Marketing agencies in NYC: 2,209 offices, the kinds to choose from, and what they charge

This report is for organizations hiring a marketing agency in New York City and for companies that sell software, data or freelance services to agencies. It covers the Census count by borough and agency type, the public agency companies based here, how to vet an agency, rates agencies have published, and how agencies buy.

How many marketing agencies are in NYC

County Business Patterns 2023 reports NAICS 5418 (advertising, public relations and related services) for each of the five counties that make up the city:

The city's agency offices paid $9.52 billion in 2023, an average of $129,616 per employee, and they are 5.68% of the 38,864 such offices in the US. Employees per office is our calculation. Citywide, the Census Bureau publishes only the smallest size class (1,328 offices with one to four employees) because the other cells are withheld in at least one borough. Manhattan publishes them all:

Those six are 30% of the 20 agency offices in the country with 1,000 or more employees. Brooklyn is a different market: 475 offices averaging fewer than seven people, 395 of them with fewer than five.

CBP counts establishments (locations) with paid employees, not companies: a network agency with three Manhattan offices counts three times, and freelancers and owner-only shops aren't counted. It uses NAICS 2017 codes, unchanged for these industries in 2022, and covers only 5418; the city's 1,779 marketing consulting offices (541613) are extra.

What kinds of agencies there are, by Census code

The Census Bureau sorts agencies by what they mainly do. Manhattan's eight 5418 codes add up exactly to its 1,554 offices:

"Not reported" means the Census Bureau published the figure but flagged it as high-noise: the noise it adds for confidentiality changed the value by 5% or more. Two more mappings matter when you search registries. The Census Bureau puts custom SEO services in 541511 (custom computer programming), and design-only studios in 541430 (graphic design), which has 833 offices across the five boroughs. Performance agencies, the ones that run paid search and paid social, have no code of their own and usually register as 541810 or 541613.

Public agency companies headquartered in NYC

A screen of SEC EDGAR returns six listed companies in the advertising codes (SIC 7310 to 7319) for New York City. We checked each one's latest 10-K:

The other two are no longer New York companies: Angi's 10-K gives Denver as its principal office, and Haoxi Health Technology's EDGAR address is in Beijing. Fluent calls itself a commerce media company and Travelzoo an internet media company, so only Omnicom and Stagwell are agency groups in the usual sense. Omnicom's 2025 revenue includes one month of Interpublic, whose merger with Omnicom closed on 26 November 2025. Its 10-K names its networks (OMD, PHD and UM in media; FleishmanHillard, Ketchum, Golin and Weber Shandwick in PR) but not their local offices. For the groups based in Paris and London, see the largest advertising agencies and holding companies.

How to shortlist an agency in NYC

1. Write the job in one paragraph. A launch, always-on paid search, a media plan or press coverage each points to a different code above.
2. Pick the tier. Manhattan has 169 offices with 100 or more staff and 785 with fewer than five. A network brand brings scale and buying power; a boutique brings the founder to your meetings.
3. List five from sources you can check. DesignRush, for one, sorts by "Sponsored" by default and says sponsored listings pay for placement above organic results.
4. Run the five checks below on each finalist.
5. Start with a scoped project before you sign a retainer.

Five checks before you sign

• Your ad accounts stay yours. Google's advertiser guide says an agency "must set up a separate Ads account for you," and its transparency rules require agencies to give you the account's customer ID on request. Keep Admin access: only an Admin can unlink an agency's manager account, and if that manager account has ownership, its admins can change who has access to yours.
• Your data stays yours. Hold the Administrator role in Google Analytics, which can add and remove users.
• You know how media is bought. Omnicom's 10-K says that in certain media buying businesses it acts as principal, buying media directly and taking the pricing risk. A 2016 study for the Association of National Advertisers found rebate deals worth 1.67% to about 20% of media spend, most of them undisclosed or not passed through, and markups of about 30% to 90% on media sold through principal transactions. Ask whether your agency buys as your agent or as principal, whether rebates pass through, and for audit rights.
• You own the work. Under the Copyright Act, commissioned work is a "work made for hire" only in nine categories and only with a signed written agreement. A logo or a campaign usually needs a written, signed assignment instead.
• References include a client who left. Ask why they moved.

What NYC agencies charge

Agencies rarely publish prices. Omnicom's 10-K describes the usual structures: a fee or hourly rate for the effort, commissions on media bought, incentive payments tied to results, and reimbursed third-party costs. The clearest published rates come from the General Services Administration's schedule contracts, where agencies agree a maximum (ceiling) hourly rate for federal orders. Twelve vendors with NYC addresses hold one with an advertising, PR or marketing consulting category. Three examples:

These are ceilings for government work as of 30 October 2026, rounded to the dollar; orders can come in lower, and commercial clients negotiate their own rates. Nationally, among vendors on these contracts that list a creative director, the median ceiling is $184 an hour at 93 small businesses and $210 at 15 larger firms (our calculation from GSA's data).

Selling to NYC agencies

Agencies buy software, data, production and freelance talent, much of it for one client and billed back to that client. At a network brand, tools usually come from the group's approved list, so start with the brand's operations or technology lead; at an independent, the founder or managing director decides.

Illustrative example. The company, prices and rates are fictional.

Tunebed (tunebed.example) licenses pre-cleared music for ad spots at about $4,000 a year per agency. Manhattan has 295 offices with 10 to 49 employees and Brooklyn 40, so 335 in all. If a third produce video for clients, about 112 fit. Ten customers would be $40,000 a year. The opening line ties to a dated event, such as a new client the agency announced. Sorting 335 offices by whether they produce video, and finding the head of production at each, is the slow part at volume; Bebop does that research for each account in the list.

Where to check NYC agencies

• The Advertising Club of New York runs industry events and awards: a quick way to see which agencies are active.
• New York's Active Corporations dataset, from the Department of State, confirms an agency's legal name, entity type and filing date.
• NYC M/WBE certification covers minority- and women-owned firms that bid for city contracts.
• The Association of National Advertisers represents the client side and publishes contract guidance for members.

Next step: compare NYC's agencies with the groups that own many of them in the largest advertising agencies and holding companies.