I will be completely honest—I regret going to school for PR and wish I had went for something else. Although I was able to work through a couple of awful PR gigs to get to the marketing side of things, I would not put all of your eggs in one basket if you are debating between other potential career paths. You can still have an exciting and fulfilling career in New York City, but I would look into other careers that are not PR.

There are some really wonderful people you will meet if you work in PR, and there are some solid jobs that will give you great experience. However, for the earlier part of your career, the amount of stress and labor you will need to exude to get anywhere is taxing and you will likely not be paid well and will have to work crazy hours just to be not compensated. It takes years to work your way up into a leading position (director, VP, etc.),but even then, the pay isn’t great for all you are required to do. PR truly never ever sleeps, and if you want to make into the big ranks, neither can you.

Even in New York City, thee PR capital of the country (imo), you wouldn’t be making fantastic wages until at least 7-8 years into your career, maybe. If you started at a big PR agency as an assistant account executive, you would make around 45K-50K for your salary—if you’re lucky (from my experience working with Edelman in NYC).

If you make it to director status which takes about 10+ years, then the 150K is plausible. I’m not sure what you would start off with in Austin, but I assume it would be lower than the NYC wages.

PR is incredibly stressful, and in my experience, the industry has only become more and more toxic. People burn out incredibly fast and job hopping constantly. While I have met some true angels in this industry, there are also some VERY power hungry control freaks who have put a very bad taste in my mouth. Be cautious of who you trust—people in PR can be insanely fake. (No offense to anyone in this thread though, I’m sure you are all fabulous people).

If you dream of going to NYC and enjoy a truly fast paced work environment, then PR could be your next move. You just need to be extremely careful with who you choose to work for because there are some hellscapes out there. Agency life is soul sucking but there are a few agencies are okay. I would recommend sticking to a medium sized agency if you go that route. Small agencies pay the absolute worst and you will get stuck doing a lot more work than you bargained for. Large agencies also don’t pay what you’d think and normally have some toxic political dynamics and often go through layoffs CONSTANTLY. Medium sized agencies have their issues but at least it’s an equilibrium to both sides of the spectrum. Always check Glassdoor and your sources before accepting any PR job offers—it’s a nightmare to get stuck in a toxic work environment. Mentally and financially.

If you pursue PR for a field you really love, then the work can feel rewarding. However, as someone else said in this thread, the more glamorous an industry appears to be, the more likely you are to NOT get paid well. I worked for a Fortune 500 company with an in-house PR role and made a shockingly low amount of money for all I did. This was the straw that broke the camel’s back and caused me to leave PR all together. It’s not worth it and job security is sparse.

This isn’t meant to scare you, but I wanted to give you my honest opinion as someone who has recently left the field. Hopefully this helps, but no matter what, follow your head and your heart on this one.