Short answer
Utah had 571 advertising, PR and related agency offices with paid staff in 2023, employing 4,519 people, according to the Census Bureau's County Business Patterns, 21st among the states by number. Salt Lake County has 224 and Utah County 152. Another 1,115 offices are marketing consultancies. When you hire one, keep your domain, website, analytics, ad accounts and customer lists in your company's name and give the agency user access.
- Utah has 571 agency offices, 1.47% of the US total, with 4,519 employees.
- Salt Lake County has 224 offices and Utah County 152; Utah County's average 11.1 employees each.
- Marketing consultancies outnumber agencies almost two to one: 1,115 offices.
- Six Utah agency offices have 100 or more employees; 437 have fewer than five.
- Your domain, analytics, ad accounts and email list should be registered to your company, not the agency.
On this page
This report is for Utah businesses choosing a marketing agency, for agencies and freelancers sizing the market, and for vendors that sell to agencies. It covers the statewide count, where agencies are, what kinds there are, which digital assets to keep in your own name, published rates and how to prospect Utah agencies.
How many marketing agencies Utah has
County Business Patterns 2023 reports NAICS 5418 (advertising, public relations and related services) for Utah: 571 offices with paid employees, 4,519 employees and $340.2 million in annual payroll, or $75,287 per employee, with an average of 7.9 employees per office. That is 1.47% of the 38,864 agency offices in the US and ranks Utah 21st among the states by number.
| Employees at the office | Offices |
|---|---|
| 1 to 4 | 437 |
| 5 to 9 | 48 |
| 10 to 19 | 36 |
| 20 to 49 | 33 |
| 50 to 99 | 11 |
| 100 to 249 | 4 |
| 250 or more | 2 |
The Census Bureau doesn't publish the cells above 249 employees for Utah; the two offices with 250 or more are the total less the published cells. CBP counts establishments (locations) with paid employees, not companies, and doesn't include owner-only businesses.
Where they are
The county file of the same survey shows the Wasatch Front concentration:
| County | Offices | Employees | Pay per employee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Salt Lake | 224 | 1,994 | $71,706 |
| Utah | 152 | 1,683 | $85,729 |
| Davis | 49 | 390 | $72,754 |
| Washington | 36 | 93 | $44,075 |
| Weber | 30 | 186 | $58,382 |
| Cache | 24 | 50 | $49,360 |
| Summit | 19 | 34 | $86,647 |
| Wasatch | 10 | 12 | not reported (high-noise figure) |
| Iron | 9 | not reported (high-noise figure) | not reported |
Pay per employee is our calculation from county payroll. Where a figure is "not reported", the Census Bureau published it but flagged it as high-noise: the noise added for confidentiality changed it by 5% or more. The remaining offices are in smaller counties or have no fixed county. Utah County, home to Provo and Lehi, has fewer offices than Salt Lake County but larger ones, 11.1 employees each against 8.9, and pays more per employee.
The kinds of agencies
| Kind of agency | NAICS code | Utah offices | Employees |
|---|---|---|---|
| Advertising agencies, including digital | 541810 | 231 | 2,404 |
| Other advertising services, such as promotional products | 541890 | 148 | 1,157 |
| PR agencies | 541820 | 71 | 355 |
| Out-of-home display | 541850 | 41 | 278 |
| Flyer and sample distribution | 541870 | 29 | 94 |
| Media representatives | 541840 | 20 | 39 |
| Direct mail | 541860 | 18 | 154 |
| Media buying agencies | 541830 | 13 | not reported (high-noise figure) |
The eight codes add up to Utah's 571 offices. Outside 5418, Utah has 1,115 marketing consultancies (541613) with 6,148 employees and 246 graphic design studios (541430). Firms selling custom SEO register under 541511, custom computer programming, so a search for "SEO agencies" in Census or registry data has to look beyond the marketing codes.
The digital assets to keep in your name
Most Utah agency offices are small, and agency relationships end for ordinary reasons: a founder moves on, or a client outgrows the shop. What you can take with you then depends on whose name is on each account:
| Asset | Keep in your name | Give the agency |
|---|---|---|
| Domain name | Registration under your company, with your email as the contact | Access to change DNS records when needed |
| Website and hosting | Your hosting account and the site's admin login | An editor or developer login |
| Google Analytics | The Administrator role, which can add and remove users | Editor or Marketer access |
| Google Ads | An account set up for you, with you as Admin | Standard access or a link to its manager account |
| Search Console and your business profile | Owner verification | User access |
| Social media pages | Your company as owner | Page roles for the people who post |
| Email lists and CRM | Your account and your export | User seats |
| Creative files | A signed copyright assignment and the source files | A license to show the work in its portfolio, if you agree |
The Google rows come from Google's own documentation. Its advertiser guide says an agency "must set up a separate Ads account for you." Admin access in Google Ads is what lets you remove an agency's manager account, and if that manager account has ownership, its admins can change who has access to yours. In Google Analytics, the Administrator role has "full control" and can manage users. The creative row comes from copyright law: commissioned work is a "work made for hire" only in nine narrow categories and with a signed agreement, and any transfer of copyright must be in a signed writing.
Ask for this table to be filled in during onboarding, and check it again every year.
What Utah agencies charge
Agencies charge retainers, project fees or hourly rates, and few publish them. The General Services Administration's schedule contracts are an exception: each vendor lists the maximum hourly rate it will charge on federal orders. Kronus Communications, a small PR firm in Salt Lake City, holds one. Its ceilings, rounded, against the national medians for small businesses on these contracts (our calculation from GSA's data, 30 October 2026):
| Role (as titled) | Kronus Communications | National small-business median |
|---|---|---|
| PR account manager | $103 | $141 (account manager or executive) |
| PR director | $205 | not comparable |
| Copywriter | $103 | $125 |
| Graphic designer | $82 | $104 |
| Social media manager | $59 | $118 |
| SEO manager | $82 | $118 (14 vendors) |
The comparison shows how widely small firms' rates vary. Ceilings are maximums for government work; commercial clients negotiate their own.
Selling to Utah agencies
Utah's agencies buy software, production, data and freelance help, and at most of them the founder signs.
Illustrative example. The company, prices and results are fictional.
Captionly (captionly.example) sells captioning and subtitles for video ads at $400 a month per agency. Salt Lake and Utah counties have 93 agency offices with five to 99 employees (58 and 35, from the county size cells). If half produce video for clients, about 46 fit, worth $221,000 a year if all bought. The first email names a client video the agency posted recently. Sorting the 93 by whether they produce video, and finding who runs production at each, is the research step Bebop handles for each account.
Where to check Utah agencies
- AAF Utah, the state's American Advertising Federation club, runs the American Advertising Awards and an Agency Crawl: good ways to see who is active.
- EDCUtah, the Economic Development Corporation of Utah, for data on the companies agencies serve.
- Utah's Division of Corporations holds business registrations; its search blocked our automated check, so search it directly by name.
Next step: for the national groups behind many agency brands, see the largest advertising agencies and holding companies.
Sources
- County Business Patterns 2023 (state and county files), US Census Bureau, accessed 30 October 2026
- North American Industry Classification System 2022: definitions and cross-references, US Census Bureau, accessed 30 October 2026
- Advertiser guide: Working with third parties, Google Advertising Policies Help, accessed 30 October 2026
- About access levels in your Google Ads account, Google Ads Help, accessed 30 October 2026
- Access and data-restriction management, Google Analytics Help, accessed 30 October 2026
- Circular 30: Works Made for Hire, US Copyright Office, revised August 2024
- Copyright Law of the United States, Chapter 2 (sections 201 and 204), US Copyright Office, accessed 30 October 2026
- CALC+ Labor Ceiling Rates (Marketing and Public Relations export), US General Services Administration, accessed 30 October 2026
- USAspending.gov award search (contract recipient addresses), US Department of the Treasury, accessed 30 October 2026
Written by the Bebop team at Blackpearl Group. Published .
Questions people ask
How many marketing agencies are in Utah?
Utah had 571 advertising, PR and related agency offices with paid staff in 2023, employing 4,519 people, by the Census Bureau's County Business Patterns count; that ranks it 21st among the states. Salt Lake County had 224 and Utah County 152. Utah also had 1,115 marketing consulting offices and 246 graphic design studios. Owner-only businesses without payroll aren't counted.
Should my marketing agency own my domain and ad accounts?
No. Register your domain, hosting, analytics, ad accounts, social pages and email lists to your company and give the agency user access. Google's advertiser guide says an agency must set up a separate Ads account for you, and an Admin can remove the agency's manager account. In Google Analytics, keep the Administrator role, which controls who has access.
How much do marketing agencies usually charge?
Most charge retainers, project fees or hourly rates, and few publish them. On federal GSA schedule contracts, Kronus Communications in Salt Lake City lists $103 an hour for a PR account manager and $82 for a graphic designer, while the national median for small businesses is $141 for an account manager and $104 for a designer. Those are ceilings for government work, not commercial quotes.
What are the big 5 marketing agencies?
There's no official list. By reported revenue the largest agency groups are Omnicom, Publicis Groupe and WPP, and lists of five add the next-largest groups, which vary by measure. Since 26 November 2025, Interpublic has been part of Omnicom. These groups own many agency brands; Utah's 571 agency offices are mostly independent and small.
Who owns the creative work an agency makes for me?
Unless your contract says otherwise, often the agency or its freelancers. Under the Copyright Act, commissioned work is a work made for hire only if it falls in one of nine categories and both sides sign an agreement saying so, and a transfer of copyright must be in a signed writing. Ask for a signed assignment of the final work and its source files once you've paid.