PR Budget 2026: How to Set It and Allocate Line Items

A public relations budget is the amount an organization commits each year to earn coverage, create content, respond to crises and measure results, and it is easiest to set by checking published benchmarks. Gartner's 2026 CCO Spend Survey found that most large companies spend about 0.5% of revenue on communications, and its 2026 CMO survey put marketing at 7.8% of revenue. No survey reviewed here sets a standard share for PR alone.

Originally published April 2013. Updated October 2026.

What does a PR budget cover?

A PR budget covers seven line items: people, outside counsel, earned media programs, content and owned channels, tools and technology, measurement and research, and a crisis reserve. The grouping is an editorial framework, built so that each line can be priced from a different source. For the discipline these lines fund, see What Is Public Relations? The table shows what each line holds and where a price or benchmark can be found.

Line item	What it covers	Where to find a price	Benchmark in this guide
People	Salaries and benefits for in-house staff	BLS pay data, adjusted for benefits	Loaded cost is about 1.46 times pay, by BLS arithmetic
Outside counsel	Agency retainers, project fees, consultants	PR firm cost guide and retainer scope guide	Not repeated here
Earned media programs	Pitching, bylines, events, research-led stories	Staff time or part of a retainer	Gartner: PR is among the largest shares of communications budgets
Content and owned channels	Articles, reports, press room pages, fact sheets	Staff time or vendor quotes	No survey benchmark found
Tools and technology	Monitoring, distribution, analytics, AI tools	Vendor quotes	Gartner: 17% of communications budgets
Measurement and research	Coverage analysis, audits, surveys	Vendor quotes or staff time	Gartner: 4.1% of communications budgets
Crisis reserve	Plans, training, monitoring, response retainer	Crisis PR cost guide	Gartner: 4.8% of communications budgets

The benchmarks in the table come from the surveys described in the next section, and they apply to large companies. No survey reviewed for this guide gives category shares for a PR-only budget, so the shares above describe whole communications budgets.

How much do companies spend on communications and PR?

Most large companies spend about 0.5% of revenue on communications, according to Gartner's 2026 CCO Spend Survey. Gartner surveyed 200 senior communications decision-makers in North America and Europe between late October and mid-December 2025, all at organizations with at least $1 billion in annual revenue. Gartner states that the results do not represent global findings or the market as a whole, so the figure describes large companies only. The company's 2026 Trends in Communications Budgets report is the source for every Gartner communications figure on this page.

The same report finds that smaller companies in its sample allocate a higher percentage of revenue to communications, and it suggests larger organizations benefit from economies of scale. Only organizations with revenue under $5 billion expected a modest budget increase in the next fiscal year. Larger organizations expected flat or falling budgets, and those at $20 billion and above had a 25% increase in the prior year that Gartner says does not look fully sustained.

Pressure on budgets is widespread. Forty-six percent of communications leaders in the survey reported a budget reduction because of company-wide cost cutting, and 44% said their function lacks the budget to execute its strategy. Gartner reports that PR and corporate brand take the largest shares of communications budgets, and that the largest planned increases are in external social media and PR.

Gartner's report also gives shares for specific areas. Crisis communications made the largest single increase of any area, up 2.1 percentage points to 4.8% of the total current budget. Measurement and analytics grew from 2.9% to 4.1% of budgets, against about 8% for marketing. Technology tools and internal platforms were 17% of budgets, and generative AI was 5.7% of total budget, projected to reach 8.8% the following year. The report does not say whether the generative AI share sits inside the technology share, so the two should not be added together.

For marketing as a whole, Gartner's 2026 CMO Spend Survey found marketing budgets at 7.8% of company revenue, up from 7.7% in 2025. That survey covered 401 CMOs and other marketing leaders in North America, the United Kingdom and Europe between January and March 2026, with the vast majority at companies above $1 billion in revenue. Fifty-six percent said their marketing organization lacks the budget to deliver its 2026 strategy.

The same survey is useful context for the tools and technology line. Gartner found that CMOs allocate an average of 15.3% of marketing budgets to AI initiatives, and that the 30% of CMOs reporting mature AI readiness allocate 21.3% and report marketing budgets of 8.9% of revenue. Those figures describe marketing, not PR, but they show that AI tools are now a budget line large enough to need its own owner and its own test of value.

How do you size a PR budget for your company?

A PR budget can be sized by working from a benchmark down and from a program list up, then reconciling the two. The benchmark approach starts with a share of revenue. The program approach lists every activity the team will run, prices each one and adds the totals. Where the two numbers differ by a large amount, either the program list or the benchmark needs a written explanation.

Hypothetical example: A company with $2 billion in annual revenue applies Gartner's 0.5% figure and sets a communications envelope of $10 million. Using Gartner's reported shares of communications budgets, crisis communications would be about $480,000 (4.8%), measurement and analytics about $410,000 (4.1%) and technology about $1.7 million (17%). The company then prices its in-house team of four specialists and one manager using the BLS figures in the next section, which comes to about $651,000 a year, or 6.5% of the envelope. The crisis, measurement and technology shares alone come to about a quarter of the envelope. Gartner reports that labor, agencies and services, and operating costs make up the majority of communications budgets, so a real function of this size would likely employ more people than the hypothetical team of five.

The example is illustrative and not a recommendation. It uses published averages from large companies, and a company below $1 billion in revenue sits outside Gartner's sample. A smaller company can still use the method: choose the share that fits, price the programs, and write down the reasoning so that a finance team can test it.

Gartner's own advice for budget planning is to stop planning from the previous year's number and redraw allocations around current priorities, then revise in-year as the risk environment changes. It also advises cutting low-value work that does not support business objectives. The guide to building a public relations plan shows how objectives and audiences feed a budget, and the PR plan template turns them into eight steps.

What does an in-house PR hire really cost?

An in-house PR hire costs more than the salary, because employers also pay for benefits and payroll taxes. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports that for full-time private industry workers in June 2026, wages and salaries were 68.5% of employer compensation costs and benefits were 31.5%, according to its Economics Daily report on compensation costs. Dividing a salary by 0.685 gives a loaded cost of about 1.46 times pay.

BLS reports the median annual wage for public relations specialists at $74,750 in May 2025, with the lowest 10 percent earning less than $44,110 and the highest 10 percent more than $135,150. For public relations managers, the BLS handbook entry gives a median of $146,910, with the lowest 10 percent under $82,410 and the highest 10 percent above $284,990.

Applying the loaded-cost ratio to the medians gives about $109,000 for a specialist and about $214,000 for a manager. These figures are this guide's arithmetic, and they have limits. The benefit share is an average across private industry and not specific to communications, the medians cover all industries and regions, and recruiting, software seats and management time are not included.

The guide to the public relations specialist role covers duties and career paths, and the guide to the functions of public relations explains how much work a small team can cover. The decision between a hire and an outside firm is covered in agency versus in-house PR, and the in-house PR or agency decision tree adds a six-question test built on these same loaded costs.

How should a budget handle agency fees?

A budget should record agency fees as a line with a defined scope, because two retainers with the same price can include different work. The PR firm cost guide covers what firms charge by type, and this page does not repeat those prices. The guide to PR retainer inclusions and extras shows how to turn different scopes into one comparable list before signing.

Four questions turn an agency quote into a budget line. What deliverables and hours does the monthly fee include? Which costs are billed on top, such as distribution, monitoring, photography, travel and research? How often will the agency report, and in what format? What notice is needed to change scope or end the contract?

The structure of the engagement also changes the line. Retainer, project and agency-of-record structures each fit different needs, and a hybrid of an internal lead and an outside team is one option when a company needs steady coverage plus occasional launches. The decision tree linked above covers when a hybrid fits.

Gartner advises reevaluating agency spend so that agencies focus on the highest-return activities, supporting business priorities with skills that do not exist in-house. In budgeting terms, that means paying outside firms for specialist skills, extra capacity or independent counsel, and paying staff for continuity and knowledge of the business.

How much should be held back for a crisis?

A budget should hold crisis money in two parts: a smaller amount for readiness every year and a reserve that can be released for active response. Gartner reports that crisis communications was 4.8% of communications budgets in its sample, after the largest single increase of any area, and it links the rise to scrutiny, regulation and the speed at which misinformation spreads.

Readiness covers a risk review, a crisis plan, spokesperson training and monitoring. Active response covers extra hours, outside counsel and monitoring during an incident, and its size depends on the event. The crisis PR cost guide prices both parts, and this page does not repeat those figures.

Gartner also cautions that crisis work should align with the risks that concern the chief executive, and not turn into constant tactical firefighting that distracts from longer-term priorities. A reserve that is released only for events on a short list of agreed risks helps a finance team see when it is being used.

What should a PR team cut and add?

A PR team should cut work that does not connect to a stated objective and add measurement that finance can read. Gartner's report says that increased spending on AI and technology, PR and measurement is being offset by decreases in other areas such as events, creative and translation. It recommends stopping, streamlining or offloading tasks such as event management, graphics and translation so that money can move to analytics and AI.

Three tests help decide whether an item stays. Does it support a named objective in the plan? Is its result measured, even roughly? Could another team, a vendor or a tool do it at lower cost? Items that fail all three are candidates for cutting.

Candidates for adding are a baseline audit of how the organization appears in news coverage and in AI assistant answers, a regular report on coverage accuracy, and a crisis exercise. An audit of AI assistant answers asks ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude who the organization is and what it sells, and records every error and every cited source. Gartner notes that measurement is a small share of communications budgets, at 4.1% compared with about 8% for marketing, so a first measurement line is often an easier request than a large new program.

How do you defend a PR budget to a CFO?

A PR budget is defended to a CFO by linking each line to a business objective and showing a number that moves. Gartner advises communications leaders to advocate for investment to the chief executive and chief financial officer by linking communications outcomes to enterprise priorities such as reputation, engagement and trust. It also advises benchmarking spend against peers, which is why this page records its sources and their limits.

Three measures work well in a finance conversation because each ties to a unit cost or a rate. The first is cost per target placement, which is program spend divided by the number of placements in outlets the plan named in advance. The second is response time, which is the hours between a journalist's inquiry and the organization's answer. The third is accuracy, which is the share of tracked coverage and AI answers that state the organization's facts correctly.

Hypothetical example: A program costs $300,000 in a year and produces 15 placements in outlets named in the plan. The cost per target placement is $20,000. If the next year's program produces 20 placements for $320,000, the cost per placement falls to $16,000, and the change is something a finance team can check against the coverage log.

Whatever measures are chosen, define them before the year starts and report them on a fixed schedule. A small set of numbers that follow the same definition every quarter is easier for a finance team to audit than a long list that changes. EPR's guide to measuring PR ROI and reporting it to the C-suite shows how to build each number.

Where can I find specific PR budget benchmarks?

Specific benchmarks sit in dedicated guides, and each covers one question. The PR firm cost guide covers agency retainers and fees. The crisis PR cost guide covers readiness and active response. The retainer scope guide covers inclusions and extras. The Gartner reports linked above cover large-company communications and marketing shares.

For a company below $1 billion in revenue, no source reviewed for this page gives a survey-based share of revenue for PR or communications. In that case the program-up method is the better starting point, with the loaded staff costs above and quotes for each outside service.

What do people ask about PR budgets?

What percentage of revenue should go to PR?

No survey reviewed here sets a standard share for PR alone. Gartner's 2026 CCO Spend Survey found most large companies spend about 0.5% of revenue on all communications, and its 2026 CMO survey put marketing at 7.8% of revenue. Both samples are mostly companies above $1 billion in revenue.

How much does an in-house PR specialist cost?

BLS reports a median wage of $74,750 for public relations specialists in May 2025. Using BLS data that benefits were 31.5% of employer compensation costs for full-time private industry workers in June 2026, the loaded cost is about $109,000. That is an average-based estimate and not a quote.

How much should a company hold for a crisis?

Gartner reports crisis communications at 4.8% of communications budgets in its sample of large companies. The right amount for one company depends on its risks, so a risk review should set the reserve. The crisis PR cost guide covers readiness and active response pricing.

Are PR budgets growing?

Gartner's 2026 CCO survey found 46% of communications leaders reported a budget reduction from company-wide cost cutting, and only organizations under $5 billion in revenue expected a modest increase. The CMO survey found marketing budgets nearly flat at 7.8% of revenue. PR and external social media had the largest planned increases within communications budgets.

How does a PR budget differ from a marketing budget?

A marketing budget funds demand generation, advertising and campaigns, and Gartner puts it at 7.8% of revenue in its 2026 survey. A PR or communications budget funds reputation work, media relations, internal communications and crisis readiness, and Gartner's communications survey found about 0.5% of revenue. Some organizations hold PR inside marketing, so the definitions should be written down. EPR compares the disciplines in PR vs. marketing vs. advertising.

How do you defend a PR budget to finance?

Link each line to a business objective and report a few measures that follow the same definition every quarter, such as cost per target placement, response time to journalists and the accuracy of coverage. Gartner advises linking communications outcomes to enterprise priorities such as reputation, engagement and trust.

Where should an organization start with a PR budget?

An organization should start by listing its objectives and the programs that serve them, then price each program from a named source. A budget built that way can be defended line by line, and a benchmark such as Gartner's 0.5% of revenue becomes a check on the total and not a target to hit.

1. Write down three objectives for the year and the audiences tied to each.
2. List every program and activity that serves those objectives, including those already running.
3. Price people using BLS medians loaded by 1.46, and replace them with actual salaries when known.
4. Get written scopes and prices from outside firms, using the retainer scope guide to compare them.
5. Set a crisis readiness amount and a separate reserve, and name the events that release the reserve.
6. Add a measurement line, even a small one, and define the three measures before the year begins.
7. Compare the total with the benchmarks above, and write down the reason for any large gap.

The common thread in a sound PR budget is that every line has a source and every source has a stated limit. Benchmarks from large companies orient the total, program prices fill in the lines, and a short list of measures lets a finance team see what the money bought.