The salary of a Public Relations Specialist I in the United States varies depending on several factors, including experience, location, education level, marketing trend and company sizes.
As of April 01, 2025, the average hourly pay of Public Relations Specialist I in the United States is $29. While Salary.com is seeing that Public Relations Specialist I salary in the US can go up to $35 or down to $22, but most earn between $25 and $32. Salary.com shows the average base salary (core compensation), as well as the average total cash compensation for the job of Public Relations Specialist I in the United States.
| Annual Salary |
Monthly Pay |
Weekly Pay |
Hourly Wage |
|
| 75th Percentile | $32 | $3 | $1 | $0 |
| Average | $29 | $2 | $1 | $0 |
| 25th Percentile | $25 | $2 | $0 | $0 |
As of April 01, 2025, Salary.com is seeing that an entry-level Public Relations Specialist I with under 1 year experience makes about $58,809. With less than 2 years of experience, a mid-level Public Relations Specialist I makes around $59,565. After 2-4 years, the Public Relations Specialist I pay rises to about $61,018. Those senior Public Relations Specialist I with 5-8 years of experience earn roughly $61,309, and those Public Relations Specialist I having 8 years or more experience is expected to earn about $61,502 on average.
| Levels | Salary |
|---|---|
| Entry Level Public Relations Specialist I | $58,809 |
| Intermediate Level Public Relations Specialist I | $59,565 |
| Senior Level Public Relations Specialist I | $61,018 |
| Specialist Level Public Relations Specialist I | $61,309 |
| Expert Level Public Relations Specialist I | $61,502 |
| Entry Level | 1% |
| Mid Level | 0% |
| Senior Level | 3% |
| Top Level | 3% |
| Experienced | 4% |
Salaries in the United States can vary significantly from state to state due to a multitude of factors, including cost of living, local economic conditions, and industry presence.
For example, as of April 01, 2025, the average yearly salary of Public Relations Specialist I is $65,486 in California and in Massachusetts, the average annual salary goes to $64,613. While in New Jersey, a Public Relations Specialist I earns $64,352 per year.
What Am I Worth?
Salaries in the United States can vary significantly from city to city due to a multitude of factors, including cost of living, local economic conditions, and industry presence.
For example, as of April 01, 2025, the average yearly salary of Public Relations Specialist I in San Francisco, CA is $74,148 and in New York, NY, the average annual salary goes to $68,805. While a Public Relations Specialist I earns $66,216 per year in Boston, MA.
For those exploring the changing dynamics of Public Relations Specialist I salaries, Salary.com offers detailed insights through our Job Trending in CA Labor Market analysis. As of April 01, 2025, our research highlights a notable shift in Public Relations Specialist I compensation over the past six years. For instance, the median salary has moved from $62,557 in 2023 to about $62,251 in 2024 (for a comprehensive analysis of Public Relations Specialist I salary trends, click here). It's crucial to consider several elements, including geographical location, experience level, industry demand, and economic development, as they play a significant role in influencing salary variations.
Salary.com job board provides millions of Public Relations Specialist I information for you to search for. Click on search button below to see Public Relations Specialist I job openings or enter a new job title here.
Here are companies hiring for Public Relations Specialist I and their salaries, click below for more details.
| Core Compensation | ||||
| Core Compensation | Median | % of Total | ||
| Base Salary | $59,371 | 68.7% | ||
| Bonus | $0 | 0.0% | ||
| Value of Benefits | ||||
| Core Compensation | Median | % of Total | ||
| Social Security | $4,542 | 5.3% | ||
| 401K/403B | $2,494 | 2.9% | ||
| Disability | $1,187 | 1.4% | ||
| Healthcare | $8,352 | 9.7% | ||
| Pension | $3,206 | 3.7% | ||
| Time Off | $7,307 | 8.5% | ||
| Total Compensation | $86,459 | 100% | ||
| Degree Level | % of user with this level of education |
|---|---|
| No Diploma | 0.1% |
| High School | 2.1% |
| Associates | 2.2% |
| Bachelors | 81.1% |
| Masters | 14.0% |
| Doctorate | 0.5% |
What Am I Worth?
Prepares and disseminates information regarding an organization through newspapers, periodicals, television, radio and social media. Ensures public relations goals and strategies are met. Helps maintain a favorable public image for the organization. May require a bachelor's degree. Typically reports to a supervisor or manager. Works on projects/matters of limited complexity in a support role. Work is closely managed. Typically requires 0-2 years of related experience.
Specify the abilities and skills that a person needs in order to carry out the specified job duties. Each competency has five to ten behavioral assertions that can be observed, each with a corresponding performance level (from one to five) that is required for a particular job.
Leadership: Knowledge of and ability to employ effective strategies that motivate and guide other members within our business to achieve optimum results.
Marketing Research: Marketing research is "the process or set of processes that links the producers, customers, and end users to the marketer through information used to identify and define marketing opportunities and problems; generate, refine, and evaluate marketing actions; monitor marketing performance; and improve understanding of marketing as a process. Marketing research specifies the information required to address these issues, designs the method for collecting information, manages and implements the data collection process, analyzes the results, and communicates the findings and their implications." It is the systematic gathering, recording, and analysis of qualitative and quantitative data about issues relating to marketing products and services. The goal of marketing research is to identify and assess how changing elements of the marketing mix impacts customer behavior. The term is commonly interchanged with market research; however, expert practitioners may wish to draw a distinction, in that market research is concerned specifically with markets, while marketing research is concerned specifically about marketing processes.
Strategic Communication: Strategic communication refers to policy-making and guidance for consistent information activity within an organization and between organizations.
