How to compare job offers using public wage data

Start with what an offer is made of

Before any data, write down the parts of each offer in the same units: annual base salary, any signing bonus and when it vests or must be repaid, annual target bonus and how often it is paid in full, equity and its vesting schedule, employer contributions to retirement accounts, and what the employer pays toward health insurance premiums. Two offers with the same base can differ by a large amount a year once these are counted, and public wage data only helps with the first item, the base wage.

Know what the public numbers measure

This site publishes two kinds of wage figures. The first is the wage employers stated on certified Labor Condition Applications filed with the Department of Labor. It is the bottom of the offered range, annualized, so it runs low against what many workers are actually paid; see how to read LCA data. The second is the Bureau of Labor Statistics OEWS estimate of what employers report paying wage and salary workers in the same occupation and area; see LCA wages versus OEWS. Neither is a list of offers, and neither includes bonus or equity.

A five step comparison

1. Name the occupation, not the title. Titles vary by employer. Use the six-digit SOC occupation that matches the duties, as explained in finding your SOC code and metro.
2. Pick the metro of the worksite. Wages differ sharply by area, and a remote role is usually benchmarked to a worksite or a pay zone the employer chooses. Ask which one applies.
3. Place the base wage in the percentiles. Look up the job-and-metro page or use the offer check. It shows where the base falls against filed wages and against OEWS.
4. Add the employer view. If the employer has a page here, its median and middle half show how that employer stated wages across all of its filings, which is useful context for a large sponsor.
5. Adjust for the rest of the package and the cost of living. The data here has no cost of living figure; use a source you trust for housing and taxes, and compare take home pay, not only salary.

What the largest groups look like

The table shows the three largest job-and-metro groups in the data. Notice how far the middle half of filed wages spreads even inside one occupation and one metro, and how the OEWS median compares with the filed median.

Reading the result

If your base wage lands near or above the filed median and near the OEWS median, it is in the ordinary range for that job and place. If it lands well under the 25th percentile of filings and under the OEWS 25th percentile, it is worth asking how the role was leveled and whether the range is wider than the number you were given. If it lands far above, check that the occupation and metro are right before concluding anything; a mismatched occupation is the most common cause of a surprising result.

Limits you should state out loud

• A certified filing is an employer's statement to the Department of Labor, not proof that a person was hired at that wage.
• Percentiles are unweighted across filings, and large sponsors with many filings can shape a group.
• The data covers roles employers sponsored, which is a subset of the labor market.
• Data dates matter: LCA data is the FY2026 Q3 release and OEWS is May 2025. Wages move, so an old benchmark understates a current market.

Questions