helped · API: 98% did the task
- 10Manipulate plot, score, sound, and graphics to make the parts into a continuous whole, working closely with people in audio, visual, music, optical, or special effects departments.
6 of 10 tasks appear in the Claude.ai sample of the Anthropic Economic Index for May 2026. A task without a row had too few conversations for Anthropic to publish, which is not the same as none. Shares are of all sampled Claude.ai conversations, so small figures are normal: 0.05% of every conversation that month was about this occupation.
Pay by state
The median annual wage in each state and DC, and the same wage fully loaded. New York pays the most, $103,440; Alaska the least, $38,800. BLS publishes no figure where its sample is too small, which leaves 9 gaps here.
| State | Median wage | Fully loaded | Middle half | Jobs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | $74,410 | $92,680 | $20,540 to $80,680 | 120 |
| Alaska | $38,800 | $48,330 | $38,800 to $48,810 | 30 |
| Arizona | $45,840 | $57,090 | $45,060 to $60,220 | 350 |
| Arkansas | $48,480 | $60,380 | $44,990 to $53,770 | 80 |
| California | $88,490 | $110,210 | $60,810 to $128,630 | 8,110 |
| Colorado | $84,620 | $105,390 | $58,700 to $103,740 | 380 |
| Connecticut | $83,550 | $104,060 | $59,050 to $95,720 | 600 |
| Delaware | Not published | · | · | · |
| District of Columbia | $98,830 | $123,090 | $75,510 to $122,650 | 370 |
| Florida | $60,430 | $75,270 | $50,880 to $79,030 | 1,490 |
| Georgia | $51,280 | $63,870 | $37,780 to $71,570 | · |
| Hawaii | Not published | · | · | · |
| Idaho | $54,080 | $67,360 | $41,770 to $74,990 | 100 |
| Illinois | $72,460 | $90,250 | $59,030 to $91,340 | 310 |
| Indiana | $46,780 | $58,260 | $39,000 to $58,460 | 450 |
| Iowa | Not published | · | · | · |
| Kansas | $50,900 | $63,400 | $26,540 to $60,690 | 70 |
| Kentucky | $62,330 | $77,630 | $47,430 to $82,920 | 60 |
| Louisiana | $66,870 | $83,290 | $55,400 to $73,380 | 80 |
| Maine | Not published | · | · | · |
| Maryland | $78,380 | $97,620 | $60,920 to $98,300 | 250 |
| Massachusetts | $92,130 | $114,750 | $78,730 to $112,910 | 550 |
| Michigan | $59,100 | $73,610 | $47,230 to $98,010 | 360 |
| Minnesota | $53,150 | $66,200 | $47,430 to $63,060 | 200 |
| Mississippi | $50,410 | $62,790 | $47,230 to $50,470 | 50 |
| Missouri | $57,950 | $72,180 | $47,720 to $76,230 | 380 |
| Montana | $42,520 | $52,960 | $35,820 to $56,880 | 110 |
| Nebraska | $55,810 | $69,510 | $45,800 to $64,490 | 120 |
| Nevada | $65,720 | $81,850 | $60,730 to $82,610 | 320 |
| New Hampshire | $61,250 | $76,290 | $48,630 to $90,640 | 100 |
| New Jersey | $82,890 | $103,240 | $70,070 to $138,510 | 620 |
| New Mexico | $49,400 | $61,530 | $46,540 to $68,270 | 160 |
| New York | $103,440 | $128,830 | $75,990 to $135,640 | 3,710 |
| North Carolina | $60,020 | $74,750 | $44,660 to $94,380 | 400 |
| North Dakota | Not published | · | · | · |
| Ohio | $56,410 | $70,260 | $44,300 to $69,100 | 340 |
| Oklahoma | $55,210 | $68,760 | $47,650 to $55,790 | 100 |
| Oregon | $72,300 | $90,050 | $52,710 to $96,210 | 360 |
| Pennsylvania | Not published | · | · | 850 |
| Rhode Island | Not published | · | · | · |
| South Carolina | Not published | · | · | 160 |
| South Dakota | $39,090 | $48,690 | $38,150 to $46,720 | 30 |
| Tennessee | $57,880 | $72,090 | $44,410 to $62,920 | 560 |
| Texas | $61,220 | $76,250 | $44,800 to $80,360 | 1,040 |
| Utah | $76,240 | $94,960 | $49,530 to $95,110 | 370 |
| Vermont | $63,080 | $78,570 | $45,550 to $76,980 | 100 |
| Virginia | $78,740 | $98,070 | $64,050 to $92,200 | · |
| Washington | $66,870 | $83,290 | $49,830 to $85,120 | 450 |
| West Virginia | $48,440 | $60,330 | $44,950 to $56,980 | 30 |
| Wisconsin | $53,430 | $66,550 | $37,090 to $73,300 | 240 |
| Wyoming | Not published | · | · | · |
The same benefits ratio applies in every state, because BLS does not publish benefit costs by business size for each state. The middle half is the 25th to 75th percentile wage.
Where the numbers come from
Every figure is copied from a public file. The only arithmetic is the loaded cost: the wage times 1.2455.
- Wages
- BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, occupation 27-4032 (Film and Video Editors). Annual figures are the hourly wage times 2,080 hours, as BLS computes them, so they already include pay for paid leave.
- Fully loaded
- BLS Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, June 2026 (2026 Q2), private businesses with 1 to 49 workers: $37.64 an hour in total compensation over $27.88 in wages plus $2.34 in paid leave gives 1.2455. Paid leave sits in the denominator because the annual wage already pays it.
- Tasks
- O*NET 31.0 core tasks for 27-4032.00, the ten most important by their importance rating. A few occupations list fewer core tasks.
- AI use
- Anthropic Economic Index, release of June 2026, conversations from May 2026. "Did the task" is Anthropic's automation share, where the user directs Claude to do the work; "helped" is augmentation, where the user works with Claude to learn, check or iterate.
- Not measured
- What a particular business pays, and whether an AI system can do a task well. The AI figures count conversations about a task, not jobs replaced.
This page includes information from the O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. AI use data from the Anthropic Economic Index by Anthropic, under CC BY. Wage and benefit data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
What would an AI system cost for this work?
Put $93,940 beside the running cost of a system doing the tasks above, with the build counted in year one.
BLS wages May 2025 · O*NET 31.0 · Anthropic Economic Index