Career
Where pay data comes from, and which sources to trust
Published pay figures vary widely because they are built from different things. Knowing which is which makes them usable.
Federal occupational wage statistics are collected from employers, cover most occupations and are broken down by metropolitan area. They are methodologically solid and they lag, typically by around a year, which matters in a fast-moving field.
Self-reported figures from job sites are more current and much noisier. Who responds is not a random sample, job titles are inconsistent between employers, and totals sometimes include bonuses and equity and sometimes do not. They are useful for direction, not for a precise number.
Where they exist, mandatory pay ranges in job advertisements are the most directly useful source, because they are what an employer committed to publishing for that specific role in that specific place. Several states and cities now require them.
The adjustment that changes the picture most is location. A national median for an occupation can be far from the figure in a particular metropolitan area, and the federal data is published at that level precisely so the comparison can be made properly.
What to do next. Compare the federal occupational data for your metropolitan area against published ranges in current local adverts.
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