A new compensation study from Magazines Canada and the Cultural Human Resources Council, completed by Mercer (Canada) Limited in the fall of 2008, reveals that the median salary for consumer magazine publishers is almost $160,000. On the low end of the salary spectrum, meanwhile, are section/features editors at special interest publications, who earn an average annual salary just under $34,000.

The study aggregates data from 29 organizations representing 113 publications and presents both the base salary and actual cash total (which includes incentives and bonuses) for 21 positions at consumer, trade and special interest magazines. The figures below represent the median salary, meaning half of the respondents pay less and half pay more.

The Government of Canada's Sector Council Program funded the study.

Consumer

TITLE	BASE SALARY	ACTUAL TOTAL CASH
Publisher	$135,600	$159,373
Top Marketing	$131,500	$137,750
Top Circulation	$95,677	$110,287
Top Editor	$100,297	$100,297
Circ Sales & Marketing Director	$85,222	$89,421
Web Operations Manager	$83,000	$87,985
Marketing Manager	$72,300	$82,909
Art Director	$77,048	$77,492
Section Head-Business	$74,305	$76,880
Managing Editor	$68,638	$72,438
Section Head-Consumer	$64,000	$64,000
Production Manager	$57,577	$57,577
Production Editor	$55,948	$55,948
Online Editor	$51,462	$51,462
Copy Editor	$47,502	$48,543
Researcher	$44,499	$47,877
Graphic Designer	$45,457	$46,000
Feature Writer	$45,835	$45,835
Section/Features Editor	$45,396	$45,396
Photographer	$42,070	$42,070

Trade

TITLE	BASE SALARY	ACTUAL TOTAL CASH
Publisher	$95,000	$109,120
Top Editor	$67,844	$68,437
Graphic Designer	$54,074	$54,074
Art Director	$51,725	$51,725
Section Head-Trade	$47,727	$47,727
Section/Feature Editor	$46,993	$46,993

Special Interest

TITLE	BASE SALARY	ACTUAL TOTAL CASH
Top Editor	$58,239	$58,239
Art Director	$53,948	$53,948
Production Manager	$45,854	$45,854
Publisher	$40,000	$40,000
Managing Editor	$39,179	$39,179
Graphic Designer	$34,060	$34,060
Section/Feature Editor	$33,763	$33,763