STAT

E

OFPR

AN

DJOUR

NALISMSALARIES

2023How

much

Executive

summarydo

PR

andPR

pros?

Thetypical

salaryforPRprofessionalsis$85,000.At

brands,

itis$107,000journalismprofessionalsmake?andatagenciesitis$80,000.ThisalignswithdatafromtheCensusBureaucollectedby

Data

USA,whichplacesPRsalariesat$84,737.?

57%

ofPRprosreportworkingmorethan40hours

aweek,andnearly80%ofpeopler?

Generally,

atagencies,themoreseniortheposition,themorelikelymenaretoholdtherole.It’s

aquestionmany

intheindustryhasaskedthemselvesatsomepoint.Thisreportaimstoanswerthatquestionandmore.Journalists?

Thetypical

journalistsalaryisinthe$40,000–$70,000

range.

Freelancersaremorelikelytoearnless

thanfull-timesta?journalists.?

Thereisnotastrongrelationshipbetweentenureandpay

injournalism.Salariesonlyincreaseslightlywithmoreyearsofexperience.?

Only17%ofjournalistsearn$100,000

ormore,

comparedto36%ofPRpros.PR

pro

salariesSalaries

inthePRandcommunicationsindustrycoverawiderange.DuringourStateofPRsurvey,

somepeoplesaidtheymadelessthan$40,000

whileotherreportedsalariesinexcess

of$1million.Therearealotofreasonswhy

compensationvaries.Somearemoreobvious,likejobtitle,butothersareless

apparent.PRprosatbrandsarethehighestpaid.Brands

(Fig.

1)Agencies(Fig.

2)$107,000$80,000BrandsSalaries

forPRprosatbrandsTypical

Salary:

$107,000Withatypicalsalaryofmorethan$100,000,PRprosatbrands

aremakingmorethantheiragencycounterparts.50%40%30%20%10%0%Comparedtolastyear,

therearefewerPRprosatbrands

aregettingpaidunder$40,000

andmoreareinthe$40,000–$70,000

range.30%24%23%18%3%1%Lessthan$40k$40–$70K$70–$100K$100–$150K$150–$250KMorethan$250KFig.

1AgenciesSalaries

forPRprosatagenciesTypical

Salary:

$80,000Partofthereasonthetypicalagencysalaryismorethan$20,000

lessthan

at

brandscouldbebecause

therearesimplymorerolesacrossdi?erentfunctions.50%40%30%20%10%0%36%36%Asmallbrand

team

couldhaveonlyoneortworolesforpeoplewithlimitedexperience,whilelargeagenciesmighthave

dozens.Buttherewasanotableincreaseof12%inthenumberofpeopleearning$40,000–$70,000

and15%inthoseearning$70,000–$100,000

comparedtolastyear.17%8%2%1%Lessthan$40k$40–$70K$70–$100K$100–$150K$150–$250KMorethan$250KFig.

2Job

titlesSeniorityhasthestrongestcorrelationtoahighersalary.

People

intheC-suitearemorelikelytomakemorethan$150,000

thanany

otherjobtitle(Fig.

3).Thistrendcontinuesasexpectedwithless

seniorpositionsearninglower

salaries.Director-levelemployeeshadthebroadestrange

ofpossiblesalaries.Althoughthetypicalsalaryforthatroleis$120,000,adirectorisonlyalittlemorelikelytomake$70,000

astheyaretomake$250,000

(Fig.

4).Meanwhile,coordinator-levelsalariesare?rmlyentrenchedinthe$40,000–$70,000

range

withabout68%reportinginthisrange

(Fig.

6).<$40k$40–$70K$70–$100K>$250KSalaries

forC-suite(CCO,

CMO,

EVP,

SVP,

CEO)

employeesTypical

Salary:

$150,000$100–$150K$150–$250K3%7%16%25%36%13%Fig.

3Salaries

forDirector(VPorDirector)employeesTypical

Salary:

$120,0003%6%30%38%23%22%27%Fig.

4Salaries

forManager

(Manageroraccountsupervisor)employeesTypical

Salary:

$87,0001%22%49%4%Fig.

5Salaries

forCoordinator(Coordinator,

specialist,associateoraccountexecutive)

employeesTypical

Salary:$63,0003%1%68%Fig.

6Hours

workedThehours

workedandtheamountofdays

somedonothave

astrongimpactonsalary,

butthathasn’tstoppedPRprosfromputtinginthework.Overall,57%

ofpeoplereportedworkingmorethan40hours

aweek.Andnearly80%ofpeoplereportedDirector-levelemployeesweremostlikelytosay

theyworkmorethan41hours

aweek(Fig.

9)

whilecoordinatorsweremostlikelytokeepitunder40hours

(

Fig.

13).Itisatoss

upbetweendirectorsandCEOson(Fig.

8

&

10).Remember:oursurveydataisself-reported.It’s

hardforsomeonetorememberexactlyhow

many

hours

theyworkedlastweek,andevenmoredi?cultto?gureoutanaverage

intheirhead.So,

peopleguessinstead.We

didourbesttocorrectforthisinthesurveydesign,butkeepitinmindwhenyouseethechartssayingsomeCEOsworkmorethan51hours

aweek(Fig.

7).Hours

workedperweekforC-suite(CCO,

CMO,

EVP,

SVP,

CEO)

employeesFre(CCO,

CMO,

EVP,

SVP,

CEO)

employees75%60%45%30%15%0%75%60%45%30%15%0%45%40%39%34%17%12%6%4%2%Lessthan25hours25–4041–5051+01–2times3–4times5–6times7Fig.

7Fig.

8Hours

workedperweekfordirectors(VPorDirector)Fredirectors(VPorDirector)75%60%45%30%15%0%75%60%45%30%15%0%67%61%26%23%15%7%1%0%0%Lessthan25hours25–4041–5051+01–2times3–4times5–6times7Fig.

9Fig.

10Hours

workedperweekformanagers(Manager

oraccountsupervisor)Fre(Manager

oraccountsupervisor)75%60%45%30%15%0%75%60%45%30%15%0%55%54%42%25%15%5%3%0%0%Lessthan25hours25–4041–5051+01–2times3–4times5–6times7Fig.

11Fig.

12Hours

workedperweekforcoordinators(Coordinator,

specialist,associateoraccountexecutive)Frecoordinators(Coordinator,

specialist,associateoraccountexecutive)75%60%45%30%15%0%75%60%45%30%15%0%54%50%48%30%12%4%1%0%0%Lessthan25hours25–4041–5051+01–2times3–4times5–6times7Fig.

13Fig.

14GenderWe

areinterestedinexaminingthegenderpay

gap,

butbecause

ofoursamplesize,wedidnot?ndconcreteevidenceofone.

To

beclear,thatdoesn’tmean

thereisnogenderpay

gap,

onlythattherewasn’tonewecould?ndinourdata.We

didhowever?ndotherinterestinginsightsrelatedtogender.Lookingspeci?callyatagencies,thedatashows

thataspositionsbecomemoresenior,

thereisadeclineinfemalerepresentation.Menareunderrepresentedinlower-levelpositionsincludingcoordinatorsandmanagers,butareoverrepresentedinhigher-levelslikeC-suite.While65%ofC-suiteemployeesbeingwomenseemslikeawin—andyou’d

beright—it’s

importanttorememberjusthow

skewedthedemographicsofPRandcommunicationsare.Whilewedidcollectdataonothergenders,weonlyhadenoughresponsestoanalyzethisinformationbasedontwo:maleandfemale.Gender

breakdownat

agenciesGenderbreakdownatagencies1%1%PrefernottosayNon-binary/thirdgenderOur

genderdataforemployeesatagenciesskews

fromtheo?cialdataforthePRindustryasawhole,butitissimilar.

AccordingtoCensusdatacollectedby18%MaleDataUSA.io

womenmakeuparound65%ofthePRworkforcewhilemenmakeuparound35%.80%FemaleTheCensusBureaudoesnotcollectdataongenderoutsidethetraditionalgenderbinary.Fig.

15Gender

breakdownby

role

at

agenciesGenderbreakdownby

roleatagenciesFemaleMale10%17%Sinceourdatashows

80%ofPRproswhorespondedtothesurveyarewomenand18%aremen,wewouldexpecttoseeasimilardistributionofwomenandmenineach

ofthedi?erentpositions.90%83%Coordinator(Coordinator,

specialist,associateoraccountexecutive)Manager(Manageroraccountsupervisor)Instead,weseetheshareofmenineach

rolegrow

asthejobsbecomemoresenior.21%35%65%To

putitanotherway,

themoreseniortheposition,themorelikelymenaretoholdtherole.79%Director(VPorDirector)C-suite(CCO,

CMO,

EVP,

SVP,

CEO)Fig.

16Journalist

salariesThetypical

journalist’s

salaryisinthe$40,000–$70,000

range

(Fig.

17).Our

dataonlycollectedsalaryranges

fromjournalists.Interestingly,

whilethenumberofpeoplewithhighersalariesincreasesastheiryearsofexperienceincreases,thisisalways

themostcommonsalaryrange.

Thedatashows

acertainamountofwagestagnationacrosstheindustryacrosssenioritylevels.Thereisalsoalow

amountofvariabilityacrossbeats.Nomatterwhetherjournalistscoverpoliticsor?nance,theaverage

salarystays

justaboutthesame.Additionally,

ourdatashows

adistinctlackofhigherpayingjobs,especiallycomparedtoPR.Ahigherpercentageofjournalists,84%,earn

$100,000

orless,comparedtoPRprofessionalswhere65%areinthesamerange.Finally,

wefoundthatfull-timefreelancersaremorelikelytoearnless

than$40,000

comparedtofull-timesta?journalists(Fig.

19).Theyarealsounderrepresentedintheupperincomebrackets.Salaries

ranges

forjournalists50%40%30%20%10%0%39%25%22%11%5%1%Lessthan$40k$40–$70K$70–$100K$100–$150K$150–$250KMorethan$250KFig.

17Freelancejournalistyearlyearnings1

1%

%Fig.

1835%35%20%7%Full-timesta?journalistsalaries1%14%40%26%12%

6%Fig.

19Lessthan$40k$40–$70K$70–$100K$100–$150K$150–$250KMore

than

$250KHow

muchdoPRandjournalistprofessionalsmake?JournalistsPRpros50%40%30%20%10%0%39%33%30%25%21%20%12%11%5%3%2%1%Lessthan$40k$40–$70K$70–$100K$100–$150K$150–$250KMorethan$250KFig.

20MethodologyData

forthisreportcame

fromtwosurveys.We

surveyed1,034

PRprofessionalsfromMarch

31toApril25,2023fortheState

of

PR

reportand2,226journalistsfromJanuary4toFebruary6,2023fortheState

of

Journalism

report.Surveyresponsesweresoughtprimarilythroughemailand