Knowing how much you should be making, i.e. your market rate or market salary, is essential to getting paid what you deserve. This is NOT what your company happens to pay you. Your market rate or salary is set by the labor market, not by your employer’s budget or your last performance review.

The only way to find out what your market rate should be is by researching it, and without that, you could end up severely underpaid.

Hannah Williams, the founder of Salary Transparent Street and Check Salaries, was a data analyst in Washington, D.C., making a salary she thought was fine until she found out it wasn't. She used the exact tips laid out in this guide to find a new role paying her a fair market rate of $115,000. Let's get you there too.

Key points: 

• Your market rate (or market salary) depends on your job title, years of experience, location, skills and education, and company size and industry.
• Use public salary data sources like our Salary Database of over 20,000 individually reported salaries when performing your market salary research.
• Most people can finish this research in under 30 minutes.
• Once you have your market rate, use it to ask for a raise and in salary negotiations.

What is a Market Rate or Salary?

Your market rate or salary (also referred to as your market salary range) is what employers in your industry are currently paying people with your job title, experience, skills, and location. 

For example, two people with the same job title can have very different market salaries. A software engineer with 3 years of experience in Des Moines, Iowa and one in San Francisco, California are not competing in the same market, even if the role is classified as a remote job. Neither are two marketing managers where one has a bachelor’s degree and one doesn't.

You'll also hear market rate and market salary being called salary benchmarking or compensation benchmarking. Employers already have this analysis on you and have compensation analysts dedicated to it. This guide just gives you the same information they already have.

How Much Should I Be Making?

There’s no single correct number. How much you should be making depends on:

• Job title: Your job title, any variations (because job titles can be inconsistent across companies and industries), and the work you actually do.
• Years of experience (YOE): How many years of relevant experience you have in the field.
• Location: The location you’re based out of. Higher cost-of-living areas tend to have higher-paying jobs than lower cost-of-living areas.
• Education, skills, and certifications: This is your expertise and everything you have that a hiring manager would pay extra for. The more in-demand skills you have, the better. 
• Company size and industry: What you should be making based on a company’s size and industry for a specific role. Startups may have lower salaries while larger companies like Fortune 500 companies may pay more with better benefits.

Once you lock those down, you can look up your number and be able to confidently defend it in salary negotiations (and see when you’re being lowballed).

How to Research Your Market Rate and Salary Range in 5 Steps

Market research will help you calculate your salary range by pulling salary data for your role, recording your findings, and validating with real conversations. Once complete, your expected rate and salary range will look something like this (numbers will be different, of course):

Your best bet is to consult several sources to figure out what the norm is for someone like you in your industry. That means 3 to 5 different online sources and talking with other professionals in your field.

Here are the steps to conduct standard market salary research:

• Go to your search platform of choice and look for something like “Find salaries” or “Salary calculator.”
• Search for your job title with your experience in the city your role is based in.
• Check out the low, high, and average salaries for that job to get an idea of what your expectations should be. Look for salaries and jobs that are as close to your experience as possible. For example, when I search in our Salary Database for ‘data analyst’ and select ‘full-time’ for the job type, ‘bachelor’s degree’ for the highest education level, and ‘hospital, health care, social services’ for the industry, I see the lowest salary of $55,000 and the highest salary of $117,000.
• Jot down the lowest and highest salaries in your research (these are your range) and calculate the average (highest + lowest) ÷ 2 to get your average salary rate.
• Lather, rinse, and repeat across other platforms and resources to come up with a handful of numbers. Also take note of the benefits packages that you see tied to the salaries in your research to take into account for total compensation.

Best Free Salary Research Tools to Use

Use these free salary data sources in your market research for comparison.

Validate Your Market Salary Research With Real Conversations

While databases and resources like the above are super helpful, they don’t always tell the whole story. That’s why it’s best to bolster those quantitative findings with some qualitative conversations.

Start by tapping into your professional network and asking others with similar jobs and fields if they’re comfortable sharing their salary. The best way to talk about salary transparency is to be transparent yourself. By kickstarting it with your own willingness to share, you can show that this is a safe space for your colleague or professional connection.

Feel free to use social media as an excuse:

"Hey, do you watch Salary Transparent Street? I saw an interview recently with someone who has our same job title and similar experience, and they make a lot more than I do. I make $60,000 a year and I'm wondering if I might be underpaid. Would you feel comfortable sharing what you think our market rate should be?"

This works because you aren’t demanding their exact salary. You’re opening up a conversation about what the market rate might be. People are much more comfortable sharing ranges rather than exact numbers, especially since you’ve started the conversation with your numbers. 

Then follow up with:

• How did you grow in your career to get to that salary?
• What certifications, experiences, or special skills have you leveraged to earn more?
• Is there anyone else with a similar background you'd recommend I talk to?

One legal note worth knowing: In the U.S., the National Labor Relations Act protects most non-supervisory employees' right to discuss pay with coworkers. A company policy telling you not to is, in most cases, unenforceable.

How to Use Your Market Salary Research to Negotiate or Ask for a Raise

Now you’re armed with tons of information about what you *should* be making for the work you’re doing. What now?

If you think your compensation isn’t quite right given your market research, it’s time to talk to your boss.

Schedule a time to talk about your total compensation package and let them know that’s what you’d like to discuss. You don’t want to take your manager by surprise here. You’ve done your homework and the time will be best spent if they get a chance to do theirs as well!

If you’re requesting a raise, put your market salary research findings in an official letter and bring this letter (supported with your sources) to the meeting for your manager to review. It's important to have a paper trail for these kinds of conversations.

Use this script in a conversation with your boss (after the small talk about the weather and whatever else): 

Your boss: “What’s on your mind? I understand you want to talk about your compensation.”

You: “Yes! Thanks for agreeing to meet with me to have this discussion. Based on my market research of this role in my area and with my experience, my expected salary is $X. I’d like to talk about how we can work together to get to that point."

Helpful tip: This would be a great place to mention your unique skills and experiences to validate your findings. Prepare 2 to 3 strong talking points and focus on how your qualitative skills support the quantitative impact you've had on projects.

Good luck and let us know how it goes by emailing us at hello@checksalaries.com!

Market Salary Research FAQs

What's the difference between market rate and market salary? 

Nothing. Both terms are interchangeably used to refer to the same thing: what employers currently pay for a given role, not what your current employer is paying you.

How do I find my market salary if I work remotely? 

Benchmark against three locations: your location, the location of the company's headquarters, and the national median. Then find out the company's remote pay policy and if they pay the national rate or a location-adjusted rate based on cost-of-living. Whatever their policy is will be what determines which number you're going to negotiate against.

How often should I do market salary research? 

At minimum, once a year, and always before a performance review, a promotion conversation, or a job interview. 

Do I have to tell an employer my current salary? 

No. You aren’t legally required to tell an employer your current salary and over 20 states actually prohibit employers from asking about it. Check your state’s pay transparency laws for more information. 

For more transparent resources:

• Want to join the movement? Explore over 20,000 individually reported salaries nationwide across all industries in the Check Salaries Database!
• Do you know if you're being underpaid? Take our free Are You Underpaid? Quiz to find out!
• Need help negotiating your salary? Download our free Salary Negotiation Guide!
• Need better work benefits? Read our guide for negotiating benefits!