Top PR Firms in the Midwest

Top PR firms in the Midwest, including Columbus, Detroit, Cleveland, St. Louis, Minneapolis, St. Paul, Kansas City, and cities in Ohio, Wisconsin, Indiana and Missouri.

O’Dwyer’s ranks PR firms based on net fee income which is defined as charges for PR counseling and time spent preparing and placing stories in media.

Top PR Firms - See Latest Rankings

Overall 2025 Ranking of PR Firms

Top Public Relations Firms by PR Specialty (Updated for 2026 with '25 net fees)
Adult Beverages/Spirits | Agriculture | Auto./Transportation | Beauty/Fashion | Crisis Communications | Education | Energy | Entertainment | Environmental | Financial | Food & Bev | Healthcare | Home Furnishings | Industrial | Non-Profits | Professional Svcs. | Public Affairs | Purpose/CSR | Real Estate Finance & Dev. | Restaurants | Sports | Technology | Travel & Economic Dev.

Top Public Relations Firms by Location (Updated for 2026 with '25 net fees)
Atlanta | Chicago | Conn. | Boston | Florida | Hawaii | Los Angeles | Miami | Midwest | New York & New Jersey | Penn. | San Francisco | Southeast | Texas | Wash., DC | West

PR Firm Rankings by Year
2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014

#

 

Firm

FT Emp.

'24 Net Fees

1.

Edelman
Chicago, IL

N/A

$98,104,000

2.

Fahlgren Mortine (includes TURNER)
Columbus, OH

211

$39,091,979

3.

Walker Sands
Chicago, IL

163

$32,013,275

4.

APCO
Chicago, IL

89

$28,500,000

5.

Lambert
Grand Rapids, MI

110

$24,100,000

6.

Finn Partners (includes Detroit & Madison)
Chicago, IL

86

$20,220,000

7.

Greentarget Global LLC
Chicago, IL

47

$11,527,100

8.

Bader Rutter & Associates, Inc.
Milwaukee, WI

35

$10,100,000

9.

Standing Partnership
St. Louis, MO

28

$7,326,866

10.

G&S Integrated Marketing Communications Group
Chicago, IL

30

$6,479,022

11.

Public Communications Inc.
Chicago, IL

27

$5,420,232

12.

Franco
Detroit, MI

30

$5,376,712

13.

Tunheim
Minneapolis, MN

24

$5,320,000

14.

L.C. Williams & Associates
Chicago, IL

25

$5,026,047

15.

G&S Integrated Marketing Communications Group (includes Waterloo, IA)
Waukesha, WI

32

$4,042,128

16.

Inspire PR Group
Westerville, OH

19

$4,023,000

17.

Highwire PR
Chicago, IL

16

$4,020,772

18.

MediaSource
Columbus, OH

18

$3,846,122

19.

Slide Nine Agency
Columbus, OH

18

$3,737,210

20.

Beehive Strategic Communication
St. Paul, MN

11

$3,192,047

21.

Zapwater Communications, Inc.
Chicago, IL

25

$2,976,716

22.

Akrete
Evanston, IL

8

$2,642,879

23.

Lowe Group
Milwaukee, WI

7

$1,893,205

24.

O'Malley Hansen Communications
Chicago, IL

7

$1,535,340

25.

Tier One Partners
Chicago, IL

8

$1,184,868

26.

Shiftology
Springfield, OH

8

$1,081,284

27.

Infinite
Chicago, IL

1

$212,938

In addition to ranking firms in the midwest, O'Dwyer's also tracks firms in the southeast and western states. For 57 years, O'Dwyer's has charted the growth of the PR industry through its rankings. More info on ranking with O'Dwyer's.