How to choose a PR firm in the US

A PR firm is hired for earned media, reputation and the relationships behind both. You are not buying a guaranteed story. You are buying a team that knows which outlets matter and can do the unglamorous work of getting a reporter what they need.

Retainers and launch projects fail in different ways. A retainer with no story is a calendar of outreach. A launch with no follow-up is a week of attention. Know which one you need.

Write these down before you talk to a PR firm. A vague brief produces a vague price.

• Name the outlets your buyers actually read. If you cannot, say so and let that be part of the job.
• Decide whether this is ongoing coverage, a launch, a crisis plan, or reputation work.
• Write down what you will not say in public.
• Name the executive who will get on the phone with a reporter this month, not someday.

Ask each firm the same list. The useful part is the difference in the answers, not a polished version of the question.

• Which reporters do you already talk to in this category, and what did you place there recently?
• What does a month with no story look like, and what did you do in it?
• Who writes, who pitches, and who is senior enough to tell us an idea is weak?
• How do you measure the work besides a clip count?
• What do you need from an executive, and what happens if they go quiet?

This is a short list of PR firms that do the work at a national scale. It is not a directory of every firm in the United States. State and city pages show where the listed firms are based, and only where the list has enough firms to say something.

Hiring across states is normal for this work. Ask which time zone the account runs on, who attends your meetings, and where the people doing the work sit.

14 PR firms are on this list in the US, re-checked September 28, 2026. Nobody pays to be ranked. They are based in New York, NY (10); San Francisco, CA (2); St. Louis, MO (1); Washington, DC (1).

Where a team size is stated: 2 are 201–500 people, 10 are 500+ people. 2 do not state a size.

6 of 14 state a founding year. The earliest stated year is 1952 and the latest is 2026.

14 of 14 name a leader. 6 of 14 name at least one client. 0 of 14 publish a price. If a profile leaves a line out, no source stated it.

Specialties named by more than one firm: technology (5); public affairs (4); corporate communications (3); corporate reputation (3); health (3); healthcare (3).

In the list's order: Edelman, Weber Shandwick, FleishmanHillard, Golin Ketchum, Burson, Real Chemistry, APCO, Ruder Finn, FINN Partners, ICR, Zeno Group, 5W Public Relations, Allison, Hotwire.

Write the job in one paragraph. Keep the two or three firms whose reason for being here matches that job.

Open each profile. It says who leads the firm, work they can show, and a price if they published one. If they did not publish a price, the profile shows a typical estimate and says it is not a quote.

Then ask each firm for one piece of work like yours, and the name of the person who would do it.

The order weighs how long the firm has done the work, clients it can name, its size, and how clear its specialism is. Nobody pays to be ranked.

This list has no featured card. Nothing on it is paid placement.

If a profile leaves out a leader, a price, or a founding year, no source stated it.

• Editorial standards
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• FAQ

Open a firm for who leads it, work it can show, any price it published, and why it made the list.

• 01 Edelman — New York, NY
• 02 Weber Shandwick — New York, NY
• 03 FleishmanHillard — St. Louis, MO
• 04 Golin Ketchum — New York, NY
• 05 Burson — New York, NY
• 06 Real Chemistry — San Francisco, CA
• 07 APCO — Washington, DC
• 08 Ruder Finn — New York, NY
• 09 FINN Partners — New York, NY
• 10 ICR — New York, NY
• 11 Zeno Group — New York, NY
• 12 5W Public Relations — New York, NY
• 13 Allison — New York, NY
• 14 Hotwire — San Francisco, CA

These pages group firms that share a city or a state on this list. A place with one listed firm links from the comparison page straight to that firm's profile.

• Where they are based
• New York, NY (10)
• San Francisco, CA (2)
• New York (10)
• California (2)