Public Relations Specialists in Arizona
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$54,495
after federal, FICA and Arizona tax
Tax takes
$12,215
18.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$53,900
Arizona costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Arizona — roughly, since only five points along the band are published.
One filer, standard deduction, no dependants and nothing paid in before tax — the same household the rest of this page uses, so the comparison holds. City and school-district income taxes are not included.
Median here
$66,710
Kept after tax
$54,495
Worth in national money
$53,900
State rank
25
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Arizona sits in the middle of the pack for public relations specialists. The median is $66,710, ranking 25 of 51 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 491 occupations Arizona reports figures for, this is number 170.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $66,710 the take-home is $54,495, which is worth about $53,900 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $76,700, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Arizona occupies the middle band for public relations specialists: a median of $66,710, ranking 25 of 51. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- In Arizona's occupational distribution, public relations specialists sits at 170 of 491 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- Arizona's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for public relations specialists on its $66,710 median: $54,495 retained after tax becomes $53,900 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $76,700 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Public Relations Specialists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $45,080 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $66,710 |
| Top tenth earn over | $111,220 |
| This salary | $66,710 |
Positions between the published tenth, quarter, half, three-quarter and ninetieth points are estimated by straight line.
The same pay, somewhere else
The state median for this job
| Take-home in Arizona | $54,495 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $55,760 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$3,482 |
State income tax and state price levels only. No city income tax, and no housing market.
What you would need there
The state median for this job
| To match take-home only | $65,109 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$4,237 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Arizona earn less than $66,710. The published range is $45,080 up to $111,220, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Arizona's $54,495, worked from $66,710. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 170 of 491.
- Two cautions on $53,900, the adjusted value of that $66,710 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Arizona. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 170 of 491 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for public relations specialists in Arizona the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $45,080 to $111,220. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Arizona take-home of $54,495, on $66,710 for work ranking 170 of 491 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 170 of 491 in the state.
- This $53,900 adjusted figure, worked from $66,710, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 170 of 491 in the state. The occupation ranks 170 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $76,700 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $45,080 at the bottom tenth to $111,220 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
The number and the value are different things. Arizona costs more than the national average, so this take-home stretches like $53,900 rather than its face figure.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; Arizona then takes its own share, leaving $54,495.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like one.
How does the published median differ from the mean for this occupation?
The median is the midpoint of the distribution; the mean for this occupation in Arizona is $76,700. Wage distributions are right-skewed, so the mean exceeds the median wherever a minority earn substantially more. BLS publishes both because substituting one for the other misstates a typical worker's pay.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($45,080) and the ninetieth ($111,220) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Arizona's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $53,900 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $54,495 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Arizona income tax for a single filer with no adjustments. The state layer is levied in addition to the federal one; only its rate and base differ between states.
Is this occupation's state coverage complete?
State-level estimates are published for all 51 jurisdictions for this occupation, so cross-state comparison is not confounded by suppression. ⚠️ Estimates remain survey-based and carry sampling error; small differences between adjacent states should not be over-read.