Hi! I currently work at a small but mighty PR firm making $60K (or $65K with no benefits) and I wonder if I'm being underpaid. I have 5 YOE.

I currently am the sole person responsible for driving PR efforts for all of our clients (we're only a team of 4). I keep thinking that with 5 years of experience, I should be making in the $72-$80K range (based in ATL). What's considered fair?

To add context, I'd be equivalent to an SAE at a larger firm.

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Without knowing how many clients you have, how much each SOW is worth, etc, it’s hard to say how much your company can afford to pay you. Based on how you phrased it, it also seems like they may not provide benefits…
My best advice is if you’re feeling underpaid, look for a new opportunity where you can make more, especially in this market. Larger firms can afford to pay more, but there is always a trade off. It may be more competitive/fast paced and require more hours than your current agency. Also FWIW, I’m at 7 YOE making around $185k TC. So years of experience are helpful for determining some things, but quality of experience and how you sell your experience and yourself has a greater impact on TC in some cases.

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Experience managing/leading unique, high-profile comms initiatives/campaigns starting immediately after college. Didn’t take a traditional agency path and have had some great mentors who took chances on me. Similarly, a former of colleague of mine with 5 YOE is making $130k. I’m in a smaller city (not a NYC, LA, ATL, Chi).

Yes - you should be in the $75-80k range

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Yes you are underpaid by around 20k

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You are underpaid but it Seems like you have a lot of responsibility, so keep learning , keep working hard and when the right time comes, try to make a move to the corporate side and ask for $120k . Your hard work now will pay off

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