PR Salary by City and Industry: 2026 BLS Pay Tables

PR specialists earned a national median of $74,750 in May 2025, but pay runs from $102,740 in the District of Columbia to $56,730 in West Virginia, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. By industry, government pays $81,350 and healthcare and social assistance pays $64,550. BLS does not publish pay by PR specialty, so this page uses geography and industry.

What is the national baseline for PR specialist pay?

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports a national median of $74,750 for public relations specialists in May 2025, up 7.1 percent from $69,780 in May 2024. Half of all specialists earned more than that figure and half earned less.

The mean wage is $84,120, according to the same BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) release. The mean sits above the median because top earners pull the average up.

The national median was $67,440 in May 2022, $66,750 in May 2023, $69,780 in May 2024 and $74,750 in May 2025. The engines tested in the PR Salary Index quoted about $67,000 to $68,000 in June 2026, which matches the May 2022 median rather than the current one.

Which states pay PR specialists the most?

The District of Columbia pays PR specialists the most, with a May 2025 median of $102,740, followed by Washington at $87,470 and California at $85,030, according to BLS OEWS data. West Virginia has the lowest state median, at $56,730.

Which metro areas pay PR specialists the most?

San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara pays PR specialists the most of any BLS metro area, at a May 2025 median of $117,620, followed by San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont at $102,520 and Washington-Arlington-Alexandria at $101,680.

About 22,810 PR specialists work in the Washington metro area, according to WageDex's profile of the BLS data. WageDex marks metro estimates built on fewer than 100 workers as less precise, and none of the metros in this table carries that mark.

The New York premium here is smaller than the engine-quoted figures. The PR Salary Index reports a 25 to 35 percent VP-level premium for New York, while the BLS median for all specialists in the New York metro is 13 percent above the national median. The two figures measure different things: AI-engine ranges for one seniority level versus a BLS median across all experience levels.

Which industries pay PR specialists the most?

Government pays PR specialists the most among the five largest employing industries, with a May 2025 median of $81,350, while healthcare and social assistance pays the least of the five, at $64,550.

BLS assigns pay to the employer's industry, not to a PR specialty. A specialist working on healthcare accounts at an agency falls under advertising, public relations, and related services, and the same specialist working in-house at a hospital falls under healthcare and social assistance.

What do PR managers earn?

BLS reports a May 2025 median of $146,910 for public relations managers, roughly double the $74,750 specialist median, according to OEWS data compiled by WageDex.

The Occupational Outlook Handbook reports a lower figure, $136,470, because it groups public relations managers with fundraising managers. Either way, the manager median sits above the specialist 90th percentile of $135,150, so a typical manager earns more than nine in ten specialists.

Does BLS publish PR pay by specialty or employer type?

BLS does not publish PR pay by specialty, such as crisis, healthcare or technology PR, or by agency versus in-house employer. Industry is the nearest BLS proxy, and the BLS wage data also excludes self-employed workers, so independent consultants are not in these medians.

For specialty-level pay, use survey sources that name their method and date, such as the Robert Half salary guide, Glassdoor, PayScale, and PRWeek or PRSA surveys. The PR Salary Index shows which of those sources ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini cite most. For the career trade-offs between employer types, read the PR agency vs in-house comparison.

How do you use these numbers in a salary negotiation?

Use the BLS state or metro median as the anchor, adjust for industry, and then check one named survey source for your specialty.

1. Find your state or metro median in the tables above.
2. Compare your employer's industry median with the $74,750 national figure. Government at $81,350 is 9 percent above it, and healthcare and social assistance at $64,550 is 14 percent below it.
3. Check one named survey source for your specialty and seniority, then use the PR salary negotiation guide to ask and counter.

These medians cover specialists across all experience levels, so an entry-level offer should sit below them and a senior offer above them. The PR career ladder describes what each rung does, the PR salary map has the national BLS breakdown, and the PR careers hub lists every guide by career stage.

Sources: the BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook entry for public relations specialists (last modified August 27, 2026) for the national median, percentiles, industry pay and employment shares. State, metro and manager estimates are BLS OEWS May 2025 figures as compiled in WageDex's BLS wage tables. Verify any figure at bls.gov/oes before quoting it.

How this page was made: AI-assisted drafting from the BLS and WageDex tables cited above, with figures checked against the BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook page wherever it publishes them.