Public Relations Specialists in Pennsylvania
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$46,585
after federal, FICA and Pennsylvania tax
Tax takes
$10,875
18.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$47,780
Pennsylvania costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Pennsylvania — 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
$57,460
Kept after tax
$46,585
Worth in national money
$47,780
State rank
50
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Pennsylvania pays public relations specialists a middle wage of $57,460, 50 of 51 states and about 23.13% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Against other work in Pennsylvania, this sits in the middle: 261 of 492 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $57,460 the take-home is $46,585, which is worth about $47,780 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $65,660, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Pennsylvania's $57,460 median for public relations specialists places it 50 of 51 states, about 23.13% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- Public relations specialists ranks 261 of 492 occupations in Pennsylvania by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- Pennsylvania's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for public relations specialists on its $57,460 median: $46,585 retained after tax becomes $47,780 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $65,660 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 | $32,810 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $57,460 |
| Top tenth earn over | $102,330 |
| This salary | $57,460 |
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 Pennsylvania | $46,585 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $48,349 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,975 |
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 | $55,265 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,389 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 98 |
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 Pennsylvania earn under $57,460 and half over. The published range runs $32,810 at the tenth percentile to $102,330 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Pennsylvania the take-home figure of $46,585, from $57,460, 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 261 of 492 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $47,780, the adjusted value of that $57,460 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Pennsylvania. 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 261 of 492 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for public relations specialists in Pennsylvania, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $32,810 to $102,330; 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 Pennsylvania is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $46,585 from $57,460. 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 261 of 492 locally.
- This $47,780 adjusted figure, worked from $57,460, 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 261 of 492 in the state. The occupation ranks 261 of 492 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $65,660, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $32,810, the highest tenth $102,330, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $47,780.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and Pennsylvania adds its own income tax on top — which is why $46,585 of this wage survives to your account.
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 Pennsylvania is $65,660. 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 ($32,810) and the ninetieth ($102,330) 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.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Pennsylvania's regional price parity is at or below the national average, so nominal wages understate purchasing power. Take-home deflated by the state price level is $47,780 in national-average terms. The adjustment uses an all-items index and does not isolate housing.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $46,585 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Pennsylvania 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.