The source desk
Public Salary Benchmark Sources for Job Offers
Choose the right evidence for pay, job duties and benefits. See the geography, period and limits before comparing an offer.
Editorial review: October 30, 2026 · Data periods are stated beside each example
Choose a source by the question
BLS OEWS
Occupational wage estimates by metro, state or nation. Record the SOC, geography, reference period, percentile and hourly or annual unit.
Limit: wages are not total compensation. The survey excludes nonproduction bonuses and employer benefit costs; it does not cover self-employed workers.
Read the OEWS definitionsO*NET
Occupation profiles describe tasks, skills and work activities. Match those duties to the actual role before choosing a salary series.
Limit: a familiar title is not proof of an exact match. An O*NET occupation profile is not an individual pay quote.
See Software Developers, 15-1252.00BLS Employee Benefits
Survey tables describe access, participation and plan provisions for a stated worker group. Read each table’s geography, sector and reference date.
Limit: a population percentage does not value your employer’s plan. Ask for the plan documents, eligibility and employee contributions.
Read the benefits survey FAQOne occupation, three geographic views
Software Developers · SOC 15-1252 · BLS OEWS May 2025 · median annual wage (P50), in USD. API values checked October 30, 2026.
Massachusetts
USD 165,210Statewide; not the same boundary as the MA–NH metro
Verify BLS series OEUS250000000000015125213The metro crosses into New Hampshire; Massachusetts is a separate state geography, not a parent total for that metro. The national median is not an average of these two figures.
Work through the geographic comparison →International context needs a different measure
The World Bank’s 2024 purchasing power parity (PPP) factor for household and nonprofit institution consumption is expressed in local currency units per international dollar. This four-country reference is international context, not a global salary dataset.
United States
1.0000USD per international $Canada
1.2409CAD per international $United Kingdom
0.6827GBP per international $India
19.8969INR per international $Do not rank salaries or living standards from these factors alone. PPP is not a market exchange rate, a city cost-of-living index, take-home pay or an individual relocation budget. The 2024 PPP values and May 2025 wages describe different measures and periods.
Reference year: 2024, selected consistently across all four countries; not a claim that 2024 is the latest release. Retrieved October 30, 2026, rounded to four decimals. Indicator definition · Exact World Bank observations.
Keep a short evidence note
- What is being measured? Wage, duties, benefits or purchasing power.
- Who and where? Occupation, worker population and exact geographic boundary.
- When and in what units? Reference period, retrieval date, currency, annual/hourly basis and percentile.
- What remains unknown? Employer-specific terms, job fit and any unverified assumptions.
Use the note to prepare a question for the recruiter. A benchmark is context for a conversation, not a promise of what an employer must pay.
Bring the context back to your offer
Use the evidence to identify questions about duties, location and compensation terms.
Analyze your offer