Which Kentucky public relations and advertising program has the lowest debt?

Murray State reports the lowest median federal debt, $22,250, with first-year pay of $38,054.

How much do public relations and advertising graduates earn in Kentucky?

The median across 6 Kentucky public relations and advertising bachelor's programs is $36,794 in the first year after graduating and $48,220 five years after.

Public Relations and Advertising (Bachelor's) Programs in Kentucky, Ranked by Graduate Pay and Debt

Q: How many public relations and advertising bachelor's programs are in Kentucky?

6 Kentucky programs report first-year pay for their graduates, and 6 of them also report federal debt.

6 programs report first-year pay
6 also report federal debt
Bachelor's in Public Relations, Advertising, and Applied Communication

College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025

The short answer

The median Kentucky public relations and advertising bachelor's program pays its graduates $36,794 in their first year, $2,883 less than the national median. University of Kentucky reports the highest first-year pay ($45,275), and Murray State the lowest median debt ($22,250).

Median first-year pay$36,794National $39,677

Median pay after 5 years$48,220National $58,304

Median federal debt$24,425National $24,693

Debt-to-earnings64%National 62%

All 6 programs, ranked

Each figure is the median for the program's graduates. Programs that don't report a figure are listed last when you sort by it.

#	School	Year 1 pay	Year 5 pay	Debt	Debt to pay
1	University of KentuckyLexington · public	$45,275	$59,011	$24,625	54%
2	Northern Kentucky UniversityHighland Heights · public	$41,842	$52,164	$24,225	58%
3	Murray StateMurray · public	$38,054	$44,245	$22,250	58%
4	Western Kentucky UniversityBowling Green · public	$35,534	$49,056	$25,000	70%
5	Eastern Kentucky UniversityRichmond · public	$34,920	$47,383	$25,192	72%
6	Morehead StateMorehead · public	$27,737	$41,264	$24,000	87%

Debt and first-year pay at every Kentucky public relations and advertising program

Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Kentucky medians.

Hover over or tap a dot to see the school. Only the 6 programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.

Quick picks

Highest first-year pay

Lowest median debt

Lowest debt for the pay

"Debt for the pay" is median debt divided by first-year pay. Only programs that report both figures are included.

Careers this field leads to

These are the jobs that the federal crosswalk from fields of study to occupations links to public relations and advertising, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.

Training and Development Specialists

$61,390

Median pay in Kentucky. 6,090 people work in this job in Kentucky. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 11% from 2025 to 2035, with about 46,000 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree, plus less than 5 years of related work experience.

Bottom 10%: $38,700Top 10%: $103,690

Public Relations Specialists

$60,150

Median pay in Kentucky. 2,580 people work in this job in Kentucky. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 2% from 2025 to 2035, with about 23,000 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.

Bottom 10%: $37,190Top 10%: $103,530

Human Resources Managers

$121,460

Median pay in Kentucky. 1,960 people work in this job in Kentucky. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 6% from 2025 to 2035, with about 16,800 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree, plus 5 years or more of related work experience.

Bottom 10%: $76,520Top 10%: $194,280

Fundraisers

$68,270

Median pay in Kentucky. 1,030 people work in this job in Kentucky. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 6% from 2025 to 2035, with about 10,000 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.

Bottom 10%: $42,220Top 10%: $106,590

Common questions

University of Kentucky in Lexington reports the highest median first-year pay, $45,275. Its median federal debt is $24,625.

Public Relations and Advertising (Bachelor's) programs in the US, ranked179 programs by pay and debt

About this data

Earnings and debt only include students who received federal financial aid, and earnings only count graduates who were working and not enrolled in more school.
Debt only includes federal loans. Private loans and credit cards are not counted.
Some schools with several campuses report one combined figure for all of them. We count each of those schools once, and leave them out of Kentucky rankings when their main campus is in another state.
Medians are across the public relations and advertising bachelor's programs that report each figure, so the counts differ by figure. Scorecard figures describe graduating classes from several years ago. BLS wages are from May 2025.

Sources

U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard, field of study and institution files, June 2026 release
Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025
Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections 2025 to 2035
NCES, CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk, and IPEDS institution directory, 2024