How many video editors are there in the United States?
About 39,400 people worked as film and video editors in the United States in 2025, counting the self-employed, according to BLS Employment Projections. 14,000 of them, or 35.5%, were self-employed, so roughly one in three U.S. film and video editors is a freelancer or runs their own shop.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics' employer survey gives a smaller number because it leaves the self-employed out: it found 25,610 wage-and-salary film and video editor jobs in May 2025 (BLS OEWS profile). Most pay and location figures below come from that survey, so they describe salaried editors.
BLS's Occupational Outlook Handbook reports a larger number because it groups editors with camera operators: the two occupations together held 72,000 jobs in 2025 (BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook). Quote that figure only as editors and camera operators combined.
How much do video editors make?
The median U.S. film and video editor earned $75,420 a year in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That is 48% more than the median wage across all U.S. occupations, which was $50,980 in the same survey (our calculation from BLS series OEUN000000000000027403213 and OEUN000000000000000000013).
| Film and video editor pay, May 2025 | Amount |
|---|
| Lowest-paid 10% earn less than | $40,280 a year |
| Median hourly wage | $36.26 an hour |
| Mean (average) annual wage | $86,130 a year |
| Highest-paid 10% earn more than | $148,550 a year |
Source for the table: BLS OEWS profile for film and video editors. The mean sits well above the median, which tells you the top of the market pulls the average up. The 90th-percentile wage is 3.7 times the 10th-percentile wage (our calculation).
Pay varies widely by location. New York has the highest median editor wage of any state at $103,440, and the San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont metro area has the highest of any metro at $109,930 (BLS OEWS wage rankings).
These are salaried employees. The figures exclude the self-employed third of the occupation, so they are not a guide to freelance rates. Salary aggregators such as Indeed or Glassdoor publish different numbers built from job ads and self-reports, without a public sampling method, so we do not use them here.
Where do video editors work?
Salaried editing work is concentrated in two states. California had 8,110 film and video editor jobs in May 2025 and New York had 3,710; Florida was a distant third with 1,490 (BLS OEWS). Together, California and New York hold 46.2% of the country's salaried editor jobs (our calculation).
By metro area, Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim leads with 6,010 jobs, which is 23.5% of the national total on its own (our calculation), followed by New York-Newark-Jersey City with 3,430. By industry, the motion picture and video industries employ 13,280 editors, or 51.9% of salaried editors (our calculation).
Treat the New York count as approximate. BLS gives it a relative standard error of 27.7%, against 4.7% for the national estimate (BLS Public Data API, series OEUS360000000000027403202).
For a business outside those metros, the local pool of salaried editors is thin by these counts. Remote editing removes that constraint, and it is how video editing at Mark Studios works.
Is video editing a growing career?
Modestly. BLS projects film and video editor employment to grow 3.7% from 2025 to 2035, reaching 40,800 jobs, with about 3,100 openings a year (BLS Employment Projections, released August 27, 2026). The projected increase is about 1,500 jobs over the whole decade, small next to 3,100 openings every year, so most openings will come from replacing editors who leave the occupation.
The Occupational Outlook Handbook, which combines editors with camera operators, projects 3% growth over the same decade, an increase of 1,900 jobs, and about 5,600 openings a year. It reports a combined 2025 median pay of $75,100 for the two occupations (BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook).
How big is the video editing software market?
Estimates for 2025 range from about $2.4 billion to $3.5 billion, depending on who you ask and what they count. Three research firms publish headline figures for free, and their definitions differ, so we show them side by side rather than averaging them.
| Research firm | What it measures | 2025 value | Forecast |
|---|
| Mordor Intelligence | Video editing market (software and apps, personal and professional) | $3.54 billion | $4.99 billion by 2031, 5.88% a year |
| The Business Research Company | Video editing software | $2.52 billion | $3.41 billion in 2030, 6.2% a year |
| Straits Research | Video editing software | $2.41 billion | $3.80 billion by 2034, 5.2% a year |
Mordor Intelligence also estimates that professional and commercial use made up 59.10% of the market in 2025. All three firms sell the full reports and do not publish their methods, so treat these as estimates, not measurements. Straits Research revised its page on September 4, 2026; figures quoted from earlier versions of that page are out of date.
How many businesses use video, and who edits it?
91% of businesses use video as a marketing tool, according to Wyzowl's Video Marketing Statistics 2026. Among video marketers in that survey, 59% create their videos entirely in-house, 10% use only outside vendors, and 32% use a mix, so 42% rely on external creators in some way.
Wistia's 2026 State of Video Report puts outsourcing lower: most companies make video in-house and around a quarter also outsource to freelancers or agencies. Wistia also reports that the share of companies with in-house video teams rose from 36% to 54% in two years (Wistia webinar recap).
Where the surveys disagree. Wyzowl's 42% and Wistia's "around a quarter" answer different questions put to different samples: Wyzowl surveyed 266 respondents in late 2025, and Wistia surveyed more than 900 professionals. Both companies sell video products. Read them as a range for how common outside help is, not as a single number.
Cost is the most-cited barrier. Among marketers who do not use video, 24% say it is too expensive, tied with those who say they do not need it (Wyzowl). Those who do use it mostly report it pays off: 82% say video marketing gave them a good return on investment, down from 93% a year earlier (Wyzowl). In HubSpot's 2026 State of Marketing report, short-form video ranked as the highest-ROI media format, with 48.6% of marketers placing it in their top three.
Quality matters to the audience as well as the team. 89% of consumers say video quality affects how much they trust a brand, and 63% say a short video is how they would most like to learn about a product or service, against 12% for text articles (Wyzowl). If you are deciding between hiring an editor, using freelancers, or working with an agency, our comparison page lays out the trade-offs.
How are teams using AI in video editing?
63% of video marketers say they have used AI tools to help create or edit marketing videos, up from 51% a year earlier, according to Wyzowl. Wistia reports a lower figure from a differently worded question: more than a third of teams already use AI in their video workflow, and nearly a quarter more plan to start.
Audiences are split on it. 53% of U.S. weekly podcast consumers approve of podcasts using generative AI to edit existing video, according to Edison Research's The Podcast Consumer 2026.
Does video length affect engagement?
Yes, in both vendors' platform data, shorter videos hold a larger share of viewers. On Wistia, videos under one minute have an average engagement rate of 52%, against 17% for videos over an hour (Wistia). On Vidyard, 65% of viewers of videos under one minute stay engaged to the end, against 20% for videos over 20 minutes (Vidyard Video in Business Benchmark Report, 2024 data).
That does not mean every video should be short. It means the length has to be earned, which is an editing decision. Formatting is part of the same job: 76% of teams resize videos to a different aspect ratio depending on where they post, and half do it every time (Wistia).
How much video do people watch, and where?
On the TV
YouTube took a record 14.2% of all U.S. TV viewing in July 2026, and streaming as a whole reached 49.0%, according to Nielsen's The Gauge, released September 10, 2026. YouTube said in February 2025 that viewers watch more than 1 billion hours of YouTube on TVs a day and that TV had become the main device for YouTube viewing in the U.S. (YouTube CEO letter, 2025). YouTube has not published a newer TV-hours figure.
84% of U.S. adults say they use YouTube, more than any other platform, in Pew Research Center's 2025 survey of 5,022 adults. 50% use Instagram and 37% use TikTok. In a separate Pew survey, 48% of U.S. adults said they use YouTube daily, including 33% several times a day.
Short-form volume is enormous. YouTube Shorts averages 200 billion daily views, according to YouTube's January 2026 CEO letter. Meta says video time on Facebook grew 9% year over year worldwide in the second quarter of 2026 (Meta Q2 2026 earnings call), and TikTok says more than 200 million Americans use its app (TikTok newsroom, May 2026). These three are company statements, not independent measurements.
Teens
92% of U.S. teens ages 13 to 17 use YouTube and 68% use TikTok, according to Pew Research Center's 2025 teen survey. 76% use YouTube every day, including 17% who say they are on it almost constantly (Pew Research Center).
Outside the U.S.
In the UK, 94% of adults use YouTube, and they spend an average of 51 minutes a day on it, not counting TV sets, according to Ofcom's Online Nation 2025. YouTube viewing on UK TV sets doubled from 9 minutes a person a day in 2022 to 19 minutes in 2025 (Ofcom Media Nations 2026).
How much money flows through YouTube?
Alphabet reported $40,367 million in YouTube advertising revenue for fiscal 2025, up from $36,147 million in 2024 and $31,510 million in 2023 (Alphabet Form 10-K, fiscal 2025). That is 28.1% growth in two years (our calculation). The trend continued into 2026: YouTube ads brought in $11,055 million in the second quarter, 12.9% more than a year earlier (Alphabet Q2 2026 earnings release; growth is our calculation).
YouTube says it paid more than $100 billion to creators, artists and media companies in the four years before January 2026 (YouTube CEO letter, 2026). These figures cover advertising only.
Are podcasts turning into video?
For a large share of the audience, they already have. 57% of Americans age 12 and older have both listened to and watched a podcast, according to Edison Research's The Infinite Dial 2026. Among weekly podcast consumers, 78% say they consume podcasts with video they actively watch while listening (Edison Research, The Podcast Consumer 2026).
YouTube says podcasts on its platform have more than 1 billion monthly active viewers (YouTube, May 2026), a figure it first gave in early 2025 and has not updated. Viewers watched more than 700 million hours of podcasts on living-room devices in October 2025, up from 400 million a year earlier (YouTube).
How big is YouTube's lead as a podcast app? The two main trackers disagree. Edison Podcast Metrics found 37% of U.S. weekly podcast consumers age 13+ use YouTube most often for podcasts in the first quarter of 2026. Cumulus Media and Signal Hill Insights found 44% among weekly consumers age 18+ in April 2026 (Cumulus Media Podcast Download, Spring 2026). Both put YouTube first, ahead of Spotify.
Audio is not going away. In the Cumulus survey, 49% of weekly podcast consumers prefer to actively watch podcast video while listening, up from 30% in April 2022, yet only 8% say they only watch. For shows, that means the edit has to work with the screen on and with it off. That is the core of how we edit for podcasters.
How big are the freelance marketplaces where editors are hired?
The two largest listed freelance marketplaces both report fewer buyers, each spending more. Neither Fiverr nor Upwork breaks out video editing, so these figures describe each marketplace as a whole.
Fiverr had 3,135,000 annual active buyers at the end of 2025, down from 3,630,000 a year earlier, and each spent $342 on average, up 13.3% (Fiverr Form 20-F, fiscal 2025). Buyers ordered $1,073.0 million of services through the marketplace in 2025, 2.2% less than in 2024. By June 30, 2026, active buyers had fallen to 2,676,000, 21.9% fewer than a year earlier, while spend per buyer rose to $368 (Fiverr second-quarter 2026 results).
Upwork's gross services volume was $4.03 billion in 2025, up 1%, from 785,000 active clients, 6% fewer than a year earlier (Upwork Form 10-K, fiscal 2025). In the second quarter of 2026, gross services volume was $966.4 million, down 3.6% from a year earlier, and active clients numbered 763,000, while volume per active client reached a record $5,230 (Upwork second-quarter 2026 results).
Freelancing itself is growing among skilled workers. 38% of skilled U.S. knowledge workers freelanced in 2026, up from 28% in the previous edition, according to the Upwork Research Institute's Future Workforce Index 2026, a survey of 2,400 U.S. workers in March and April 2026. The two editions used different samples. On Upwork's own marketplace, contract starts for generative AI and creative production work grew 90% year over year in the first quarter of 2026, while earnings per contract fell 13%.
If you are choosing between a marketplace freelancer and a managed team, our marketplace comparison covers the trade-offs.
Which popular video statistics don't hold up?
Several video statistics circulate on roundup pages long after their original context has gone. We traced four of the most repeated to the earliest source we could find.
| Popular claim | What the original source says | Status |
|---|
| "82% of internet traffic is video" | A Cisco forecast, not a measurement. Cisco's June 2016 white paper projected video at 82% of consumer internet traffic by 2020 (archived copy). Its November 2018 edition projected 82% of all IP traffic by 2022 (archived copy). Cisco has since taken both papers down. | Old forecast |
| "Video is most of internet traffic" | The newest video share its producer states on a public page is Sandvine's: 65% of all internet traffic in 2022 (Sandvine, January 2023). Later reports from its successor, AppLogic Networks, keep the figure behind a download form. | True, but dated |
| "500 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute" | YouTube's CEO said more than 500 hours in a September 2019 speech published on the YouTube blog. Since mid-2025, YouTube's press page instead says over 20 million videos are uploaded a day. That counts videos, not hours, so the two can't be compared. | Replaced by YouTube |
| "Viewers retain 95% of a message in video and 10% in text" | It first appears, with no source, in Insivia's 2013 list of video statistics as 95% against 10% (archived copy). Insivia now says it came from a small survey of around 200 B2B buyers in the late 2000s, calls the result "directional" and "not a peer-reviewed neuroscience study," and publishes no data. | No published study |
The pattern is the same each time: a number loses its date, its population and its caveats as it is copied from one list to the next. That is why every figure on this page carries its measurement period and a link to the organization that produced it.
How we built this page
We started from the questions people search for about video editing and looked for the organization that actually produced each answer. Every figure on this page sits in an evidence ledger with its source, the exact table or paragraph it came from, the measurement period, the population measured, and the date we checked it. This edition holds 104 figures from 21 publishers.
On September 16, 2026, each figure was re-opened at its source and matched against the recorded wording. Bureau of Labor Statistics values were confirmed through the BLS Public Data API by series ID. Web pages were fetched independently of the research pass, and pages that block automated requests were checked in a browser. When a source had changed since it was first read, as Straits Research's market page had, the newer figure replaced the old one.
We only cite the producer: government agencies, regulators, company filings and official posts, and the survey owner's own report. We do not cite statistics roundups, Statista-style aggregators, or salary sites without a public method. We did not bypass paywalls or sign-up forms; where a full report was gated, we used only the figures its publisher states publicly.
Figures marked "our calculation" are arithmetic on the cited numbers, and anyone can reproduce them:
| Figure | Formula | Inputs |
|---|
| DRV-001 | (8,110 + 3,710) / 25,610 x 100 | LAB-007, LAB-008, LAB-001 |
| DRV-002 | 6,010 / 25,610 x 100 | LAB-010, LAB-001 |
| DRV-003 | 13,280 / 25,610 x 100 | LAB-012, LAB-001 |
| DRV-004 | 148,550 / 40,280 | LAB-006, LAB-005 |
| DRV-005 | (75,420 / 50,980 - 1) x 100, rounded to a whole percent | LAB-002, LAB-029 |
| DRV-006 | (40,367 / 31,510 - 1) x 100 | PLT-006, PLT-008 |
| DRV-007 | (11,055 / 9,796 - 1) x 100 | PLT-009 |
This edition contains no Mark Studios customer data.
Limitations
- Occupation counts depend on classification. BLS counts people by the duties employers report. Someone who edits video as part of a broader marketing or design role may be counted in a different occupation.
- The BLS employer survey excludes the self-employed. Its employment and wage figures describe salaried editors only.
- Vendor surveys have small or undisclosed samples. Wyzowl surveyed 266 respondents; Wistia and HubSpot do not publish fieldwork dates. All three sell marketing or video products.
- Company statements are self-reported. Figures from YouTube, Meta and TikTok posts are the companies' own claims. Alphabet's revenue figures come from audited filings.
- Market-size figures are proprietary estimates with undisclosed methods and different definitions.
- Most figures describe the U.S. unless the text says otherwise.
How to cite this page
For a single figure, cite the original publisher named next to it, and link here if the verification trail is useful to your readers. Each figure has its own anchor, so you can link straight to it, for example https://www.markstudios.com/research/video-editing-statistics#LAB-002. To cite the page as a whole:
Mark Studios. "Video Editing Statistics." Last verified Sep 16, 2026. https://www.markstudios.com/research/video-editing-statistics
Our calculations and the evidence table are free to reuse with attribution and a link to this page. Each underlying figure remains the claim of its original publisher, and some publishers ask for a link when their figures are reused.
Sources
Download the evidence table (CSV)
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, National Employment Matrix: 27-4032 Film and video editors, 2025 and projected 2035 (2026-08-27). Accessed 2026-09-16.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS Profiles, May 2025: Film and Video Editors (27-4032) (2026-05-15). Accessed 2026-09-16.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook: Film and Video Editors and Camera Operators (2026-08-27). Accessed 2026-09-16.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wages, May 2021: 27-4032 Film and Video Editors (undated). Accessed 2026-09-16.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (BLS Public Data API) (2026). Accessed 2026-09-16.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) Profiles: Film and Video Editors (27-4032), May 2025 (2026-05-15). Accessed 2026-09-16.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) Profiles: Film and Video Editors (27-4032), May 2025 (2026-05-15). Accessed 2026-09-16.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections: Occupational Projections Data, 2025-2035 (2026-08-27). Accessed 2026-09-16.
- Mordor Intelligence, Video Editing Market Size & Share Analysis - Growth Trends and Forecast (2026 - 2031) (2026). Accessed 2026-09-16.
- The Business Research Company, Video Editing Software Global Market Report 2026 (2026-07). Accessed 2026-09-16.
- Straits Research, Video Editing Software Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report, Forecasts 2026-2034 (2026-09-04). Accessed 2026-09-16.
- Wyzowl, Video Marketing Statistics 2026 (12 Years of Data) (undated). Accessed 2026-09-16.
- Wistia, State of Video Report: Video Marketing Statistics for 2026 (2026-04-22). Accessed 2026-09-16.
- Wistia, The Key Takeaways From Wistia's 2026 State of Video Webinar (2026-04-22). Accessed 2026-09-16.
- HubSpot, The top marketing channels of 2026, according to marketers [data] (2026-01-19). Accessed 2026-09-16.
- Edison Research at SSRS, The Podcast Consumer 2026 (presentation PDF) (2026-06-04). Accessed 2026-09-16.
- Vidyard, Video in Business Benchmark Report (AI Edition), 2025 (undated). Accessed 2026-09-16.
- Nielsen, TV Usage Kicks Usual Summer Slowdown, Fueled by World Cup and Streaming in Nielsen’s July Gauge Reports (2026-09-10). Accessed 2026-09-16.
- YouTube (Google), From the YouTube CEO: Our big bets for 2025 (2025-02-11). Accessed 2026-09-16.
- Pew Research Center, Americans’ Social Media Use 2025 (2025-11-20). Accessed 2026-09-16.
- YouTube (Google), https://blog.youtube/inside-youtube/the-future-of-youtube-2026/ (2026-01-21). Accessed 2026-09-16.
- Meta Platforms, Inc., Meta Platforms, Inc. (META) Second Quarter 2026 Results Conference Call (transcript) (2026-07-29). Accessed 2026-09-16.
- TikTok (TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC), Introducing TikTok GO: A new way to discover and book experiences on TikTok (2026-05-12). Accessed 2026-09-16.
- Pew Research Center, Teens, Social Media and AI Chatbots 2025 (Topline) (2025-12-09). Accessed 2026-09-16.
- Pew Research Center, Teens, Social Media and AI Chatbots 2025 (2025-12-09). Accessed 2026-09-16.
- Ofcom, From apps to AI search: how the UK goes online in 2025 (Online Nation 2025) (2025-12-10). Accessed 2026-09-16.
- Ofcom, Nation’s media habits revealed in annual Ofcom report (Media Nations 2026) (2026-07-29). Accessed 2026-09-16.
- Alphabet Inc. (SEC EDGAR), Alphabet Inc. Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025 (2026-02-05). Accessed 2026-09-16.
- Alphabet Inc. (SEC EDGAR), Alphabet Announces Second Quarter 2026 Results (Exhibit 99.1 to Form 8-K) (2026-07-22). Accessed 2026-09-16.
- Edison Research at SSRS, The Infinite Dial 2026 (2026-03-12). Accessed 2026-09-16.
- YouTube (Google), New YouTube Premium features podcast fans will love (2026-05-28). Accessed 2026-09-16.
- YouTube (Google), How podcasts took over the living room in 2025 (2025-12-18). Accessed 2026-09-16.
- Cumulus Media | Westwood One and Signal Hill Insights, Four Months After Netflix's Podcast Launch, 62% Of The Weekly Podcast Audience Are Aware That Netflix Now Has Podcasts; The Smart TV Podcast Audience Grows 19% According To Cumulus Media And Signal Hill Insights' Podcast Download – Spring 2026 Report (2026-06-18). Accessed 2026-09-16.
- Fiverr International Ltd., Fiverr International Ltd. Annual Report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025 (2026-03-12). Accessed 2026-09-16.
- Fiverr International Ltd., Fiverr Announces Second Quarter 2026 Results (Exhibit 99.1 to Form 6-K) (2026-07-29). Accessed 2026-09-16.
- Upwork Inc., Upwork Inc. Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025 (2026-02-13). Accessed 2026-09-16.
- Upwork Inc., Upwork Reports Second Quarter 2026 Financial Results (Exhibit 99.1 to Form 8-K) (2026-08-10). Accessed 2026-09-16.
- Upwork Research Institute (Upwork Inc.), The Future Workforce Index 2026: AI, Freelancing, and the New Value of Work (2026-07-14). Accessed 2026-09-16.
- Cisco Systems, Cisco Visual Networking Index: Forecast and Methodology, 2015-2020 (White Paper) (2016-06-01). Accessed 2026-09-16.
- Cisco Systems, Cisco Visual Networking Index: Forecast and Trends, 2017-2022 (White Paper) (2018-11-26). Accessed 2026-09-16.
- Sandvine (now AppLogic Networks), Sandvine's 2023 Global Internet Phenomena Report Shows 24% Jump in Video Traffic, with Netflix Volume Overtaking YouTube (2023-01-17). Accessed 2026-09-16.
- YouTube (Google), Appeal of Conscience Foundation Remarks (2019-09-24). Accessed 2026-09-16.
- YouTube (Google), YouTube for Press (undated). Accessed 2026-09-16.
- Insivia, 50 Must Know Stats About Video & Animation Marketing 2013 (2013). Accessed 2026-09-16.
- Insivia, Why Do Viewers Retain 95% of a Video Message, But Only 10% of Text? (2026-02-23). Accessed 2026-09-16.
Update policy and change log
We re-verify every figure quarterly and when a major source publishes a new edition. The next scheduled review is December 2026. Corrections go to contact@markstudios.com.
- Sep 16, 2026: First published with 104 figures from 21 publishers, each checked against its original source. Two older Mark Studios blog posts repeated the "82% of internet traffic" figure as current; we corrected both on the same day.
