Public Relations Specialists in District of Columbia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$75,343
after federal, FICA and District of Columbia tax
Tax takes
$27,397
26.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$67,997
District of Columbia costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in District of Columbia — 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
$102,740
Kept after tax
$75,343
Worth in national money
$67,997
State rank
1
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. District of Columbia pays public relations specialists a middle wage of $102,740, ranking 1 of 51 states and sitting about 37.44% above the national middle.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Public relations specialists ranks 108 among 390 occupations District of Columbia publishes pay for.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $102,740, tax leaves $75,343 — and because District of Columbia is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $67,997 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $120,200, since top earners drag the number up.
- District of Columbia's median for public relations specialists is $102,740, about 37.44% above the national figure and 1 of 51 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Position 108 of 390 in District of Columbia places public relations specialists in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- After tax, $75,343 remains from the District of Columbia median of $102,740 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $67,997 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $120,200 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Public Relations Specialists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $64,260 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $102,740 |
| Top tenth earn over | $202,170 |
| This salary | $102,740 |
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 District of Columbia | $75,343 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $81,108 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$15,469 |
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 | $94,546 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$21,367 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 111 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of public relations specialists in District of Columbia earn under $102,740 and half over. The published range runs $64,260 at the tenth percentile to $202,170 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In District of Columbia the take-home figure of $75,343, from $102,740, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 108 of 390 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $67,997, the adjusted value of that $102,740 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of District of Columbia. 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 108 of 390 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for public relations specialists in District of Columbia, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $64,260 to $202,170; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- Take-home for District of Columbia is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $75,343 from $102,740. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 108 of 390 locally.
- This $67,997 adjusted figure, worked from $102,740, 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 108 of 390 in the state. The occupation ranks 108 of 390 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $120,200, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $64,260 and the top tenth $202,170 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
Not on its own. Prices in District of Columbia run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $67,997 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and District of Columbia's own levy, $75,343 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
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 District of Columbia is $120,200. 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 ($64,260) and the ninetieth ($202,170) 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?
District of Columbia's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $67,997 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 $75,343 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and District of Columbia 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.