Did you know that most people significantly underestimate what their coworkers in similar roles are earning? Research shows that most of us simply aren’t comfortable asking others about salaries.
In one study, 89% of people said they wouldn’t be comfortable asking a coworker what they earned. What’s even more surprising is that 38% of people wouldn’t share their own salary, even if they would be paid a small bonus to do so.
The truth is that most people are uncomfortable asking their friends and coworkers about their salaries, but this is where the internet comes in!
Let’s start with why salary research matters and let’s put a dollar figure to it.
Why Salary Research Matters
Without doing salary research, it can be very hard to judge a job offer, regardless of how high you think your offer is.
The most important reason you should do salary research is because of the long-term effects it can have on your long-term earnings and lifestyle.
Doing salary research and knowing how to approach your salary negotiation can literally make you hundreds of thousands of dollars over the course of your professional career.
What Should My Salary Be?
The reason that most of us don’t like salary negotiation is because we come into a salary negotiation from a position of weakness. This is especially true if you’ve been recently laid off or if you’ve been on the job search for a while.
Most people think that salary data is only reserved for big companies with huge budgets. But the truth is that it’s actually very easy to figure out what your salary should be. It just takes a bit of salary research and having some salary comparison to go off of.
Use these top 5 salary websites to come into your next salary negotiation with data. And, in the world of negotiation, data is power.
- Best New Salary Website: Comparably
Comparably is a relatively new salary website, but it has quickly become one of the best. It’s designed for users from all industries and offers detailed salary data across multiple factors, including gender and race.
Comparably not only allows users to see how their salaries compare to others, but it also awards “Best Company For…” awards in categories such as Diversity, Leadership, Women, etc. This is a great way to find employers who prioritize similar values to your own and a good way to find mission-driven companies.
If you work in tech, the site also has a Tech Equity Calculator. This is a great salary comparison calculator for tech professionals who want to make sure they’re getting fair equity compensation. This is usually a tricky topic to negotiate, but this calculator can definitely help in certain situations.
- Best Salary Website for Tech: Levels.Fyi
Levels.fyi was initially designed for techies, especially software engineers, who want to stay on top of the ever-changing compensation landscape. That isn’t to say that it doesn’t include data from other industries like business and operations, but most of the focus is tech.
Data on Levels.fyi is crowdsourced and anonymous. That means it’s not biased by the company providing it, but instead comes from users who’ve worked for them in the past. You can search for salaries across different companies, locations, titles, and job levels to estimate how much you can earn in that role.
Levels.fyi also has an extra feature of highlighting benefits and actually assigning a dollar figure to those benefits. This allows you to visualize the total compensation package you’re getting rather than just a simple salary comparison. As a bonus, Levels also has a resume review and interview prep service (but those are both paid features).
- Best Salary Website with Reviews: Glassdoor
Glassdoor is one of the world’s most popular job listing sites, but it also provides a wealth of salary information. The site is global and covers almost every industry and job so it can be a great place to start your salary research.
Glassdoor compiles salary data from anonymous users who submit information about the salaries they’ve earned in different roles. This crowdsourced data is then presented in useful ways, such as tables and graphs, which allow you to compare salaries in a comprehensive way.
Glassdoor also offers a Salary Calculator tool, which factors in your current or desired job title, location, and desired employer to calculate an estimated salary range.
- Best General Salary Website: Salary.com
Salary.com is probably the most comprehensive salary comparison website that gives you access to extremely detailed salary data. They break down this data into different factors such as industry, location, and experience level. It covers most job roles in the U.S. and usually offers information on benefits too.
My favorite part of Salary.com is its Personal Salary Report feature, which gives you an in-depth overview of your value in the job market. The report offers salary ranges, benefits information, and salary histories for similar jobs, which is beyond what most sites offer.
Salary.com also has a useful Cost of Living Calculator for job seekers who are looking to move for work. You can compare the salary you’re offered in one city or state with another to determine how much more/less money you’d make after taking into consideration the cost of living.
- Best Salary Website for Community: Blind
Blind is another of the go-to websites for tech professionals when it comes to salary research. From salary discussion boards and comparisons to job listings, Blind has it all.
What I particularly like about Blind is its community aspect. As a user you are free to ask questions about your job offer or any job-related topic really. This makes it a great place to get insights into different companies and get advice from thousands of experienced professionals in the industry.
Takeaways and Next Steps
If you’ve never done a salary negotiation or you’re intimidated by doing a salary negotiation, here are some things that might help.
- You won’t lose the offer
The number one fear that people have when negotiating their salary is that they’ll lose an offer. The only reason you would lose a job offer is if your range is completely outside the range that the job is scoped for. This is why using these salary websites is so important.
I recommend using the salary comparison websites above and also reading our salary negotiation guide so you can create a range that is feasible. If you do that, you won’t lose a job offer due to negotiation.
- They expect you to negotiate
As a hiring manager, I’ve worked with many HR teams over the years to hire employees for several companies. Here’s a little secret; HR teams expect that you’ll negotiate your offer. They purposely will provide you with an offer that is below their maximum so that when you negotiate, they can come up to meet your needs (if possible), so make sure you ask for at least a little bit more than the initial offer.
- You can negotiate for more than salary
Remember that if you negotiate for a higher salary and they say no, you can always ask for other compensation besides salary. Don’t forget to negotiate for things like:
- Your job title
- Performance bonuses
- Stock or stock options
- Health insurance
- Vacation time
- Remote / Hybrid work
- 401K
- Commuter/wellness benefits
These can give you a nice “out” if they can’t meet your salary requirements and allow you to still take the offer.
Happy negotiating!
Bogdan Zlatkov is the Founder of GrowthHackYourCareer.com and has taught thousands of smart job seekers how to optimize their resumes, reach “All-Star” status with their LinkedIn profiles, and how to ace their interviews to land their next job faster. Before starting GHYC, Bogdan was a Content Manager at LinkedIn Learning and the author of, “The Ultimate Guide to Job Hunting,” ranked #1 on Google. To accelerate your next job search, visit GrowthHackYourCareer.com.
