Marketing Specialist salary in Raleigh-Cary, NC

Pay in Raleigh-Cary against North Carolina and the US

The middle half of marketing specialists in Raleigh-Cary earns $59,640–$111,720. The top tenth earns $156,400 or more, 3.4 times the bottom tenth, close to the US pattern of 3.6 times. The mean ($89,970) is 14% 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 $52,080 wide, wider than in North Carolina as a whole ($51,380) and the US ($49,960), so what a marketing specialist earns in Raleigh-Cary depends more on the employer.

What to budget for a marketing specialist here

Pay climbs faster above the median than below it here: the 75th percentile is $32,740 over the median, the 25th only $19,340 under it. An offer at the 75th percentile adds about $42,245 a year in employer cost. 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 25th percentile and the median in Raleigh-Cary, and the North Carolina statewide median of $78,410 falls there too.

What a hire really costs in Raleigh-Cary

At the $78,980 median, a local hire costs about $101,910 a year: benefits and payroll taxes other than paid leave are 22.5% of total compensation in US private industry², about $22,930 here. 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 Raleigh-Cary

Of the 17 roles we track in Raleigh-Cary, this one ranks #3 by median pay, between accountants ($81,950) and recruiters ($74,170). Project Coordinator is the highest at $102,280.

Measured against the US median, marketing specialists rank #5 of the 17 roles we track in Raleigh-Cary (+0.3%), between medical administrative assistants (+1.5%) and project coordinators (-0.0%). The typical role here is at -2.0%, so this job follows the area's general pay level. Marketing specialists hold 7.4% of the jobs in the 16 of these roles with a job count in Raleigh-Cary, 6.0% across North Carolina and 5.8% nationally. The job is a bigger 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. The one area in North Carolina with more marketing specialists, Charlotte-Concord, NC-SC ($82,930), also pays more.

Raleigh-Cary against other US metro areas

By number of jobs, Raleigh-Cary is #26 of 514 US areas for this job. It is one of the larger markets for this job and one of the better-paying ones. Outside North Carolina, Miami-Fort Lauderdale and Atlanta-Sandy Springs pay just above Raleigh-Cary and Santa Cruz-Watsonville and Ithaca just below. All four are within $170 a year of the median in Raleigh-Cary. 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.