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

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.

'25 Net Fees

1.

Fahlgren Mortine (includes TURNER)
Columbus, OH

200

$40,827,879

2.

Walker Sands
Chicago, IL

164

$33,605,909

3.

APCO
Chicago, IL

90

$32,500,000

4.

LLYC U.S.
Grand Rapids, MI

110

$23,200,000

5.

FINN Partners (includes Detroit)
Chicago, IL

88

$20,064,000

6.

Bader Rutter & Associates, Inc.
Milwaukee, WI

38

$12,000,698

7.

Greentarget Global LLC
Chicago, IL

41

$11,032,800

8.

Standing Partnership
St. Louis, MO

28

$8,412,650

9.

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

35

$8,271,620

10.

Tunheim
Minneapolis, MN

23

$6,580,000

11.

G&S Integrated Marketing Communications Group
Chicago, IL

25

$5,894,119

12.

Standing Partnership
Cleveland, OH

23

$5,430,069

13.

L.C. Williams & Associates
Chicago, IL

22

$5,087,488

14.

Public Communications Inc.
Chicago, IL

27

$4,694,274

15.

MediaSource
Columbus, OH

18

$4,132,757

16.

Inspire PR Group
Westerville, OH

19

$3,751,000

17.

Bellmont Partners
Minneapolis, MN

23

$3,527,798

18.

Zapwater Communications, Inc.
Chicago, IL

27

$2,849,537

19.

Beehive Strategic Communication
St. Paul, MN

11

$2,819,484

20.

Akrete
Evanston, IL

6

$2,675,816

21.

Slide Nine Agency
Columbus, OH

14

$2,495,776

22.

Bear Icebox Communications
Chicago, IL

10

$1,804,902

23.

Lowe Group
Milwaukee, WI

5

$1,801,551

24.

Laughlin Constable Public Relations (LCPR)
Chicago, IL

6

$1,795,277

25.

O'Malley Hansen Communications
Chicago, IL

7

$1,613,316

26.

Propllr
Chicago, IL

7

$1,424,719

27.

Shiftology
Springfield, OH

6

$1,199,685

28.

Tier One Partners
Chicago, IL

7

$1,118,414

29.

Infinite
Chicago, IL

1

$228,287

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.