Public Relations Specialists in Hawaii
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$50,096
after federal, FICA and Hawaii tax
Tax takes
$13,784
21.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$46,125
Hawaii costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Hawaii — 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
$63,880
Kept after tax
$50,096
Worth in national money
$46,125
State rank
35
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for public relations specialists is on the low side in Hawaii. The middle earner gets $63,880. That is 35 of 51 states, and about 14.54% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Public relations specialists ranks 209 among 437 occupations Hawaii publishes pay for.
- The wage here flatters the reality. From $63,880 the take-home is $50,096. But Hawaii costs more than the national average, so that money behaves more like $46,125 would elsewhere. Worth knowing before comparing offers across states. The average is higher, $70,190, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For public relations specialists, Hawaii sits in the lower band at $63,880, ranking 35 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 14.54%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Position 209 of 437 in Hawaii 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.
- Retained pay after federal, FICA and Hawaii income tax is $50,096 for public relations specialists, from $63,880. The state's price level exceeds the national average, so the price-adjusted equivalent is $46,125. ⚠️ This is purchasing power and not a wage; cross-state offer comparisons that stop at the nominal figure systematically overvalue high-cost states. The mean of $70,190 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 | $42,070 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $63,880 |
| Top tenth earn over | $104,240 |
| This salary | $63,880 |
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 Hawaii | $50,096 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $53,508 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$8,938 |
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 | $59,634 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$10,810 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 109 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $63,880 as a midpoint for Hawaii, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $42,070 and the ninetieth is $104,240 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Hawaii the take-home figure of $50,096, from $63,880, 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 209 of 437 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $46,125, the adjusted value of that $63,880 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Hawaii. 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 209 of 437 locally.
- The Hawaii median of $63,880 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $42,070 to $104,240. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for Hawaii is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $50,096 from $63,880. 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 209 of 437 locally.
- This $46,125 adjusted figure, worked from $63,880, 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 209 of 437 in the state. The occupation ranks 209 of 437 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 $70,190 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?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $42,070 and the top tenth $104,240 — 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 Hawaii run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $46,125 — 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 Hawaii's own levy, $50,096 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
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 Hawaii is $70,190. 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 ($42,070) and the ninetieth ($104,240) 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?
Hawaii's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $46,125 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 $50,096 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Hawaii 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.