Best Metros for Public Relations Managers: Washington and New York Top Overall, San Jose Offers Highest Pay

Across the top 10 metros for public relations managers, LaborCove’s data shows that no single market leads on every measure at once. Washington–Arlington–Alexandria takes the #1 overall metro ranking and has the largest supplied employment count, while San Jose delivers the highest supplied median salary but ranks #3 overall. Compared with national benchmarks, several metros post substantially higher median salaries for public relations managers. At the same time, the distribution of employment counts among the largest metros highlights how concentrated the supplied jobs data is in a few very large markets. Nationally, public relations managers have a projected employment growth rate of 5.0%. That projection provides national context for the occupation but does not indicate how fast employment may change in any specific metro in this ranking.

For public relations managers nationally, the median annual salary is $146,910 and total national employment is 74,850. These benchmarks frame how the leading metros differ from the overall labor market for this occupation. Among the top 10 metros, several have median salaries that exceed the national median. Washington–Arlington–Alexandria, the #1 metro, reports a median salary of $195,190 for public relations managers, while the #2 metro, New York–Newark–Jersey City, reports $192,360. Employment for public relations managers is also uneven across the ranked metros. Washington–Arlington–Alexandria has a supplied employment count of 9,470, compared with 7,940 in New York–Newark–Jersey City and 3,610 in Los Angeles–Long Beach–Anaheim. Within this top‑10 set, Washington–Arlington–Alexandria’s employment figure matches the largest employment market value reported in the geographic data.

Washington–Arlington–Alexandria holds the #1 spot in LaborCove’s metro ranking for public relations managers, with a Geography Score of 78.76. It also has a median salary of $195,190 and the highest supplied employment count in the table at 9,470. New York–Newark–Jersey City ranks #2 with a Geography Score of 78.15. Its median salary of $192,360 is slightly lower than Washington–Arlington–Alexandria’s, and its employment count of 7,940 is also smaller than Washington–Arlington–Alexandria’s. Both metros place ahead of the rest of the field in LaborCove’s Geography Score, with a notable gap between New York–Newark–Jersey City at 78.15 and San Jose–Sunnyvale–Santa Clara at 61.77 in the #3 position.

San Jose–Sunnyvale–Santa Clara has the highest supplied median salary among the top 10 metros, at $213,510 for public relations managers. This is higher than the median salaries reported for Washington–Arlington–Alexandria ($195,190) and New York–Newark–Jersey City ($192,360). Despite this pay level, San Jose–Sunnyvale–Santa Clara ranks #3 overall with a Geography Score of 61.77, which is lower than the Geography Scores for both Washington–Arlington–Alexandria and New York–Newark–Jersey City. Its supplied employment count of 980 is also smaller than the employment counts reported for those two metros. This pattern illustrates that the highest median salary in the ranking does not automatically correspond to the highest LaborCove Geography Score or the largest supplied employment count.

Four coastal metros occupy the #5 through #8 positions: San Francisco–Oakland–Fremont, Los Angeles–Long Beach–Anaheim, Boston–Cambridge–Newton, and Seattle–Tacoma–Bellevue. San Francisco–Oakland–Fremont ranks #5 with a Geography Score of 57.42, a median salary of $192,720, and employment of 1,880. Among these four metros, its median salary is higher than the median salary reported for Los Angeles–Long Beach–Anaheim ($163,830), Boston–Cambridge–Newton ($176,390), and Seattle–Tacoma–Bellevue ($166,590). Los Angeles–Long Beach–Anaheim, ranked #6 with a Geography Score of 54.18, reports the largest supplied employment count in this group at 3,610. Boston–Cambridge–Newton, at #7 with a Geography Score of 51.27, has employment of 1,810, while Seattle–Tacoma–Bellevue, at #8 with a Geography Score of 46.31, has employment of 1,110.

Trenton–Princeton holds the #9 slot in LaborCove’s metro ranking with a Geography Score of 45.14. It has a median salary of $179,330 for public relations managers and a supplied employment count of 430. Detroit–Warren–Dearborn ranks #10 with a Geography Score of 43.70. Its median salary of $125,650 is lower than the median salary reported for any other metro in the top 10 list. Employment is not supplied for Detroit–Warren–Dearborn in this dataset, so this Insight does not compare its employment count with those of other metros. Within the bottom two positions of the top 10, Trenton–Princeton shows a higher median salary than Detroit–Warren–Dearborn and a Geography Score that is also higher than Detroit–Warren–Dearborn’s score.

LaborCove ranks metro areas for public relations managers using authoritative labor‑market data combined with its internal Geography Score methodology. For each metro, the evidence used in this Insight includes its overall LaborCove Geography Score, median annual salary for public relations managers, and the supplied employment count when available. The national figures cited here (median annual salary of $146,910, national employment of 74,850, and a national projected employment growth rate of 5.0%) are national‑level occupation benchmarks. Projected growth is a national projection only and is not an OEWS observation or a metro‑level forecast. Occupational employment and wage statistics in this Insight refer to observations from May 2025; the 2026 report year is the product year, not the observation year. Rankings and comparisons are informational and should be weighed alongside your own priorities such as industry focus, preferred region, and non‑labor factors that are not captured in this dataset.