Disclaimer

Figures go out of date, and some are already out of date

This is the most important thing on this page, so it goes first. Wage data is published on an annual cycle and describes a reference period that has already passed. Statutory figures — minimum wages, salary thresholds, posting requirements — change on schedules that vary by state and sometimes mid-year. Every figure here carries the date we last checked it. Check that date before you rely on the number, and check the linked source before you rely on it for anything consequential.

This is information, not advice

Nothing on this site is legal, tax, financial or career advice for your situation. A page describing a rule is not a determination that the rule applies to you, and a page describing what an occupation typically pays is not a prediction about what you will be offered.

Employment law in particular turns on facts we cannot see: what your contract says, what you actually do all day, which state the work is performed in, how many people your employer has, and when things happened. Two people reading the same page can be owed opposite things. If money or a dispute is genuinely at stake, that is a question for a lawyer, an accountant or your state labor agency.

What survey data does not cover

Published wage figures come from a survey of employers and exclude the self-employed entirely. They describe a distribution across many employers, not any particular one. They cannot tell you what a specific company pays, what you are worth, or what you will be offered.

International coverage is uneven, deliberately

Occupation-level wage data exists at good quality for a small number of countries and not at all for most. Where we can only give a sector average or a national average, we say so. Do not read a country figure as though it had the same resolution as a US metropolitan one.

Tools and calculators

The calculators here work from figures and rules you enter, or from published data, and they produce estimates. They do not know your tax position, your benefits, your state’s particular carve-outs or your employer’s policies. Treat the output as a starting point for a conversation, not an answer.

External links

We link to government agencies, statistical publications and primary legal sources so you can check our work. We do not control those sites and are not responsible for their content or availability.

Limitation

We take reasonable care to be accurate and to correct errors when we learn about them, but we do not warrant that everything here is complete, current or correct, and we are not liable for decisions made on the basis of it. If you find a mistake, please tell us.