Print newspapers remain a substantial publishing business even as audiences and revenue shift toward digital products. The figures below cover U.S. newspaper-publisher employment in May 2023, Canadian industry results from 2022 to 2024, and readership and subscription measures reported for 2024 and 2025.
Contents
- U.S. newspaper publishing jobs
- Pay across newspaper occupations
- Canadian revenue and advertising
- Canadian circulation, costs, and profit
- Print readership and major subscriptions
- What the figures measure
U.S. newspaper publishing jobs
The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Newspaper Week data counted about 98,960 employees working in newspaper publishers in May 2023. The workforce included editorial, commercial, production, distribution, and administrative roles, so the total is broader than the number of people writing or editing stories.
News analysts, reporters, and journalists accounted for 15,250 jobs, while editors accounted for 14,670. Together, those two editorial groups represented 29,920 jobs in newspaper publishers. Advertising sales agents accounted for 10,740 jobs, showing the size of the commercial side of the business.
Production and creative roles also formed a measurable part of the industry. Graphic designers accounted for 3,810 jobs, and printing press operators accounted for 3,720. Photographers accounted for 1,220 jobs, while writers and authors accounted for 2,140. Producers and directors accounted for 990 jobs.
Operations and office work added another layer. General and operations managers accounted for 3,780 jobs. Office clerks, general, accounted for 3,590; customer service representatives for 1,960; bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks for 1,820; and first-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers for 1,270.
Distribution was represented by 2,710 mail clerks and mail machine operators, except postal service, plus 2,450 driver/sales workers and 1,080 light truck drivers. Secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive, accounted for 1,240 jobs. Market research analysts and marketing specialists accounted for 1,580, while sales representatives of services, except advertising, insurance, financial services, and travel, accounted for 1,450. First-line supervisors of non-retail sales workers accounted for 990 jobs.
These job counts describe employment inside the newspaper-publisher industry in May 2023. They do not represent all people with journalism or printing occupations across every industry.
Pay across newspaper occupations
The average annual wage in newspaper publishers was $60,750 in May 2023, compared with a U.S. all-industry average of $65,470 in the same BLS Newspaper Week data. The occupation-level figures show a wide spread between management, editorial, sales, production, office, and delivery work.
| Occupation | Average annual wage, May 2023 |
|---|---|
| General and operations managers | $113,280 |
| Producers and directors | $105,590 |
| Market research analysts and marketing specialists | $76,430 |
| First-line supervisors of non-retail sales workers | $75,750 |
| Writers and authors | $73,290 |
| Editors | $71,400 |
| News analysts, reporters, and journalists | $53,700 |
| Photographers | $51,840 |
| Advertising sales agents | $50,090 |
| Printing press operators | $43,750 |
| Graphic designers | $43,310 |
| Customer service representatives | $40,370 |
| Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks | $39,310 |
| Driver/sales workers | $38,110 |
| Secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive | $38,060 |
| Office clerks, general | $34,330 |
| Light truck drivers | $31,870 |
| Mail clerks and mail machine operators, except postal service | $29,580 |
In the BLS Newspaper Week data, general and operations managers had the highest listed average wage at $113,280, followed by producers and directors at $105,590. The listed editorial averages were $73,290 for writers and authors, $71,400 for editors, and $53,700 for news analysts, reporters, and journalists. The listed production averages were $43,750 for printing press operators and $43,310 for graphic designers.
The lower listed averages included $40,370 for customer service representatives, $39,310 for bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks, $34,330 for office clerks, general, $31,870 for light truck drivers, and $29,580 for mail clerks and mail machine operators, except postal service. These are occupation-specific averages within newspaper publishers, not estimates of every worker’s pay.
Canadian revenue and advertising
Statistics Canada reported that Canadian newspaper publishers’ operating revenue fell to $1.6 billion in 2024. Operating revenue fell 17.9% from 2022 to 2024. The change provides an industry-level measure for Canada over that period rather than a forecast for future newspaper revenue.
Advertising was a major part of the decline. Newspaper publishers’ advertising sales fell 26.1% to $722.8 million in 2024. Print advertising sales fell 34.3% to $407.7 million from 2022 to 2024, while digital advertising sales fell 11.9% to $315.1 million over the same period.
| Canadian newspaper-publisher measure | Reported result |
|---|---|
| Operating revenue in 2024 | $1.6 billion |
| Operating-revenue change, 2022–2024 | -17.9% |
| Advertising sales in 2024 | $722.8 million |
| Advertising-sales change, 2022–2024 | -26.1% |
| Print advertising sales in 2024 | $407.7 million |
| Print advertising change, 2022–2024 | -34.3% |
| Digital advertising sales in 2024 | $315.1 million |
| Digital advertising change, 2022–2024 | -11.9% |
The reported print and digital advertising results moved in the same downward direction between 2022 and 2024, but the reported percentage decline was larger for print advertising. The dollar amounts identify the 2024 levels; the percentage changes identify movement over the two-year measurement period.
Canadian circulation, costs, and profit
Canadian newspaper publishers’ circulation sales fell 7.6% to $541.1 million in 2024, according to Statistics Canada. Digital circulation sales increased 4.0% from 2022 to 2024, while print circulation sales fell by $49.9 million over that period. Canadian daily print circulation sales fell 11.0% from 2022 to 2024.
The cost structure also changed. Operating expenses fell 19.1% from 2022 to 2024. Salaries, wages, commissions, and benefits fell 17.6% to $655.7 million in 2024. Those compensation-related costs represented 42.0% of total Canadian newspaper-publisher spending in 2024.
Despite the revenue decline, the reported operating profit margin rose from 1.9% in 2022 to 3.2% in 2024. That margin change should be read alongside the expense figures: the data reports both lower operating revenue and lower operating expenses, rather than a simple expansion in sales.
For readers comparing print with digital circulation, the Canadian figures distinguish sales channels. Digital circulation sales increased over 2022–2024, while print circulation sales decreased by a stated dollar amount and daily print circulation sales declined by a stated percentage. The measures are not interchangeable: sales are revenue measures, while circulation can refer to the volume or audience reported by a publisher or statistical program.
Print readership and major subscriptions
Pew Research Center reported that among U.S. adults who get news from local daily newspapers, 31% primarily used the print version in 2024. The share was 30% in 2025. These figures describe the print-versus-other-use pattern within that specific group of U.S. adults; they are not a percentage of all U.S. adults.
News Corp’s 2024 Annual Report said News UK’s print and digital brands reached about 67% of adult news readers in the U.K., or about 31 million people, as of June 30, 2024. The same report gave separate average print issue readership figures for the first half of 2024:
- The Sun, Monday through Saturday: 1,891,000.
- The Sun on Sunday: 1,834,000.
- The Times, Monday through Saturday: 809,000.
- The Sunday Times: 1,366,000.
The report also listed 107,000 print subscribers for The Times and 94,000 print subscribers for The Sunday Times as of June 30, 2024. Average issue readership and subscriber counts are different measures and should not be added together.
News Corp reported digital-only and total subscription counts for other brands in the quarter ended June 30, 2024. The Wall Street Journal had 3,788,000 digital-only subscriptions and 4,256,000 total subscriptions. Barron’s Group had 1,290,000 digital-only subscriptions and 1,419,000 total subscriptions.
For News Corp Australia, the report listed about 968,000 aggregate digital closing subscribers as of June 30, 2024. It also said News Corp Australia’s newspapers were read by 4.8 million Australians on average every week in the year ended March 31, 2024. The Australian had 321,188 total paid subscribers for its combined print and digital masthead as of June 30, 2024, while The Daily Telegraph had 144,246 total paid subscribers for its combined print and digital masthead on that date.
What the figures measure
The statistics span different geographies, dates, and definitions. The U.S. employment and wage figures are for newspaper publishers in May 2023. The Canadian revenue, advertising, circulation, expense, and margin figures compare 2022 with 2024 or report a 2024 level. The U.S. local-daily print-use figures compare 2024 with 2025. The News Corp readership and subscription figures use H1 2024, June 30, 2024, the quarter ended June 30, 2024, or the year ended March 31, 2024, depending on the measure.
The sources also describe different units. Jobs count employees in an industry; wages are annual averages; revenue and sales are monetary measures; margins are percentages; readership is reported as average issue, weekly, or audience reach; and subscriptions are digital-only, total, print, or combined print-and-digital counts. Keeping those units separate prevents a readership figure from being treated as a circulation total or a subscription count from being treated as an issue audience.
The source labels for the figures are BLS Newspaper Week data, Statistics Canada, Pew Research Center, and News Corp 2024 Annual Report. The supplied legacy research for these figures was not independently verified, so the dates, geography, definitions, and source labels should remain attached to the corresponding statistics when they are used for comparison.