Compared with the local labor market
Public Information Specialist pay vs. Arkansas
Across all employers in Arkansas, the median wage for Public Relations Specialists — about 980 people — is $65,000. Department of Corrections pays a median base salary of $56,615 for this role, 13% below that figure — about the 36th percentile of local pay for the occupation.
Where Department of Corrections sits in the local pay range
$39,170
$49,980
$65,000
$96,060
$137,190
Department of Corrections median · $56,615
The bar is the range of annual wages for Public Relations Specialists across every employer in Arkansas, from the 10th to the 90th percentile, with the middle 50% highlighted. The marker shows Department of Corrections’s median base salary for this role. Both figures are base pay only.
And across the country
Nationwide, the median wage for Public Relations Specialists — about 283,380 people — is $74,750. Department of Corrections’s median base salary is 24% below that national figure, about the 25th percentile of pay for the occupation nationally.
$44,110
$56,260
$74,750
$100,370
$135,150
Department of Corrections median · $56,615
Local and national wages differ for reasons beyond how well a job pays — cost of living, the mix of employers, and local demand for the occupation all move the Arkansas range relative to the national one.
Median total compensation for this role at Department of Corrections is $56,615, which includes overtime and employer-paid benefits. The benchmark above excludes both, so total compensation is deliberately not compared against it.
Benchmark: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (May 2025). BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) covers all employers in the area — private, non-profit, and government alike — so this is a comparison against the whole local labor market for the occupation, not against private-sector pay. OEWS wages are straight-time pay and exclude overtime, shift differentials, and employer-paid benefits, so the government figure shown here is base pay on the same basis. Total compensation is not comparable to it. Job titles are matched to the closest standard occupation, so the comparison is between similar work rather than an identical job classification.
Compare jurisdictions
Public Information Specialist beyond Arkansas
This role is reported in 8 jurisdictions. In Arkansas, the median of $52,137 ranks #7 of 8. See Public Information Specialist across all of Arkansas →
Highest-paying jurisdictions for this role
Median total compensation for comparable Public Information Specialistroles in other jurisdictions. Titles are matched by normalized name across sources, not identical job classification, and pay is not cost-of-living adjusted. Each bar links to that jurisdiction’s page for the role.