Occupation / job
Desktop Publishers
Median annual pay. Half earn less than this.
Hourly at a standard 2,080-hour year. We do not yet have unpaid-time or cost data for this, so this is not an adjusted figure.
The middle half. A quarter earn below this range.
Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 · view
What this figure cannot tell you
It covers people EMPLOYED in this occupation. Anyone who trained for it and was never hired is not in the median above, and neither is anyone doing the work self-employed. No verified count of qualified people exists for this occupation, so this page shows none rather than an estimate. Why that matters · The occupations where we could source it
Who this suits
A $55,290 midpoint puts Desktop Publishers $439 a month ahead of the $50,020 typical American job. Real, but small enough that a change of employer or metro would move it as much as the occupation itself does.
National employment of 3,350 makes this a small field. Small fields are relationship markets: the people already in Desktop Publishers tend to know who is hiring before the posting exists.
These roles suit people who want dependable indoor work with a clear task, and who would rather be accurate than visible.
We carry no verified training length for Desktop Publishers — BLS reports pay, not preparation, and we will not estimate it.
Who should not do this
A quarter earn below $43,730 and a quarter above $73,840: a 1.7x ratio, $30,110 between the ends. That is an ordinary working spread, which also means experience and location explain most of it and there is no shortcut through the middle.
The 25th percentile of $43,730 is only $6,290 off the $50,020 national midpoint. Being in the worst-paid quarter of Desktop Publishers still means being paid close to what the average American job pays.
Avoid it if you need a role with a defined next step; these posts often do not have one.
No failure rate is shown, and the absence is deliberate: the 3,350 figure counts people already working as Desktop Publishers, not everyone who trained and never got hired. Without a licensing register to divide by, a rate here would be an invented denominator.
What the spread tells you
At 1.7x between $43,730 and $73,840 this is a normally shaped occupation. $55,290 is what the middle of Desktop Publishers earns after the years it takes to get there, which is not the same as what it offers you now.
Put in money rather than ratios: $43,730 at the 25th percentile, $55,290 at the midpoint, $73,840 at the 75th. $30,110 separates the quarter of Desktop Publishers at the bottom from the quarter at the top.
The 75th percentile is $73,840. Reaching it from the $55,290 midpoint is $18,550 a year; reaching it from the $43,730 that the bottom quarter of Desktop Publishers earn is $30,110.
It is $11,560 from $55,290 down to $43,730 but $18,550 up to $73,840. When a range leans this far upward, the interesting question is what puts someone in the top half, because the money is disproportionately there.
Converted to an hourly rate over a full-time year: $21.02 at the bottom quarter, $26.58 at the midpoint, $35.50 at the top quarter. The typical American job works out at $24.04 on the same basis.
What these figures are, and what they are not
This is payroll data: it comes from employers, about people they employ. Anyone doing the work of Desktop Publishers for themselves is not in it, and there is no reason to assume $55,290 describes them.
The hourly number on this page is $55,290 divided by a 2,080-hour year and nothing more. We hold no unpaid-hours or cost data for Desktop Publishers, so it is arithmetic rather than an effective rate.
How this is calculated · Self-employment failure rates · What credentials cost and pay back · Look up something else