PR statistics: the numbers from our research.

PR people per journalist: the US job numbers

• 8.4 PR specialists and managers for every journalist in the US (2025)
• 47,100 news analysts, reporters and journalists, all of them
• -6% projected change in journalist jobs from 2025 to 2035
• 9.2 PR people per journalist by 2035, if the projections hold

Official data · Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics; U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · The report, the method and the PDF

EB-1A and EB-2 NIW in numbers: filings, backlogs and denials

• 64.3% of EB-2 NIW petitions denied in FY2025 Q4, up from 6.6% in FY2022 Q1
• 46.6% of EB-1A petitions denied in FY2025 Q4, up from 25.3% in FY2025 Q1
• 74,392 EB-2 NIW petitions waiting for a decision, up from 20,584
• ~3x new NIW filings per quarter: 4,883 in FY2022 Q1, 13,983 in FY2025 Q4

Official data · Source: American Immigration Council; U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services · The report, the method and the PDF

What ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini cite: press coverage and AI search

• 84% of links cited by AI assistants come from earned media (Muck Rack, 2026)
• 27% of cited links are journalism
• 1.1% are press releases
• 8% of visits with a Google AI summary led to a click on a result, against 15% without one (Pew)

Public data · Source: Muck Rack; Pew Research Center · The report, the method and the PDF

What journalists want from PR pitches: two large surveys

• 82% of journalists reject pitches not relevant to their audience or coverage (Cision)
• 88% immediately disregard pitches that miss their beat (Muck Rack)
• 97% prefer to be pitched by email (Cision)
• 47% want more data or research from PR people (Cision)

Public data · Source: Cision; Muck Rack · The report, the method and the PDF

Which publications accept outside articles, and their rules: 26 outlets checked

• 20 of 26 accept articles from outside writers with no fee on their page; editors choose what runs
• 6 of 26 offer a membership or sponsorship route to publish (for 5 of them, the only route we found)
• 12 of 26 say in their rules that articles can't promote the author's company or products
• 10 of 26 want the article to be exclusive to them

Our study · Source: Harvard Business Review; MIT Sloan Management Review · The report, the method and the PDF

What PR agencies charge: a study of 77 agency profiles

• $1K–10K the most common minimum project size (40 of 77 agencies, 52%)
• $140 median hourly rate, among the 56 agencies that list one
• 27% ask for at least $10,000 as a minimum project
• 10 of 77 have "PR", "Public Relations" or "Communications" in their name

Our study · Source: DesignRush; DesignRush · The report, the method and the PDF

What people search about PR: a study of Bing searches

• 82% of PR searches are about learning how PR works (definitions, press releases, branding)
• 3% are about hiring a PR agency, a publicist or reputation help
• 4,055 Bing searches for "how to write a press release" in three months, the top how-to
• 7,265 searches about O-1, EB-1A, EB-2 NIW and EB-1B visas in the same months

Our study · Source: Edamame PR & Strategy (data from Microsoft Bing Webmaster Tools) · The report, the method and the PDF

New business applications at a record: the competition for attention

• 5.67M business applications in the US in 2025, the most of the past decade
• +62% more than in 2019
• +15% January to September 2026, compared with the same months of 2025
• 120 new business applications a year for every US journalist

Official data · Source: U.S. Census Bureau, via FRED (Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis); U.S. Census Bureau, via FRED (Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis) · The report, the method and the PDF

Where people get news now: social, video, creators and AI

• 54% use social media and video networks for news (48 markets)
• 51% use news organizations' own websites and apps
• 10% use AI chatbots for news every week, up from 7% a year earlier
• 16% of people under 35 use AI chatbots for news

Public data · Source: Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism; Pew Research Center · The report, the method and the PDF

Trust in the news: what the latest surveys show

• 33% of Americans trust the mass media a great deal or a fair amount, up from a record low of 28% in 2025 (Gallup, September 2026)
• 68–72% said the same in the 1970s, according to Gallup
• 25% of Americans trust most news most of the time (Reuters Institute, 2026)
• 37% trust news overall across 48 markets worldwide (Reuters Institute, 2026)

Public data · Source: Gallup; Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism · The report, the method and the PDF

How to cite these numbers

Quote the number and link to the report it comes from (the link under each group above), for example: “8.4 PR specialists and managers for every journalist in the US, according to Edamame PR & Strategy’s research.” Each report page says where its data comes from and when it was last checked.

More: all research reports · The Founder’s PR Guide · how much PR costs

Questions founders ask

Can I quote these numbers?

Yes. Quote the number and link to the report it comes from; each report shows its source and method.

How current are the numbers?

Each report has a date when it is checked against its source again, and the numbers here change when a report is refreshed.

Where does the data come from?

Official data (such as the US Bureau of Labor Statistics and USCIS), large public studies, and our own studies of agencies, publications and AI answers. Each report names its sources.