Are you being paid what you deserve for your skills, education and expertise? Recent studies show that most workers underestimate the salary that their counterparts are earning elsewhere, keeping them in low-paying jobs unnecessarily. Many people are reluctant to reveal their salary information to co-workers and some employers actively discourage those discussions.
The good news is that there are now a variety of salary websites that can help you discover what your job is worth. The following resources offer a wealth of data on salary ranges, from entry-level to top of the field. The results can be eye-opening, and will better prepare you for job offers, employee reviews and salary negotiations.
So, let's get started and take a look at 10 of the best salary websites to help you reach your career goals.
1. Payscale
PayScale
Payscale is an enormous database of salary information based on job title, industry and region. The numbers come from a combination of crowdsourced data from employees, up-to-date salary numbers from 2000 participating companies in over 100 different industries, and results from both Payscale and third-party salary surveys.
Individuals enter location, years of experience, skills and education into the online form. You'll receive a free report on your expected salary in your field. You can also browse data for specific job titles, locations, degrees and more. The site also includes a guide for negotiating a higher salary as well as calculators for regional cost-of-living and the average ROI for specific US-based colleges.
Employers can pay for expanded salary data and a suite of technological tools to monitor, evaluate and automate various aspects of compensation.
2. Salary.com
Salary.com
Once you've been with a company for five or more years, it's likely that your salary has fallen behind what's offered to new hires. The Salary.com website offers a fantastic range of data to help when you go in to negotiate for a pay raise. It offers salary information for specific job titles, but also allows you to compare rates for similar jobs to give you a big picture view of your industry.
The graph of salary ranges can also be customized, based on factors like your education level, years of experience, and where you are in your current company hierarchy. Employers looking to offer fair pay can purchase the Companalyst software, which offers even more data points, including hot jobs in the industry and analysing the 'flight risk' of employees.
3. The Bureau of Labor Statistics
US Bureau of Labor Statistics
Stats nerds will love the US Bureau of Labor Statistics site. There are charts and graphs for a variety of employment and wage data by industry and region, including projections and economic trends. It can be difficult to parse through if you're just browsing, but the data can be handy if you have a specific question about whether manufacturing is booming in a particular state, for example, or if there are only limited opportunities in your specialty.
The most widely used segment of BLS is the Occupational Outlook Handbook. It includes well-organized, easily digestible information on all aspects of specific job titles, which can help you more thoroughly evaluate a job offer. This includes the median pay, education needed, typical responsibilities, room for advancement, work environment and even potential hazards to physical and mental health.
4. Glassdoor
Glassdoor
One of the most important job search tips is to do your research on the companies you apply to. Glassdoor is an excellent resource for this purpose, as it collects company reviews, job descriptions, sample interview questions and salary information from actual employees at that firm. The 110 million reviews, salaries and insights cover jobs in the Americas, western Europe, India, the UK and Australia.
A recent ADP Research Institute study found that employees who plan to stay at a company long-term are seven times more likely to feel “a connection” to that company. Part of that connection is feeling valued as an employee, which is why so many jobseekers do research on Glassdoor. The site boosts its salary data with first-hand info on benefits, chance for raises, hiring practices and the company culture.
5. Indeed
Indeed
Well known as a vast online job board, Indeed also has a salaries guide. Choose a location, enter a job title, skill, or keyword, and receive salary information that includes pay by experience level, typical benefits, and best-paying companies for that job. Keep in mind that companies that don't post job openings on Indeed might not be included in salary data, though they still draw from a very large pool.
Indeed has individual websites for over 60 countries, which includes both job search and salary data. The international reach is ideal for jobseekers open to relocation, and can help you find the best-paying jobs and the most lucrative countries to work in.
6. LinkedIn Salary
LinkedIn Salary
LinkedIn began as a way to post your résumé, experience and skillset to attract potential employers. It remains a key site for networking and jobhunting, but the LinkedIn Salary tool also offers valuable wage data. Like Glassdoor, it gathers data from the site's users, but the LinkedIn community tends to be largely from the business, marketing and tech industries.
Crowdsourcing only works if everyone participates, so you must login to a LinkedIn account and share your own salary before getting to look at everyone else's. Your info remains private, and you get access to graphs of salary ranges, a list of corporations and what they pay for that job role, and a list of the top paying locations for that job title.
7. Salary Expert
Salary Expert
There are many benefits to working abroad, and a higher salary is one of them. The Salary Expert site for jobseekers has a tool to find out what your desired job is worth around the globe. It also includes a cost-of-living calculator, which compares your current salary to what you'd need to make to live a comparable lifestyle in your desired city.
Like many salary websites on this list, the employee side of things is free to access. Be aware that the job title search can be a little buggy if you're searching a less mainstream career path, where data is likely scarcer. For a fee, both employees and employers can get access to a more expanded resource, with additional data from third-party providers.
8. PayLab
Paylab
While the age and relevance of salary data can be a bit unclear on some sites, PayLab offers nearly half a million salary profiles from the most recent 12 months. Choose your country, enter in your current salary and additional education, demographic and skills information. The resulting report ranks your pay amongst the average in your country, then offers comparisons to other countries as well.
Originally founded in Slovakia, PayLab has collected salary data for jobs in seven listed regions: Africa, Asia, Caribbean, Europe, North and South America, and Oceania. The official site and partner sites are available in multiple languages.
9. Totaljobs
Totaljobs
If you're in the UK and need to relocate to another city, or are considering changing careers, the Total Jobs salary calculator is the perfect resource. Search by job title, skill or company, and get salary ranges for a specific town, city or postcode. You can even expand your search, to a radius of 5, 10, 20 or 30 miles away.
Totaljobs also lists job openings in the area, but results are generated by simple keywords and don't always match up to exact role you were looking for. Be as specific as possible with your job title to get the most relevant results. You'll also get a list of average salaries for the role in additional locations, to see if you can make more money elsewhere.
10. JSI's Educate to Career
Educate To Career
Job Search Intelligence's Educate to Career calculators are mostly designed for new graduates looking to make that leap from freshly educated jobseeker to wage earner. Whether online or in the new app, you input information about the job you're seeking, the location, and specific details about your university and degree.
The instantaneous results offer exact numbers for starting salary, median salary, and what top earners make. Based on your responses in the online form, the main salary calculator also suggests what you'll likely be offered based on your education and years of experience. Both employees and hiring managers can get even more salary data, at $25 per job title.
Key takeaways
Knowledge is power, and these salary websites offer substantial information to help you make smart decisions about your career. Learning that you're earning a fair salary can help increase your job satisfaction, while the opposite can be a wake-up call to ask for a raise or even change careers.
As you can see, many of the sites offer different tools and cover some regions and industries better than others. Invest some time to research your current role, as well as jobs requiring similar skillsets. Use multiple sources to get the best, most accurate results.
What's your favorite salary website? Did using a salary website open your eyes to what you could be earning? Join the discussion below in the comment section and let us know!
This is an updated version of an article originally published on 6 July 2016.