Vermont·Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media Occupations·SOC 27-3043

Best Writer programs in Vermont, ranked by enrollment

Originate and prepare written material, such as scripts, stories, advertisements, and other.

7 schools in Vermont run programs that feed this job, graduating 171 people a year. The job pays a median of $94,430 in Vermont across about 110 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).

Also calledAuthorNovelistCopywriterSongwriterFreelance WriterFreelance CopywriterAdvertising CopywriterAdvertisement Agency Copywriter (Ad Agency Copywriter)
Graduates / yr
171
in Vermont
Median pay · Vermont
$94,430
BLS OEWS May 2025
Jobs in state
110
people employed
Schools
7
with a feeder program
Avg graduation rate
60%
across those schools
Median net price
$27,554
per year, IPEDS

Fields of study in Vermont that lead to this job

Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level. Numbers are graduates per year in this state.

7 programs in Vermont that lead to this job

Ranked by graduates per year in Vermont (IPEDS completions). Graduate earnings and debt are national College Scorecard figures reported at the 4-digit CIP level, so specializations within one field share a figure. Each program also links to its own Vermont page.

Degree programs that lead to this occupation, ranked by graduates per year
#ProgramGraduates / yrShare of pipelineSchoolsGrad earnings (1 yr)Median debt
1
CIP 23.1302In Vermont
98
57.3%
3$28,725$25,250
2
CIP 09.0101In Vermont
21
12.3%
2$34,858$25,000
3
CIP 23.1401In Vermont
21
12.3%
1$23,868$26,552
4
CIP 09.0102In Vermont
13
7.6%
1$34,858$25,000
5
CIP 23.1301In Vermont
9
5.3%
2$28,725$25,250
6
CIP 09.0100In Vermont
8
4.7%
2$34,858$25,000
7
CIP 09.0402In Vermont
1
0.6%
1$34,515$24,250

Top 7 schools in Vermont

Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 4 of the 7 schools in this state.

Schools ranked by graduates per year into this occupation
#SchoolGraduates / yrTop feeder programGrad earnings (1 yr)Grad rateNet priceAcceptance
1Vermont College of Fine Arts
Montpelier, VT Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
86Creative Writing
2Bennington College
Bennington, VT Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs
32General Literature$18,15271%$27,55445%
3Champlain College
Burlington, VT Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs
16Speech Communication and Rhetoric65%$32,53183%
4Landmark College
Putney, VT Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
13Speech Communication and Rhetoric43%$47,33549%
5Saint Michael's College
Colchester, VT Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
13Mass Communication/Media Studies$30,74773%$25,02985%
6Vermont State University
Randolph, VT Public · 4 feeder programs
7Communication, General$21,02847%82%
7Norwich University
Northfield, VT Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
4Communication, General$37,16160%$23,98274%

All 7 schools in Vermont

Every school in Vermont with a program that feeds this job, ordered by graduates per year. Earnings are shown for the ranked schools above; open a school profile for the rest.

All schools in Vermont that feed this occupation
SchoolCityControlGraduates / yrFeeder programs
Vermont College of Fine ArtsMontpelierPrivate not-for-profit861
Bennington CollegeBenningtonPrivate not-for-profit322
Champlain CollegeBurlingtonPrivate not-for-profit162
Landmark CollegePutneyPrivate not-for-profit131
Saint Michael's CollegeColchesterPrivate not-for-profit131
Vermont State UniversityRandolphPublic74
Norwich UniversityNorthfieldPrivate not-for-profit41

What writers and authors earn in Vermont

What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.

Median annual in Vermont
$94,430
Mean annual
$96,260
Jobs in state
110
What the range looks like
10th pct$73,290Median$94,43090th pct$132,810
Versus the national median
+22.8%

U.S. median $76,910. Vermont pays above the national figure.

Job concentration
1.23×

Concentrated here: Vermont employs more of this job per worker than the U.S. average.

Metro areas in Vermont

Burlington-South Burlington, VT
$85,020median
40 jobs

Job outlook

Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.

Projected growth 2024–34
+3.6%
About as fast as average
Openings per year
13,400
new jobs plus replacements
Employment change
4,900
135,400 → 140,300
Typical entry education
Bachelor's degree
Plus long-term on-the-job training

Growth and openings are national. The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish employment projections at state level, so these figures describe the occupation across the whole U.S., not this state alone.

How to get in

The full skills, tools, and day-to-day breakdown lives on the national Writers and Authors page.

How to become a Writer

Job zone 4 of 5 · SVP 7.0 to < 8.0
Typical entry education
Bachelor's degree
On-the-job training
Long-term on-the-job training

Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.

A considerable amount of work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for these occupations. For example, an accountant must complete four years of college and work for several years in accounting to be considered qualified.

Employees in these occupations usually need several years of work-related experience, on-the-job training, and/or vocational training.

Top skills

WritingReading ComprehensionSpeakingActive ListeningCritical ThinkingActive Learning

The same job in other states

Where else this occupation employs the most people, and what it pays there.

Related careers in Vermont

Every major mapped to this job

The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.

All 19 majors mapped to Writers and Authors19 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
  • 09.0100Communication, General
  • 09.0101Speech Communication and Rhetoric
  • 09.0102Mass Communication/Media Studies
  • 09.0401Journalism
  • 09.0402Broadcast Journalism
  • 09.9999Communication, Journalism, and Related Programs, Other
  • 19.0202Family and Consumer Sciences/Human Sciences Communication
  • 23.1301Writing, General
  • 23.1302Creative Writing
  • 23.1303Professional, Technical, Business, and Scientific Writing
  • 23.1304Rhetoric and Composition
  • 23.1399Rhetoric and Composition/Writing Studies, Other
  • 23.1401General Literature
  • 23.1405Children's and Adolescent Literature
  • 23.1499Literature, Other
  • 50.0504Playwriting and Screenwriting
  • 50.0511Comedy Writing and Performance
  • 52.0501Business/Corporate Communications, General
  • 52.0599Business/Corporate Communications, Other

Common questions

Answers for people weighing writers and authors programs in Vermont.

What degree do you need to become a Writer?+

Bachelor's degree is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Creative Writing, which awarded 98 degrees in Vermont in 2024-25, 57.3% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.

Which college majors lead to becoming a Writer?+

The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 7 programs to this occupation. The largest are Rhetoric and Composition/Writing Studies, Communication and Media Studies, Literature, Journalism. Together they graduate about 171 people a year in Vermont.

How much do writers and authors earn in Vermont?+

The median is $94,430 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 22.8% above the U.S. median of $76,910. This is pay for people already working in the occupation, not the same thing as graduate earnings one year after finishing a degree.

Is demand for writers and authors growing?+

BLS projects a +3.6% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, about as fast as average, with roughly 13,400 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.

How many schools offer programs for this career in Vermont?+

7 institutions in Vermont reported graduates from at least one of the 7 programs that feed this occupation in IPEDS 2024-25. Rankings on this page use graduates per year, because the federal data publishes no enrollment count by program.

What other job titles do writers and authors work under?+

Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Author, Novelist, Copywriter, Songwriter, Freelance Writer, Freelance Copywriter among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 27-3043.

About the data on this page

Rankings use IPEDS completions 2024–25, degrees awarded per year. That is the closest federal measure of how many people a program puts into a career, because no federal dataset publishes enrollment by program. Wages and employment come from BLS OEWS May 2025, growth and openings from BLS Employment Projections 2024-34, and which majors lead to which jobs from the NCES CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk. Occupation descriptions, tasks, skills and tools are O*NET 30.3 (CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor/ETA).

  • BLS Occupational Employment & Wage Statistics

    May 2025

    Wages, employment counts, location quotients and metro breakdowns.

  • BLS Employment Projections

    2024–34

    Projected growth, annual openings and typical entry-level education.

  • IPEDS Completions

    2024-25 (provisional)

    Graduates per year by program and institution — the ranking metric.

  • College Scorecard, Field of Study

    2020-21 cohorts

    Median graduate earnings one year after completion, and median debt.

  • Census Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes

    latest available

    Graduate earnings 1/5/10 years out, where the state participates.

  • NCES CIP 2020 and the CIP-to-SOC 2018 crosswalk

    CIP 2020 / SOC 2018

    Which college programs officially lead to this occupation.

  • O*NET Database 30.3

    30.3

    Tasks, skills, knowledge, tools, job zone and alternate job titles.

    Official source →CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor / ETA

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