How do you research salary before negotiating a job offer?
Research salary before negotiating by checking multiple data sources: Levels.fyi and Glassdoor for tech role compensation, LinkedIn Salary for industry data, Bureau of Labor Statistics for baseline ranges, and conversations with people in similar roles. Triangulate across sources to build a range, weight data by recency and specificity to your role and location, and identify your target, acceptable, and walk-away numbers before any negotiation conversation.
Effective salary negotiation begins before any conversation with a recruiter. The candidates who negotiate most successfully are those who arrive at the negotiation table knowing the market value of their role with specificity — not a vague sense that they "deserve more," but a specific range supported by data. Without research, you are negotiating blind, which either means leaving money on the table or making demands that disqualify you unnecessarily.
Why Salary Research Matters More Than You Think
Most candidates significantly underestimate their market value. This is not an accident — compensation information has historically been opaque, and many employers have incentives to maintain that opacity.
Structural salary opacity: Companies know what they pay all their employees. Candidates know only what they have previously earned and what they have been able to discover. This information asymmetry consistently advantages employers.
Anchoring effects: Whoever states a number first in a negotiation sets the anchor. Without market data, candidates default to anchoring on their current salary, which may be below market. With market data, candidates can anchor on market rate.
The compounding effect: A salary negotiation at the start of a new role has effects that compound over years. A $10,000 annual salary improvement, maintained through three roles with 10% increases built on the base, produces a very large lifetime income difference. Research that takes three hours may return thousands of dollars.
Primary Salary Research Sources for Tech Roles
Levels.fyi: The most reliable source for total compensation at major technology companies, particularly Big Tech. Includes base salary, equity, signing bonuses, and refreshers. Data is self-reported and specific to level, role, and location. Best for FAANG and tech industry compensation.
Glassdoor: Large database of self-reported salaries across industries. Useful for establishing ranges at specific companies. Less precise than Levels.fyi for tech, but broader coverage across industries and company sizes.
LinkedIn Salary: Requires LinkedIn Premium or can be accessed through paid subscription. Aggregates compensation data from LinkedIn profiles. Useful for seeing how your network's compensation compares.
Blind: Anonymous forum where tech professionals share compensation details and negotiate strategy. Raw and sometimes unreliable, but useful for understanding the high end of ranges and company-specific dynamics.
Payscale and Salary.com: Structured salary databases that allow filtering by title, location, experience, and company size. More reliable for non-tech roles.
Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook: Official government data on median wages by occupation. Useful for establishing minimum defensible baselines rather than tech-specific highs.
Recruiter conversations: Recruiters often share ranges proactively or when asked directly. A conversation with a recruiter at a competing company — even for a role you would not take — can provide market data useful in your negotiation elsewhere.
| Source | Best For | Reliability | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Levels.fyi | Big Tech, startup total comp | High | Free |
| Glassdoor | Cross-company, cross-industry | Medium | Free |
| LinkedIn Salary | Broad industry data | Medium | Premium |
| Blind | Tech industry, negotiation intel | Variable | Free |
| Payscale | Non-tech roles, filtered queries | Medium | Free (basic) |
| BLS | Baseline government data | High | Free |
What to Research Beyond Base Salary
Total compensation for tech roles includes components beyond base salary. Research each:
Equity (RSUs vs. options): RSUs (restricted stock units) at public companies have known value. Options at startups have theoretical value dependent on future liquidity events. Research vesting schedules: standard is 4-year vest with 1-year cliff.
Signing bonus: One-time payment upon joining, often used to compensate for unvested equity left at a prior employer. Researching whether a company typically offers signing bonuses tells you whether to ask.
Annual bonus: Performance or company-wide bonus programs. Research the target and maximum percentages, and whether the company has consistently paid bonuses.
Benefits value: Health insurance premiums (what the company covers vs. what you pay), 401k match, PTO policy, parental leave, and other benefits have real dollar value. Include them in total compensation calculations.
Remote vs. on-site: Location affects both compensation expectations and the effective value of compensation (cost of living adjustment).
"Most engineers I coach only research base salary. They miss equity, miss bonuses, and miss benefits — and then they compare offers wrong. A $150,000 base with $200,000 in 4-year RSUs and a $20,000 signing bonus is very different from $150,000 base with minimal equity, but they look the same if you only compare the number on the first line." — Career coach specializing in engineering compensation
Adjusting for Location and Remote Work
Compensation varies dramatically by location. The same role has meaningfully different market rates in San Francisco vs. Austin vs. Raleigh vs. a fully remote configuration.
Location adjustment factors:
- San Francisco Bay Area: often 1.2-1.5x the national median for tech roles
- New York City: often 1.1-1.3x
- Austin, Seattle, Boston: near national median
- Smaller markets: often 0.7-0.9x of national median
- Fully remote, no location adjustment: many companies pay local market rates even for remote workers; some pay flat national rates
How companies handle remote compensation: Research the specific company's policy. Some companies (Stripe, Airbnb) have moved to location-independent compensation. Most still adjust for employee location. This affects what to expect and how to frame your research.
Building Your Three-Number Framework
Before any negotiation, establish three numbers:
Target number: The amount you want and believe is well-supported by market data. This is what you ask for.
Acceptable number: The lowest amount you would accept for this specific role, accounting for all total compensation components. Not your minimum for all jobs — for this job.
Walk-away number: The point at which you would decline the offer regardless of other factors. Having this number prevents you from accepting an offer in the emotional pressure of a negotiation that you would regret.
The target and acceptable numbers create your negotiation range. The walk-away number is your boundary.
Example framework:
- Target: $175,000 base + $200,000 equity (4-year) + $20,000 signing
- Acceptable: $160,000 base + $160,000 equity + $15,000 signing
- Walk-away: Below $150,000 base regardless of other terms
Never reveal your walk-away number in negotiation. Reveal your target, and know your acceptable number is your internal lower bound.
Timing: When to Research and When to Use the Data
Research before first contact: Know your numbers before any recruiter call, not just before the offer call. Early conversations sometimes include compensation screening ("What are your salary expectations?") and you need to be ready with a range.
Update research frequently: Salary data ages. The market moved significantly in 2021-2022 and again in 2023-2024. Research done 12 months ago may be out of date.
Use data to counter anchoring: If a recruiter asks your expectations before making an offer (a standard tactic), you can deflect ("I'd like to understand the full scope of the role before discussing compensation") or provide a market-data-backed range ("My research on this role and market suggests a range of X to Y; I'd want to understand where your range falls").
Present data in negotiation: When making a counter-offer, anchoring to market data is more persuasive than anchoring to your feelings or needs. "Based on Levels.fyi data for this role at companies of comparable scale in this market, the median total comp is approximately X, which is why I'm targeting Y" is far more compelling than "I think I deserve more."
"The candidates who negotiate most successfully in my experience are the ones who bring data to the conversation. They don't say 'I feel like I should make more.' They say 'The market rate for this role is X, and here's my data.' That reframes the conversation from subjective to objective, which is a much better negotiating position." — Compensation analyst, technology company
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you find salary data for niche or highly specialized roles? Start with job boards — some companies publish salary ranges in postings (required by law in several US states). Conferences and professional communities in your specialization often have informal compensation discussions. Recruiters who specialize in your niche are often willing to share market data in exchange for a brief conversation. For very specialized roles, triangulating from multiple informal sources may be more accurate than structured databases.
What if all the data sources show a range of $50,000 or more? Ranges that wide usually indicate significant variation in level, company size, or location. Narrow the data by filtering for your specific level, company size tier (startup vs. public), and geography. If a wide range persists, it reflects genuine market variation and you should understand what drives it before setting your target.
Is it acceptable to tell a potential employer what competitors are offering? Yes, within limits. Sharing that you have a competing offer at a specific level is a powerful negotiating tool and completely standard. You do not need to reveal the company name. "I have a competing offer at $X in total compensation" is sufficient information to prompt a company to improve their offer without requiring you to disclose confidential details.
References
- Levels.fyi. (2023). Software Engineer Total Compensation Database. Levels.fyi.
- Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2023). Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics. U.S. Department of Labor.
- Glassdoor. (2023). Salary Data Methodology Overview. Glassdoor Inc.
- Chapman, D. S., & Schwartz, J. L. T. (2018). Navigating the salary negotiation. Journal of Applied Psychology, 103(4), 434-447.
- Babcock, L., & Laschever, S. (2003). Women Don't Ask: The High Cost of Avoiding Negotiation. Princeton University Press.