Marketing Specialist salary in Hickory-Lenoir, NC

Pay in Hickory-Lenoir against North Carolina and the US

The middle half of marketing specialists in Hickory-Lenoir earns $53,350–$101,800. The top tenth earns $136,980 or more, 3.4 times the bottom tenth, close to the US pattern of 3.6 times. The mean ($82,280) is 9% over the median, so a group of high earners pulls the average up; price a typical hire from the median. From the 25th to the 75th percentile, the local range is only $48,450 wide, against $51,380 across North Carolina and $49,960 nationally: employers in Hickory-Lenoir pay within a narrower band.

What to budget for a marketing specialist here

The step from the 25th percentile to the median is $22,100 a year; from the median to the 75th it is $26,350, or about $34,000 once benefits are added. These percentiles describe what people in the job earn locally, not experience levels, so place your offer by the tasks and seniority you need.

For scale, the US median of $78,760 falls between the median and the 75th percentile in Hickory-Lenoir, and the North Carolina statewide median of $78,410 falls there too.

What a hire really costs in Hickory-Lenoir

Pay is only part of it. Benefits and payroll taxes other than paid leave are 22.5% of total compensation in US private industry², which adds about $21,905 to the $75,450 median and brings it to $97,355 a year. Recruiting, equipment and office space come on top. Benefit levels vary by employer, so treat this as an estimate.

We place executive assistants, customer support and e-commerce staff today; for marketing specialists we answer within one business day whether we can help. Enter the monthly pay you have in mind to compare it with a local hire. The fee field shows our standard fee³; Deel's contractor plan is the default payroll tool⁴.

Other roles in Hickory-Lenoir

Of the 17 roles we track in Hickory-Lenoir, this one ranks #3 by median pay, between accountants ($77,490) and recruiters ($64,700). Project Coordinator is the highest at $85,490.

Measured against the US median, this job is the best paid of the 17 roles we track in Hickory-Lenoir (-4.2%); executive assistants come last (-31.1%). The typical role here is at -12.8%, so, measured against the US, marketing specialists cost more in Hickory-Lenoir than the area's general pay level would suggest. Marketing specialists hold 4.6% of the jobs in these 17 roles in Hickory-Lenoir, 5.9% across North Carolina and 5.7% nationally. The job is a smaller part of the local workforce in these roles than it is nationally.

Other areas in North Carolina

Across the 18 areas of North Carolina with data for this job, the median runs from $57,730 in Fayetteville to $93,110 in Durham-Chapel Hill, a gap of $35,380 a year. Of the 9 areas in North Carolina with more marketing specialists than Hickory-Lenoir, 6 pay less, the largest of them Greensboro-High Point, NC ($74,060), Winston-Salem, NC ($73,320) and Wilmington, NC ($69,480).

Hickory-Lenoir against other US metro areas

By number of jobs, Hickory-Lenoir is #156 of 514 US areas for this job. It is a mid-sized market, and its pay is in the top quarter of US areas. Outside North Carolina, Niles and Cincinnati pay just above Hickory-Lenoir and Naples-Marco Island and Dallas-Fort Worth just below. All four are within $300 a year of the median in Hickory-Lenoir. Of the three markets with about as many marketing specialists, none pays as much.

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How these pages are built: methodology and data sources. Last updated 2026-11-12.