A number you can back with data is harder to wave off than one based on what you think you’re worth. Before any salary talk, pull the pay range for your job and metro area from government wage data and from current job postings, then ask for the number your experience earns within that range.
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 a market 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. The BLS figures cover every worker in an occupation, from new hires to senior staff, so compare a mid-career posting with the median and an entry-level one with the lower percentiles. If a posting’s range tops out below the figure for its level, the role is priced under the market, and you have published data to say so. If postings run above that figure, 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 wage at each 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.
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