Public Relations Specialists in Maryland
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$61,385
after federal, FICA and Maryland tax
Tax takes
$18,175
22.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$59,044
Maryland costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Maryland — 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
$79,560
Kept after tax
$61,385
Worth in national money
$59,044
State rank
10
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for public relations specialists is strong here. Maryland's middle earner gets $79,560, putting the state 10 of 51 — about 6.43% ahead of the national figure.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Public relations specialists ranks 158 among 489 occupations Maryland publishes pay for.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $79,560, tax leaves $61,385 — and because Maryland is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $59,044 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $88,560, since top earners drag the number up.
- For public relations specialists, Maryland sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $79,560, ranking 10 of 51 and running about 6.43% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- Position 158 of 489 in Maryland 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, $61,385 remains from the Maryland median of $79,560 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $59,044 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $88,560 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 | $42,060 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $79,560 |
| Top tenth earn over | $147,220 |
| This salary | $79,560 |
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 Maryland | $61,385 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $64,800 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$7,640 |
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 | $74,705 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$10,554 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 104 |
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 Maryland earn under $79,560 and half over. The published range runs $42,060 at the tenth percentile to $147,220 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Maryland the take-home figure of $61,385, from $79,560, 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 158 of 489 occupations here.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $59,044 uses one figure for the whole of Maryland. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 489 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 158.
- Figures are distribution medians for public relations specialists in Maryland, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $42,060 to $147,220; 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 Maryland is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $61,385 from $79,560. 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 158 of 489 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $59,044, worked from $79,560, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Maryland address, on work sitting at 158 of 489 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $88,560, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $42,060 at the bottom tenth to $147,220 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. Maryland costs more than the national average, so this take-home stretches like $59,044 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; Maryland then takes its own share, leaving $61,385.
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 Maryland is $88,560. 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 ($42,060) and the ninetieth ($147,220) 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?
Maryland's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $59,044 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 $61,385 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Maryland 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.