How to Research Salary — Find Your Real Market Rate

The research process — step by step

• Define your search parameters. Role title (exact), level (senior/staff/principal), location or remote, company type (startup/mid-size/enterprise/FAANG). Each variable shifts the data significantly.
• Pull data from 3+ sources. No single source is accurate. Three sources pointing to the same range = reliable anchor. Two sources that contradict each other = look for a third to break the tie.
• Filter for your specific market. National median salaries are useful for context. What you need is the data for your specific market — San Francisco, New York, Austin, or remote. Use location filters on every tool.
• Use job postings in salary-disclosure states. Search for your role on LinkedIn, Indeed, or Glassdoor Jobs — filter for California, Colorado, New York, Washington state. Job postings in these states must include salary ranges. This is real, current market data from actual open roles.
• Talk to people in the role. Three conversations with colleagues at peer companies doing the same work tells you more than any database. Most professionals are willing to share when asked directly and professionally.
• Ask your recruiter early. Before the first interview, it is entirely professional to ask: "What is the range budgeted for this role?" Most recruiters will share a range — which immediately tells you whether the role is worth pursuing and gives you a negotiation anchor.

Best tools by role type

Software engineers / tech roles

• Levels.fyi — self-reported data from tech employees, highly specific by company, role, and level. Best tool for FAANG and large tech. Less reliable for startups.
• LinkedIn Salary — broad coverage, filters by title, location, and years of experience. Requires LinkedIn Premium for detailed data.
• Glassdoor — broad but less precise. Best for directional benchmarks, not precise anchors.
• Blind — anonymous community, sometimes produces candid comp data for specific companies.

Finance / FP&A / accounting

• Glassdoor + LinkedIn Salary — most reliable for finance roles
• CFO Alliance and APQC surveys — industry-specific benchmarks
• Recruiter conversations — finance recruiters typically know exact market rates and will share if you ask

Executive roles (Director, VP, C-suite)

• LinkedIn Salary — useful for Director-level with enough data points
• Executive search firms — recruiters at firms like Spencer Stuart, Korn Ferry, Russell Reynolds know the market precisely and will share it with candidates
• Peer network conversations — the most accurate source at executive levels, where public data is thinner