The employer already has a pay range for the job. A growing list of states, California, Colorado, Illinois, and New York among them, now require that range in the job posting itself.
You can build the same range for free. The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes wages for about 830 occupations by state and metro area, broken out at the 10th, 25th, median, 75th, and 90th percentiles. Those figures lag the market by a year or more, so pair them with current postings for your title, which show what employers are offering now.
Each source checks the other. If a posting’s range tops out below the local median for your occupation, the role is priced under the market, and you have published data to say so. If postings run above the BLS figures, pay has moved since the survey, and the postings are the better guide.
Before your next salary conversation:
- Look up your occupation and metro area in the BLS wage data and note the median and the 75th percentile. If your title doesn’t match an occupation exactly, use the one whose duties fit.
- Collect at least five current postings for your title that list a pay range, ideally from employers near you. Skip ranges so wide they span a whole career, since they tell you little.
- Place yourself by experience. If you meet a posting’s requirements, you belong near the middle of the range. If you clearly exceed them, ask near the top.
When you give your number, give its source in the same breath. A figure tied to published wage data moves the conversation to what the market pays, and away from what the budget happens to allow.
Editorial & Advertiser Disclosure: The editorial content on this page is not provided, commissioned, reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by any advertiser. Opinions expressed here are ours alone, not those of any advertiser. The offers that appear on this site are from companies that compensate us. That compensation may influence which products we cover and where and how they appear on a page – including the order in which they appear – but it does not influence our evaluations, ratings, or opinions. We do not include every company or offer available in the marketplace.
Related:
