Quick answer: Public relations degrees usually cover media relations, campaign planning, crisis communication and measurement at bachelor’s and master’s level, under CIP 09.0902. Public relations specialists earn a median $74,750 and public relations managers a median $146,910 (BLS OEWS, May 2025). Only 162 institutions award this specific code, which makes the school list below short and worth reading closely.
At master’s level the emphasis usually shifts toward directing the function: reputation strategy, executive counsel, crisis readiness and managing a team or an agency relationship.
This site carries both a communications degree page and this one, and the split is not cosmetic. They are different program codes with very different supply: public relations is CIP 09.0902, awarded at degree level by 162 institutions, while communication and media studies is CIP 09.0101, awarded by 912 (IPEDS Completions, 2024).
The five-to-one ratio describes what each degree is for. The communications degree is the general credential, taught almost everywhere, built to stay flexible. This one is the specialist credential, taught in a small fraction of those places, built around a single function that organizations staff deliberately.
The wage tables on the two pages look similar, and they should - federal wage data is organized by occupation rather than by major, and both degrees feed the same two public relations occupations. What differs is the route in. A public relations major arrives with campaign work, crisis coursework and usually a client project already done; a communications major arrives with broader writing and theory and typically specializes on the job. Neither is better in the abstract. The question is whether you already know the function is the destination.
At 162 institutions the supply here is thin nationally, and that thinness carries into the state and metro pages below, which break the same national pool down by location.
Before you request information anywhere, ask whether the program requires a live client campaign with measured results, and get a written transfer evaluation. With that filter set, compare online public relations programs enrolling now:
Every school listed is verified in federal IPEDS data both to award this degree and to offer programs that can be completed entirely by distance education at this level. Whether this exact degree is delivered fully online varies by school, so confirm the format before you apply.
This page lists 10 schools, closest group first, then ordered by BOC Score with the highest at the top. 10 of them carry a score.
Scores come from IPEDS (2024) and the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard. Earnings are for all graduates of a school, not one program, so treat them as a signal about the institution rather than about this subject. Sponsored listings are paid placements and are labelled as such; they are separate from this ranking and never change it. Read the full methodology.
Source: ACCSC IPEDS College Scorecard
Source: ACCSC IPEDS College Scorecard
Source: ACCSC IPEDS College Scorecard
Source: ACCSC IPEDS College Scorecard
Source: ACCSC IPEDS College Scorecard
Source: ACCSC IPEDS College Scorecard
Source: ACCSC IPEDS College Scorecard
Source: ACCSC IPEDS College Scorecard
Source: ACCSC IPEDS College Scorecard
Source: ACCSC IPEDS College Scorecard
Each of these institutions holds accreditation from a recognized institutional accreditor. Verify a school’s current standing directly before you commit to it.
Public relations is usually pictured as consumer brands and entertainment, and that is where the competition is worst. The quieter and better-paid version of the field sits inside industries that carry real operational risk: utilities, energy, construction, mining, chemical plants, freight and transportation, heavy manufacturing.
Those organizations need communicators for reasons that do not apply to a beverage brand. They have regulators to answer to, incidents to disclose, communities living next to the facility, and unions and crews who read every statement management issues. When something goes wrong at a jobsite or a plant, the communication is not a marketing exercise - it is a legal, safety and reputational event happening at once, and the person handling it needs to understand the operation well enough not to say something false.
This is where a trade background stops being a detour and starts being the qualification. Someone who has worked a plant shutdown, sat through an incident investigation, or explained a schedule slip to an owner already understands the operational reality that these employers cannot teach a new graduate. The degree supplies the media, legal and campaign discipline on top of it.
The practical implication when choosing a program: weight crisis communication, ethics and measurement coursework over consumer-brand and social-media-marketing coursework. The first set is what the industrial employers hire for.
People certain the function is the destination. If the ambiguity of a general communications degree is unappealing and the job itself is the goal, this is the more efficient credential.
Tradespeople moving into safety, compliance or community-facing roles. Safety leads and compliance staff already do a version of this work, and the degree formalizes it.
Current specialists aiming at the manager row. The manager occupation pays a median $146,910 against $74,750 for specialists (BLS OEWS, May 2025), and the master’s level here is oriented toward that step.
People who write faster than they talk. The volume of writing in this field is consistently underestimated by applicants.
Credit transfer is decided by the receiving institution and genuinely varies, so request a written transfer evaluation before you enroll.
Public relations specialists earn a median $74,750 across 283,380 jobs, and public relations managers a median $146,910 across 74,850 jobs (BLS OEWS, May 2025).
| Metric | Detail | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Median annual wage (specialists) | $74,750 ($35.94 per hour) | BLS OEWS, May 2025 |
| Mean annual wage (specialists) | $84,120 | BLS OEWS, May 2025 |
| Median annual wage (managers) | $146,910 ($70.63 per hour) | BLS OEWS, May 2025 |
| Mean annual wage (managers) | $164,760 | BLS OEWS, May 2025 |
| Specialist wage range | $44,110 (10th pct) - $135,150 (90th pct) | BLS OEWS, May 2025 |
| Manager wage range | $82,410 (10th pct) - $284,990 (90th pct) | BLS OEWS, May 2025 |
| Projected change (2024-34) | 4.8% specialists, 5% managers | BLS Employment Projections, 2024-34 |
| Annual openings | About 27,600 specialists; about 6,600 managers | BLS Employment Projections, 2024-34 |
| Typical credential | Bachelor’s, with master’s common on the manager track | Program catalogs |
| Institutions awarding | 162 | IPEDS Completions, 2024 |
| Geo coverage | State, metro and city pages - see Programs by State below | Site structure |
| SOC codes covered | 27-3031 public relations specialists; 11-2032 public relations managers | BLS OEWS, May 2025 |
| Role | Median | 25th percentile | 75th percentile | 90th percentile | Employment | Projected change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Public relations specialists | $74,750 | $56,260 | $100,370 | $135,150 | 283,380 | 4.8% |
| Public relations managers | $146,910 | $106,580 | $204,520 | $284,990 | 74,850 | 5% |
All wage and employment figures BLS OEWS, May 2025; growth figures BLS Employment Projections, 2024-34.
Read those two rows as one career rather than two options. Almost nobody enters at the manager row; it is reached from the specialist row after years of work, and the employment column shows how the funnel narrows - 283,380 specialist jobs against 74,850 manager jobs.
What that means for planning is that the specialist row is the number to budget against. A median of $74,750 with a 25th percentile of $56,260 is the realistic early-career picture, and the $146,910 manager median is the outcome for a minority. It is a genuine ceiling rather than a marketing figure, but it is a ceiling.
The growth picture is steady and unspectacular: 4.8 percent for specialists and 5 percent for managers from 2024 to 2034 (BLS Employment Projections, 2024-34). Most of the roughly 27,600 annual specialist openings come from replacement rather than expansion. This field does not have a demand problem or a demand boom; it has a differentiation problem, and industry knowledge is the most reliable answer to it. Individual outcomes may vary.
The national median annual wage is $74,750, or $35.94 an hour (BLS OEWS, May 2025). The bottom 10 percent earn $44,110 or less and the top 10 percent earn $135,150 or more, across employment of 283,380.
The national median annual wage is $146,910, or $70.63 an hour, across employment of 74,850. The bottom 10 percent earn $82,410 or less and the top 10 percent earn $284,990 or more (BLS OEWS, May 2025). It is the highest-paying destination this degree feeds and the hardest to reach.
162 institutions awarded CIP 09.0902 at bachelor's or master's level in 2024 (IPEDS Completions, 2024). That is a narrow category by design, and that narrowness carries into the state and metro pages linked below.
Public relations is CIP 09.0902 and is offered by 162 institutions; communications is CIP 09.0101 and is offered by 912 (IPEDS Completions, 2024). Choose public relations if the function itself is the goal - media relations, reputation, crisis response. Choose the broader degree if you want flexibility across writing and messaging roles generally.
Specialist employment is projected to change by 4.8 percent from 2024 to 2034, with about 27,600 openings a year. Manager employment is projected to change by 5 percent, with about 6,600 openings a year (BLS Employment Projections, 2024-34). Steady rather than fast.
Yes. The work is writing, planning and stakeholder management, none of which needs a laboratory. What to ask about is whether the program requires a real campaign project with a real client and a measured result, because that project is often what a portfolio rests on.
It helps a great deal, and it is the strongest argument for this degree as a second career. Regulated and physical industries - construction, energy, utilities, manufacturing, transportation - hire communicators who understand the operation, and that understanding is not teachable in a semester. Individual outcomes may vary.
It is not a formal requirement. The manager occupation is reached through years of specialist work more often than through a credential, and the master's is best understood as an accelerant or a redirection route rather than an entry ticket. Individual outcomes may vary.
State pay, licensing and metro-level data for this degree. Wage and employment figures on every state page come from BLS OEWS, May 2025.
Alabama * Alaska * Arizona * Arkansas * California * Colorado * Connecticut * Delaware * District of Columbia * Florida * Georgia * Hawaii * Idaho * Illinois * Indiana * Iowa * Kansas * Kentucky * Louisiana * Maine * Maryland * Massachusetts * Michigan * Minnesota * Mississippi * Missouri * Montana * Nebraska * Nevada * New Hampshire * New Jersey * New Mexico * New York * North Carolina * North Dakota * Ohio * Oklahoma * Oregon * Pennsylvania * Rhode Island * South Carolina * South Dakota * Tennessee * Texas * Utah * Vermont * Virginia * Washington * West Virginia * Wisconsin * Wyoming
About this guide: Researched and written by the TradeCareerPath Editorial Team. Our editorial team researches and sources every trade school and career guide using federal labor and education data, including BLS OEWS and Employment Projections, DOL apprenticeship records, IPEDS, College Scorecard, and state licensing boards. We follow the editorial standards documented at /editorial-policy/.
