8 Best Salary Websites to Use Before Your Salary Negotiation

Did you know that most people significantly underestimate what their coworkers in similar roles are earning? Research shows that most of us simply aren’t comfortable asking others about salaries.

In one study, 89% of people said they wouldn’t be comfortable asking a coworker what they earned. What’s even more surprising is that 38% of people wouldn’t share their own salary, even if they would be paid a small bonus to do so.

Source: NBER Salary Norms Study, 2018

This doesn’t sound like a big deal, but it can actually have a huge impact on us. Take Hamna's story for example. 

Hamna got a job offer at 2x her previous salary. She was thrilled and signed the offer on the spot. 

But, just a year later she found out that even with her 2x salary, she was still being underpaid compared to her teammates in that exact same role!

Hamna quickly realized why: before she took the offer, she hadn’t researched the company, their pay ranges, or what her market value should be. 

The truth is that most people are uncomfortable asking their friends and coworkers about their salaries (I know I certainly was).

👉  But fear not, this is where the internet comes in!

Today, I’ll show you:

• The 8 best salary websites where you can research your market value
• How to figure out the best salary range to ask for
• And why you should do salary research 

Let’s start with why salary research matters and let’s put a dollar figure to it…

Why should I do salary research?

As you saw from Hamna’s example, without doing salary research, it can be very hard to judge a job offer, regardless of how high you think your offer is.

The most important reason you should do salary research is because of the long term effects it can have on your family’s life.

In a recent post, Career Expert, Austin Belcak, explained how doing a little bit of salary negotiation can have huge implications on your long term earnings.

Here's the scenario Austin painted in his salary negotiation example:

1. Amari & Taylor both make $50,000 per year
2. Each of them get 5 new jobs over the next 30 years
3. Amari gets a 10% raise with each new job
4. Taylor gets a 10% raise with each new job, but also negotiates an additional $7,500 each time

👉 So, how much more will Taylor make than Amari after 30 years?

To put Austin’s example into visual terms, here is the difference between Amari and Taylor’s salaries as a graph:

As you can see, doing salary research and knowing how to approach your salary negotiation can literally make you hundreds of thousands of dollars over the course of your professional career.

So, this naturally raises the question…

What should my salary be?

The reason that most of us don’t like salary negotiation is because we come into a salary negotiation from a position of weakness. This is especially true if you’ve been recently laid off or if you’ve been on the job search for awhile.

Most people think that salary data is only reserved for big companies with huge budgets. But the truth is that it’s actually very easy to figure out what your salary should be. It just takes a bit of salary research and having some salary comparison to go off of.

That’s where these 8 best salary websites I’m about to show you come into play. By using these websites you’ll come into your next salary negotiation with data. And, in the world of negotiation, data is power.

So, what should your salary be? Let’s find out together!

8 Best Salary Negotiation Sites

Below are 8 of the best salary websites to use when researching your salary and negotiating your pay. 

Below I’ve tried to identify which salary website is best for each industry and role, but I still recommend signing up for at least two of them so you can compare salaries from different sources.

1. Best New Salary Website: Comparably

Comparably is a relatively new salary website, but it has quickly become one of the best. It's designed for users from all industries and offers detailed salary data across multiple factors, including gender and race.

What I love about Comparably is that it not only allows users to see how their salaries compare to others, but it also awards "Best Company For…" awards in categories such as Diversity, Leadership, Women, etc. This is a great way to find employers who prioritize similar values to your own and a good way to find mission-driven companies.

If you work in tech, the site also has a Tech Equity Calculator. This is a great salary comparison calculator for tech professionals who want to make sure they’re getting fair equity compensation. This is usually a tricky topic to negotiate, but this calculator can definitely help in certain situations. 

2. Best Salary Website for Tech: Levels.Fyi

Levels.fyi was initially designed for techies, especially software engineers, who want to stay on top of the ever-changing compensation landscape. That isn't to say that it doesn't include data from other industries like business and operations, but most of the focus is tech.

Data on Levels.fyi is crowdsourced and anonymous. That means it’s not biased by the company providing it, but instead comes from users who’ve worked for them in the past. You can search for salaries across different companies, locations, titles, and job levels to estimate how much you can earn in that role.

What I love about Levels.fyi is their extra feature of highlighting benefits and actually assigning  a dollar figure to those benefits. This allows you to visualize the total compensation package you’re getting rather than just a simple salary comparison.

As a bonus, Levels also has a resume review and interview prep service (but those are both paid features). 

3. Best Salary Website with Reviews: Glassdoor

Glassdoor is one of the world's most popular job listing sites, but it also provides a wealth of salary information. The site is global and covers almost every industry and job so it can be a great place to start your salary research.

Glassdoor compiles salary data from anonymous users who submit information about the salaries they've earned in different roles. This crowdsourced data is then presented in useful ways, such as tables and graphs, that allow you to compare salaries in a pretty comprehensive way.

What I love about Glassdoor is its Salary Calculator tool, which factors in your current or desired job title, location, and desired employer to calculate an estimated salary range. (Remember, you should always come to your salary negotiation with a range instead of an exact number).

4. Best General Salary Website: Salary.com

Salary.com is probably the most comprehensive salary comparison website that gives you access to extremely detailed salary data. They break down this data into different factors such as industry, location, and experience level. It covers most job roles in the U.S. and usually offers information on benefits too.

My favorite part of Salary.com is its Personal Salary Report feature, which gives you an in-depth overview of your value in the job market. The report offers salary ranges, benefits information, and salary histories for similar jobs, which is beyond what most sites offer.

Salary.com also has a useful Cost of Living Calculator for job seekers who are looking to move for work. You can compare the salary you're offered in one city or state with another to determine how much more/less money you'd make after taking into consideration the cost of living. 

5. Best Salary Website for Community: Blind

Blind is another of the go-to websites for tech professionals when it comes to salary research. From salary discussion boards and comparisons to job listings, Blind has it all.

What I particularly like about Blind is its community aspect. As a user you are free to ask questions and about your job offer or any job related topic really. This makes it a great place to get insights into different companies and get advice from thousands of experienced professionals in the industry.

For example, you can share the current offer you’ve been given at a company and then others can chime in with their experiences. This gives you first-hand advice for your salary negotiation and can help make your decisions way easier in my experience.

6. Best Salary Website for Connections: Fishbowl

Fishbowl sits in a unique space between salary research and job search. It allows users to explore salaries across a variety of industries and roles, as well as connect with employers who are looking for top talent in their field. 

What I love about Fishbowl is its "bowls" concept, which gives users an interactive way to compare salaries in different industries and roles. You simply choose a bowl to explore and then you join what looks like a Facebook group. Here you can post, comment, and share salary information with others. It’s a nice way of participating in a community and makes the job search process a bit less lonely and isolating.

Fishbowl also has a "Posts" section similar to Blind, where you can get advice from other professionals. It's a super helpful resource for anyone who wants to stay informed and up-to-date on salary trends, so definitely worth checking out.

7. Best Salary Website for Women: Elpha

Elpha is a site dedicated to empowering women in the tech industry. Far beyond just a salary website, Elpha is very community-based and gives women access to job postings, career resources, salary information, and more.

What I like about Elpha is its focus on creating a safe space for female tech professionals to share their experiences. Women looking to negotiate their salaries can tap into a network of over 100,000+ women who are actively working in the tech industry.

Couple that with resources and advice specifically tailored for women in tech, and you have a resource that's hard to beat. 

8. Best Salary Website for Sales: RepVue

RepVue is the most accurate salary website dedicated to sales people of all levels. It covers topics such as compensation, commission structures, and company culture to help you find the right job. 

Sales reps say they like RepVue because it ranks and rates companies on the site based on peer feedback. This is a great way to get an unbiased look at potential employers and make sure you're going into your salary negotiations not only with salary information, but also company culture information. If you work in sales, RepVue is the best salary website for you.

Takeaways and Next Steps

If you’ve never done a salary negotiation or you’re intimidated by doing a salary negotiation, here are some things that might help.

1. You won’t lose the offer

The number one fear that people have when negotiating their salary is that they’ll lose an offer. The only reason you would lose a job offer is if your range is completely outside the range that the job is scoped for. 

👉  This is why using these salary websites is so important.

I recommend using the salary comparison websites above and also reading our salary negotiation guide so you can create a range that is feasible. If you do that, you won’t lose a job offer due to negotiation.

2. They expect you to negotiate

As a hiring manager, I’ve worked with many HR teams over the years to hire employees for several companies. Here’s a little secret… HR teams expect that you’ll negotiate your offer. They purposely will provide you with an offer that is below their maximum so that when you negotiate they can come up to meet your needs (if possible). 

Make sure you ask for at least a little bit more than the initial offer (see the salary guide above for a script on what to say and how to do this).

3. You can negotiate for more than salary

Remember that if you negotiate for a higher salary and they say no, you can always ask for other compensation besides salary. Don’t forget to negotiate for things like: 

• Your job title
• Performance bonuses
• Stock or stock options
• Health insurance
• Vacation time
• Work from home time
• 401K
• Commuter/wellness benefits

These can give you a nice “out” if they can’t meet your salary requirements and allow you to still take the offer.

Okay, hopefully this solves the “what should my salary be” question. If you have more questions about your job search, I recommend watching our free resume and interviewing courses. Just drop your email below and I’ll send you both of them (plus some other useful job search tools).

Happy negotiating!