Facebook Ads Cost Per Lead Benchmarks for Public Administration

Introduction

Public Administration lead costs across all countries swung from extreme highs to sudden troughs, charting a stop‑start year that rarely resembled the broader market. The series opened with a dramatic November 2024 spike ($1,650 per lead), fell sharply into December ($49.93), and then ricocheted through 2025 with outsized peaks in March ($536.64) and resets in April ($1.85) and August ($3.27). By October 2025, the category settled near $105.89 — still well above the market, but far from the opening extremes.

This analysis is based on $3B worth of advertising data from our dataset, which provides strong directional benchmarks. This analysis explores ad performance trends for Public Administration across all countries compared to the global benchmark.

The story in the data

Across the months with data, Public Administration’s median cost per lead (CPL) was $102, while the average reached $280 — a sign of heavy skew from a few extraordinary months. The range was wide, from a low of $1.85 (April 2025) to a high of $1,650 (November 2024), a spread of $1,648. By contrast, the global benchmark averaged $40.94 with a narrower band between $33.35 (March) and $48.29 (September).

Momentum shifted repeatedly. After December’s reset, CPL climbed modestly in January ($55.74), then surged in March (+863% vs. January). April reversed almost completely (−99.7% vs. March), May rebounded to $190, and June–July held near $100–$110 before another break lower in August ($3.27). October rebounded again to $105.89. Month‑to‑month absolute moves averaged $347 in Public Administration, versus just $3.22 globally — a clear signal of category‑level volatility.

From start to finish, CPL declined 94% from November 2024’s spike to October 2025, yet compared with early‑2025 levels, the category ended higher (October was +90% vs. January). The global series, meanwhile, trended gradually higher across the year.

Seasonal and monthly dynamics

Typical Q4 pressure was visible at the market level, where costs edged up into late summer and early fall and stayed relatively tight through October. Public Administration diverged from that rhythm. Q4 2024 began with an outlier surge in November, followed by a normalization in December. Early 2025 oscillated sharply: a March spike gave way to April’s trough, and the summer cadence alternated between mid‑tier stability (June–July near $100–$110) and sharp breaks (August near $3). By October, CPL had recovered back above $100, echoing a familiar late‑year firming — but at a much higher altitude than the market.

Country vs. Global

Against the overall benchmark, Public Administration CPLs were materially higher on average: $280 vs. $41, or roughly 6.9× (+585%). The median gap was also wide ($102 vs. $41). In eight of the ten observed months, the category sat above market, occasionally by large margins — +3,879% in November 2024 and +1,509% in March 2025. Two months dipped below market: April (−95% vs. global) and August (−93%).

The global benchmark climbed steadily from January to October (+26%), with modest, well‑contained monthly shifts. Public Administration followed a choppier path: large spikes and collapses widened the spread at times, then narrowed it quickly. The closest alignment occurred in December 2024, when Public Administration was just 26% above the market; the widest overperformance occurred in November 2024.

Closing

Understanding Facebook Ads benchmarks for cost per lead in Public Administration across all countries highlights how this industry’s CPL trends diverge from the global pattern — combining outsized spikes, sharp resets, and a higher overall level than the market. This provides a clear reference point for industry ad performance relative to global CPL norms.