Every year, Duane Brown’s PPC Salary Survey offers the advertising community a rare, data‑driven snapshot of what practitioners are actually earning. The 2026 edition, which gathered 445 responses from more than 50 countries, confirms a trend that has been quietly building for years: the middle of the salary curve is being squeezed from both ends.
While overall pay for PPC professionals isn’t falling uniformly, the gap between those earning top‑tier salaries and those stuck at the baseline has widened to a degree that’s never been seen before. The trajectory of these two groups is now clearly diverging, and the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) is accelerating the shift.
Understanding the Salary Split
When you look at the raw numbers, the picture that emerges is stark. The median salary for PPC specialists with 3‑5 years of experience hovered around $80,000 from 2018 to 2024, dipped to $75,000 in 2025, and then rebounded to $87,500
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