Editor, Simply Salaries
Nitika Panjwani is a designer and lifestyle influencer with more than 15 years of experience creating content online. Her background spans design, lifestyle, and digital storytelling. At Simply Salaries, she brings a creative, reader-focused perspective to content about work, careers, and pay. Every article is built from primary sources, every figure is checked against the government data, published pay ranges or employer disclosures it comes from before publication, and our editors review and correct published articles, as described in our editorial policy. Corrections: info@alphazyl.com.
Data scientists earned a median of $120,230 in May 2025, per BLS. See the full pay range, the top-paying industries, how the role compares with statisticians and engineers, and how to benchmark an offer.
How Amazon pays corporate and tech staff, from its own 2026 proxy and fiscal 2025 annual report: base salary, sign-on cash, RSUs that vest over generally two to five years, benefits, and how to compare an offer.
Got an offer below what you expected? Check it against BLS pay data and the posted range, buy time on the first call, build a counter with evidence, and know when to walk away. Scripts included.
Official BLS medians show how full-time pay differs for White, Black, Asian and Hispanic workers, how those gaps moved from 2015 to 2026, what they don't measure, and how to benchmark your own pay.
Seattle-area pay averages about 32% above the national level, while prices run about 13% higher. Here's which jobs come out ahead after prices, which don't, and how to test your own offer.
Your employer wants you to stay. Here's how to compare a counteroffer with your outside offer, get the terms in writing, and accept, negotiate or decline without burning bridges.
Turn an RSU or stock option grant into a yearly dollar figure, understand vesting cliffs, and see how the IRS taxes ISOs, NSOs and RSUs before you accept an offer.
How to answer the salary expectations question: build a range from BLS data, choose when to give it or ask for theirs, use ready-made scripts, and know what employers in salary-history-ban states and cities may ask.
Austin's average wage was $35.85 an hour in May 2025, ahead of Dallas at $33.96 and Houston at $32.51. Here is how pay compares job by job, plus price levels, Texas taxes and how to check your own occupation.
Salary capped? How to negotiate a sign-on bonus, relocation package, PTO and start date, how bonuses and moving payments are taxed in 2026, and what to check in a repayment clause before you sign.
Union contracts are one of the few places a private company's pay rates are written down. Here's how to find one in the Labor Department's OLMS file, read the wage schedule and check it's still current.
US wages and salaries rose 3.2% in the year to June 2026, per the BLS Employment Cost Index. Here's how to find the figure for your job and industry and use it in your next raise talk.
Project management specialists earned a median $102,320 in May 2025. Learn which BLS occupation matches your PM job, then compare pay by industry, metro and seniority.
Civil engineers earned a median $100,840 in May 2025. See the full pay range, how consultancies, agencies and contractors compare, and how a PE license raises your ceiling.
Nine states don't tax wages. Here's which ones, the exceptions in Washington, New Hampshire and Tennessee, and how to tell whether a no-tax job offer really leaves you with more money.
May 2025 BLS data puts average pay at $48.19 an hour in the San Francisco metro and $57.32 in San Jose. See which jobs get the biggest premium, how prices compare and how to use California pay ranges.
BLS data show median weekly earnings rising with each degree level, from $966 for high school graduates to $2,307 for doctorates in 2025. Here's how to read the gap, convert it to a yearly figure and use it well.
A wide salary range in a job posting is useful once you know what it legally has to mean. Here is how California, Colorado, New York and Washington define it, how to check it against other data, and how to estimate your own offer.
Financial and investment analysts had a May 2025 median wage of $102,740, but industry, metro and bonuses move real pay a lot. Here's how to read the range and benchmark an offer.
Which states and cities make employers post salary ranges in job ads as of October 2026, who is covered, how remote jobs are treated, and what to do when a posting leaves pay out.
The median US lawyer earned $159,670 in May 2025, but pay runs from under $78,360 to over $351,600. See how firms, government and states compare, and what BLS data leaves out.
Before you accept a promotion, find the new role's pay range, see if your state makes your employer share it, and use these scripts to ask for a better spot in the band.
A review-time playbook for asking for a raise: time your request around budget cycles, check your pay against BLS data, use ready-to-adapt scripts, and know what to do after a no.
New York metro jobs averaged $41.50 an hour in May 2025 vs $33.54 nationally. See which jobs earn the biggest NYC premium, how prices compare, and how to check posted pay ranges.
Holding two offers? Here's how to line up deadlines, compare packages fairly, ask your first-choice employer to close the gap, and decline the other without burning bridges.
Offered less to work in Atlanta? Use May 2025 BLS wages and BEA price parities to work out your price-neutral salary, see if the cut goes too far, and negotiate with ready-made scripts.
Turn a job offer into a stronger one: build your counter from BLS pay percentiles and posted salary ranges, then use word-for-word phone and email scripts from first call to signed letter.
Mechanical engineers earned a median $104,110 in May 2025, per BLS. See the full pay range, which industries and states pay most, how the PE license and management change your pay, and how to benchmark an offer.
Software developers had a median base wage of $135,980 in May 2025 (BLS). See the pay range, top-paying industries, what BLS leaves out, and how to check if your offer is low, typical or high.
Prices rose 3.7% in the year to September 2026. Here's how to turn your raise into a real raise with BLS CPI data, check it against the Employment Cost Index, and use the result at review time.
Public companies must publish their median employee's pay each year. Here's how to find it in a proxy statement on EDGAR, what the number includes, and why it can mislead.
Accountants and auditors earned a median $83,680 in May 2025, per BLS. See pay by percentile, industry and state, how a CPA license fits in, and how to benchmark an offer.
In September 2026, the median job switcher's pay grew 4.7% versus 3.4% for stayers, per the Atlanta Fed. Here's how that gap has moved, what it can't tell you, and how to use it in a raise talk.
Which states and cities stop employers from asking about your past pay, how "asking" and "using" bans differ, what you can say when the question comes up anyway, and where to report it.
Compare May 2025 pay for the same jobs in Los Angeles, San Diego and the Inland Empire, adjust it for local prices with BEA data, and use California's pay scale law to get an employer's range up front.
RNs earned a $97,550 median in May 2025, per BLS. See the full percentile range, pay by setting and state, what BLS leaves out, and how to check RN pay where you live.
Look up the wages a named employer filed for H-1B workers in DOL's labor condition application data, read offered vs prevailing wages and wage levels, and use the results carefully in a pay negotiation.
Information security analysts earned a median $129,180 in May 2025 (BLS OEWS). See the full range, which industries and metros pay most, and how to benchmark a cybersecurity offer.
A column-by-column guide to the summary compensation table in a public company's proxy statement: where to find it on EDGAR, what grant-date fair value means, and why the total is not take-home pay.
Nonprofits must publicly report what their leaders and top earners make. Here is how to find a Form 990, read Part VII and Schedule J, allow for the reporting lag, and use the numbers in a pay negotiation.
Women working full time earned 83.4% of men's median weekly pay in Q3 2026 (BLS) and 83.9% of men's annual earnings in 2025 (Census). Here's how each figure is measured and how the gap varies by age, job and education.
Is a salary worth more in another city? Use BEA's official regional price parities (2024 data, released February 2026) to convert your pay, then add state taxes and local wage data for your job.
San Jose tops US metros with a May 2025 BLS mean wage of $119,230 versus $69,770 nationally. See the highest-paying metros, why they pay more, and how to test pay against local prices.
How to read the base salary range on a Google job posting, what it leaves out, what Alphabet's proxy says about median pay, and what to ask your recruiter about level, bonus and equity.
What Boston-area hospital, life sciences and university jobs pay, using BLS May 2025 wage data, how that compares with national pay, and how to check a specific employer before you negotiate.
Turn two offer letters into comparable yearly figures: bonus, equity, 401(k) match, health costs and time off, then use the gap to ask for more. Includes a worked example and scripts.
Chicago's lower prices shrink the pay gap with New York, San Francisco and Boston but rarely erase it for professional jobs. See May 2025 pay and BEA price data side by side, and learn how to compare your own offers.
Where Microsoft publishes its real base pay ranges, how to read a posting's career stage and location ranges, what the 2026 proxy says about median pay, and what to ask a recruiter.
Pharmacists earned a median $140,910 in May 2025 (BLS). See how pay differs between hospitals and retail pharmacies, which states pay most, and how to check your area.
Nurse practitioners earned a median $132,300 in May 2025 (BLS OEWS). See NP pay by state and setting, how prices change the picture, and how to value RVU and call pay in an offer.
