---
title: "Public Relations Specialist"
description: "Promote or create an intended public image for individuals, groups, or organizations. May write or select material for release to various communications…"
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/public-relations-specialist"
last-updated: "2026-08-23T15:56:39.581Z"
---

# Public Relations Specialist

**Category:** Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media · **SOC code:** 27-3031 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 27-3031.00

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.

Also advertised as: Communications Specialist; Community Relations Coordinator; Corporate Communications Specialist; Information and Communications Specialist; Media Relations Specialist; Public Affairs Specialist; Public Information Officer; Public Information Specialist.

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $74,750 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** $35.94/hr
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $44,110 to $135,150, with the middle half between $56,260 and $100,370
- **Total US employment:** 283,380
- **Typical entry education:** Bachelor's
- **Preparation required:** Medium preparation — O\*NET rates this "Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed"
- **Projected growth:** +4.8% over 2024–2034 (BLS EP, 2024–2034)
- **Annual job openings:** 27,600 openings a year
- **AI-resilience score:** 37/100 — a NueCareer heuristic over O\*NET work activities and context, not a BLS or O\*NET figure

## Pay

National wage distribution, BLS OEWS, May 2025, across 283,380 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $44,110 |
| 25th | $56,260 |
| 50th (median) | $74,750 |
| 75th | $100,370 |
| 90th | $135,150 |
| Mean (average) | $84,120 |

### Pay by state

The 15 highest-paying states, by median annual wage. The cost-of-living-adjusted column divides the state median by that state's BEA Regional Price Parity, so the columns answer different questions: the first is what the job pays there, the second is what that pay buys there.

| State | Median annual wage | Cost-of-living adjusted | Employment |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| DC | $102,740 | $93,484 | 16,720 |
| WA | $87,470 | $81,738 | 6,430 |
| CA | $85,030 | $76,797 | 32,710 |
| CT | $84,990 | $82,029 | 1,910 |
| NY | $81,250 | $75,287 | 28,250 |
| CO | $80,680 | $78,291 | 7,410 |
| VA | $80,380 | $79,502 | 9,990 |
| NJ | $80,130 | $73,646 | 4,980 |
| MA | $79,660 | $75,324 | 6,760 |
| MD | $79,560 | $75,801 | 4,190 |
| RI | $77,540 | $75,811 | 1,140 |
| IL | $76,380 | $76,412 | 6,200 |
| DE | $76,120 | $76,266 | 930 |
| OR | $74,900 | $72,464 | 4,510 |
| NV | $73,840 | $73,856 | 1,600 |

39 more states with published wage data are omitted here. The full table for all 54 states is at https://nuecareer.com/careers/public-relations-specialist/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/public-relations-specialist.

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 315,900 in the 2024–2034 base year to 331,000 by the end of the cycle — a gain of 15,000 jobs, or +4.8%. Faster than average: 4.8% against 3.1% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 27,600 openings a year are expected on average, counting openings from growth as well as from workers leaving the occupation permanently. Source: BLS EP, 2024–2034.

## How to get in

- **Typical entry education:** Bachelor's degree (BLS Employment Projections).
- **Preparation level:** Medium preparation — O\*NET's preparation band for this occupation is "Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed".
- **Related work experience typically required:** None.
- **Typical on-the-job training:** None.

### Education people in this job actually hold

O\*NET surveys incumbents, so this distribution describes who is in the job today and can differ from the BLS entry requirement above.

| Education level | Share of workers |
| --- | --- |
| Bachelor's Degree | 90.9% |
| Master's Degree | 9.1% |

## What the work involves

- Respond to requests for information from the media or designate an appropriate spokesperson or information source.
- Plan or direct development or communication of programs to maintain favorable public or stockholder perceptions of an organization's accomplishments, agenda, or environmental responsibility.
- Post and update content on the company's Web site and social media outlets.
- Establish or maintain cooperative relationships with representatives of community, consumer, employee, or public interest groups.
- Confer with other managers to identify trends or key group interests or concerns or to provide advice on business decisions.
- Arrange public appearances, lectures, contests, or exhibits for clients to increase product or service awareness or to promote goodwill.
- Prepare or deliver speeches to further public relations objectives.
- Write press releases or other media communications to promote clients.

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Active Listening — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speaking — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Reading Comprehension — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Writing — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Critical Thinking — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Learning — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Monitoring — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Learning Strategies — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Transferable skills

These are the skills that carry into other occupations, and they drive the related-occupation and career-change rankings on this site.

- Social Perceptiveness — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Coordination — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Time Management — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Persuasion — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Judgment and Decision Making — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Complex Problem Solving — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Negotiation — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Systems Evaluation — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Knowledge areas

- Communications and Media — importance 4.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- English Language — importance 4.7 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Administration and Management — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Customer and Personal Service — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Sales and Marketing — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Computers and Electronics — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Abilities

- Oral Comprehension — importance 4.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Oral Expression — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Written Expression — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speech Recognition — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speech Clarity — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Written Comprehension — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

## Who it suits

O\*NET rates every occupation on the six Holland (RIASEC) interest areas, on a 1–7 scale. This occupation's strongest areas are Enterprising (E), Artistic (A), Social (S).

| Interest area | Score (1–7) |
| --- | --- |
| E — Enterprising | 5.82 |
| A — Artistic | 4.68 |
| S — Social | 3.94 |
| C — Conventional | 3.45 |
| I — Investigative | 2.72 |
| R — Realistic | 1.00 |

### Personality fit

These scores are **derived by NueCareer**, not published by any government agency: they are cosine similarities between a personality type's trait profile and this occupation's O\*NET interest and work-style ratings, expressed 0–100. Treat them as a starting point for exploration, not as evidence that a type belongs in a job.

| Type | Fit score (0–100) |
| --- | --- |
| ENFJ | 81.7 |
| ENFP | 77.0 |
| ESFP | 66.3 |
| ENTJ | 64.2 |
| ESFJ | 63.3 |

Best-fitting types: ENFJ, ENFP.

## Related occupations

O\*NET's primary related occupations, in its own ranked order.

- [Public Relations Manager](https://nuecareer.com/careers/public-relations-manager) — median $146,910
- [Advertising and Promotions Manager](https://nuecareer.com/careers/advertising-and-promotions-manager) — median $133,660
- [Market Research Analyst and Marketing Specialist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/market-research-analyst-and-marketing-specialist) — median $78,760
- [Writer and Author](https://nuecareer.com/careers/writer-and-author) — median $76,910
- [Marketing Manager](https://nuecareer.com/careers/marketing-manager) — median $166,790
- [Advertising Sales Agent](https://nuecareer.com/careers/advertising-sales-agent) — median $64,820
- [Media Programming Director](https://nuecareer.com/careers/media-programming-director) — median $90,360
- [Fundraiser](https://nuecareer.com/careers/fundraiser) — median $72,550
- [Fundraising Manager](https://nuecareer.com/careers/fundraising-manager) — median $125,470
- [Agent and Business Manager of Artists, Performers, and Athletes](https://nuecareer.com/careers/agent-and-business-manager-of-artists-performers-and-athletes) — median $82,890

## Sources

- **O\*NET** — O\*NET 30.3 Database, May 2026. https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html
- **BLS OEWS** — BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. https://www.bls.gov/oes/
- **BLS EP** — BLS Employment Projections, Table 1.2, 2024–2034. https://www.bls.gov/emp/
- **BLS OOH** — BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2024–2034 edition. https://www.bls.gov/ooh/
- **BEA RPP** — BEA Regional Price Parities by State, 2024. https://www.bea.gov/data/prices-inflation/regional-price-parities-state-and-metro-area

---

This bank includes information from the O\*NET 30.3 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). O\*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. NueCareer has transformed the data by joining it to BLS wage and projection data and deriving facet, personality-fit and AI-resilience scores. BLS and BEA data are public domain (17 U.S.C. §105).

O\*NET content is used under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). How these figures are sourced and derived: https://nuecareer.com/careers/methodology

JSON representation of this page: https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/public-relations-specialist