Research Guides: Career Research Success: Salary Research & Negotiations: Salary Research

Introduction

When it comes to evaluating job offers and negotiating salaries, having access to accurate and reliable compensation data is key. Fortunately, there are many resources available for benchmarking compensation data, ranging from self-reported information to company and industry survey data. While self-reported data can provide a useful starting point, survey data is often the most reliable source of information for understanding what a competitive job offer looks like. By examining average salaries for the job, region, and industry competitors, survey data can help you make more informed decisions about job offers and negotiate a salary that reflects your skills and experience.

Compensation Data - FSU Graduates

FSU Graduating Senior Survey Summary
The Division of Student Affairs has been administering a survey to graduating seniors for over a decade, asking students about their post-college plans and their overall FSU experience. Beginning in 2012-2013 the University mandated the Graduating Senior Survey, resulting in response rates of over 90%.

Compensation Data - Croudsourced/Self-Reporting

Emolument.com
Emolument.com is now one of the largest providers of crowdsourced compensation data globally.
Levels.fyi
Levels.FYI uses a combination of verified data and leveling information to help employees understand what they should be getting paid. While recruiters often had internal leveling data, that info wasn’t transparent to jobseekers. As a result, it could be weeks after starting a new role before an employee realized that they had been down-leveled.
Comparably
Self reported salary and company culture data, heavy focus on tech industry

Compensation Data- Government/Company Collected

BLS Statistics on Pay and Benefits
BLS has 12 surveys or programs that provide information on pay and benefits. Choosing the data source that is right for your needs can be a challenge. We have an interactive tool to help you compare the features of each source. BLS data on pay and benefits are available for occupations, industries, geographic areas, and the demographic characteristics of workers.
GoodCalculators: Salary Calculator by State
GoodCalculators provides a salary calculator using BLS data.
Salary.com
While Salary.com does not provide salary survey data across multiple job groups, it does offer some company-specific salary data. This data can be especially helpful for job seekers who are considering opportunities within a particular company and want to understand the compensation range for similar positions.
Indeed
Indeed provides salary information based on job title, industry, and location. It also rates companies based on various factors, including compensation.
Glassdoor.com
Glassdoor is part of the RecruitHR and Indeed.com family and provides additional salary comparison resources.
SalaryExpert (ERI)
SalaryExpert, powered by ERI, was launched in 2000 with a mission to provide employers, human resource professionals, and job seekers with compensation data. Backed by over 30 years of verified and reliable salary data, SalaryExpert draws on ERI’s expertise in salary and cost of living data to provide the public with excellent tools for evaluating career, relocation, compensation, and education decisions.