OverviewSalaryAboutEducationWhere are the jobsEmploymentGenderRace/Origin
Overview
Promote or create an intended public image for individuals, groups, or organizations. May write or select material for release to various communications media. May specialize in using social media.
Highlights
Undergraduate program resulting in the highest median salary ($81K): Sociology
Largest undergraduate program (15.8% of workers): Communications
Explore Pathways
Titles for this career often contain these words
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Responsibilities and activities
Public relations specialists typically do the following:
- Write press releases and prepare information for the media
- Respond to information requests from the media
- Help clients communicate effectively with the public
- Help maintain their organization’s corporate image and identity
- Draft speeches and arrange interviews for an organization’s top executives
- Evaluate advertising and promotion programs to determine whether they are compatible with their organization’s public relations efforts
- Evaluate public opinion of clients through social media
Public relations specialists, also called communications specialists and media specialists, handle an organization’s communication with the public, including consumers, investors, reporters, and other media specialists. In government, public relations specialists may be called press secretaries. In this setting, workers keep the public informed about the activities of government officials and agencies.
Public relations specialists draft press releases and contact people in the media who might print or broadcast their material. Many radio or television special reports, newspaper stories, and magazine articles start at the desks of public relations specialists. For example, a press release might describe a public issue, such as health, energy, or the environment, and what an organization does concerning that issue.
Press releases are increasingly being sent through the Internet and social media, in addition to publication through traditional media outlets. Public relations specialists are often in charge of monitoring and responding to social media questions and concerns.
Public relations specialists are different from advertisers in that they get their stories covered by media instead of purchasing ad space in publications and on television.
Salary
Median salary: $62,810 annually
Half of those employed in this career earn between $46,630 and $85,380.
Context: Median Salary
How do salaries for this career compare to other jobs' salaries?
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Salary growth for public relations specialists
Is this job likely to reward you for sticking with it through pay raises and promotions? The higher a job’s “experience quotient,” the more you are likely to get as you stay there.
Experience quotient percentile
Take a minute to look at how much you might expect your salary to increase with each five years' experience, as well as how the numbers working at each age change. Does this seem to be a job for the young or the old, or could it be a career offering steady salary growth for many years?
Salary distribution
Number employed
About Public Relations Specialists
How do benefits for this career compare to other jobs? The availability of health care, especially employer provided health care, and pension plans can add significantly to the value of compensation you receive in a career. These charts compare how this career compares to other careers with regard to health care and pension plans.
Employee has health insurance
Employer is providing health insurance
Worker concerns
Some jobs are more stressful than others, and some are just plain dangerous. The following list gives the percentages of public relations specialists who report hazardous or difficult situations typically occurring at least once a week.
- Time Pressure (92%)
- High Conflict Frequency (37%)
- Consequence of Error (34%)
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Personality and skills
Can you see yourself in the ranks of Public Relations Specialists? Here are the skills and traits that could lead to success.
Interpersonal skills
Public relations specialists deal with the public and the media regularly; therefore, they must be open and friendly in order to maintain a favorable image for their organization.
Organizational skills
Public relations specialists are often in charge of managing several events at the same time, requiring superior organizational skills.
Problem-solving skills
Public relations specialists sometimes must explain how a company or client is handling sensitive issues. They must use good judgment in what they report and how they report it.
Speaking skills
Public relations specialists regularly speak on behalf of their organization. When doing so, they must be able to clearly explain the organization’s position.
Writing skills
Public relations specialists must be able to write well-organized and clear press releases and speeches. They must be able to grasp the key messages they want to get across and write them in a short, succinct way, to get the attention of busy readers or listeners.
Injury and Illness
About 7 public relations specialists become injured or ill for every 10,000 workers, which reflects fewer events than in 56% of other careers. The most common specific illnesses or injuries are detailed following.
Bruises and contusions
Sprains, strains, tears
Education pathways to this career
Education attained by public relations specialists
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), public relations specialists typically hold a bachelor's degree.
Sometimes the typical education identified by the BLS differs a bit from the reality of the how much education current workers actually have. The donut shows the education level held by people currently working as public relations specialists as reported in responses to the American Community Survey.
Details: Education and training recommended for public relations specialists
Public relations specialists typically need a bachelor’s degree in public relations, journalism, communications, English, or business. Through such programs, students produce a portfolio of work that demonstrates their ability to prospective employers.
Education level of Public Relations Specialists
About 84% of public relations specialists have at least a bachelor's degree.
Education attained by public relations specialists
None
High School
Some College
Associate's Degree
Bachelor's Degree
Master's Degree
Professional Degree
Doctorate
Top college degrees
Here are the top college degrees held by the 81% of people in this job who have at least a bachelor's degree. Some of degrees may link to multiple programs due to the way Census classifies college majors. Click on a program to learn more about career opportunities for people who major in that field.
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College majors held by public relations specialists
This table shows the college majors held by people working as public relations specialists. If you see "**" before the name of a degree/program, that means this field is one that the Department of Education believes is preparatory for this career. However, you can see from this list that those recommendations are far from your only path to this job!
Major
Select any title to learn more about that degree
Salary comparison for bachelor's only
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Career salary (tail) versus Career/Major salary (dot)
Does the bachelor's-only salary rise or fall with this major?
Salary for bachelor's-only
For people with this career and major
Median
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Salary for all workers
For people with this career and major
Median
Middle 50%
Middle 80%
Education for Career and Major
Bachelor's
Master's
Professional
Doctorate
Workers with this career/major
Percentage in this career with this major
Not so much?
The link between degrees and this career
With the following sankey diagram, you can follow the top ten bachelor's degrees held by people working as public relations specialists, and then, in turn, you can see the 10 occupations that hire the most of each degree's graduates. We hope this provides ideas for similar jobs and similar fields of study.
Expand degrees
Where are the jobs
State-by-state employment numbers
Some careers tend to be centered in specific parts of the country. For example, most jobs in fashion are in New York or California. Let's see if your dream job is easy to find in your dream location! We have a few choices for viewing the data that can help you get a full employment picture.
Select a state to see local area details
Number of Public Relations Specialists per 1,000 workers (ACS)
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Job density versus job count
Which states hire the most public relations specialists? We wonder if that's a fair question since states come in all sizes, so instead let's start with the question of which states have the highest density of people working as public relations specialists. You can choose to view the number of jobs per state if you prefer.
Salaries by state
Let's get a feel for where public relations specialists earn the highest salaries. There are several choices for which data we consider and how we view that data, and each can lead to different conclusions, so please read on...
Median salary versus state ratio
We use two methods to compare salaries across states:
- In-state comparisons: the ratio of median (middle) salaries for public relations specialists compared to the median salary for all people working in each state, or
- Median salary: the unaltered median salaries for public relations specialists.
The darkest shading corresponds to states in which public relations specialists earn the highest salary when compared to other jobs in the state. We think this figure might be a better indicator than the actual salary for your buying power as a state resident.
Select a state to see local area details
Location-adjusted median salary for Public Relations Specialists (ACS)
Employment
13% of Public relations specialists are working part time.
We’ve found that some jobs have a huge number of part-time workers, and typically that is because they are unable to find full-time work or the job itself can’t provide full-time hours. With 13% part-time workers, this occupation has a higher percentage of part-time workers than 51% of careers.
Employer types
This donut shares the break-down of workers by employer type, giving us a picture of what employers most typically hire for this career.
Employers of undefined (ACS)
Private for-profit
Private not-for-profit
Local government
State government
Federal government
Self-employed incorporated
Self-employed not incorporated
Working without pay
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Distribution: Salaries of public relations specialists by type of employer
Here are the salary distributions based on employer type.
Gender
Public relations specialists and gender
With 64% women, this occupation has a higher percentage of women than 76% of careers.
Gender of Public relations specialists
Men (36%)
Women (64%)
Distribution: salaries by gender
Does gender greatly influence your salary in this career? The closer the bars are, the less discrepancy there is.
We only include salary data when the survey error is less than 20%, so you may see only partial information for some categories.
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Context: Women in the workforce
How does this career compare to other careers with regard to the percentage of women in the career.
Context: Salary inequity
The median salary for all full-time male workers in the
US exceeds the full-time median salary for women
by 19%.
The situation is a little better for public relations specialists, with the
median salary for men 15%
higher than the median salary for women.
Race/Origin
Race and origin of Public relations specialists
This donut shows the distribution of race and origin among those employed as Public relations specialists.
Race/origin of public relations specialists
White (81% )
Black (9% )
Asian (4% )
Multiracial (3% )
Other (2% )
American Indian (1% )
Hispanic (0% )
Pacific Islander (0% )
Distribution: salaries by race/origin
Some careers might have a pay disparity based on race or origin, the closer the below bars are the less of a discrepancy is present.
We only include salary data when the survey error is less than 20%, so you may see only partial information for some categories.
