How to Research Market Salary Before a US Job Offer Lands

Recruiters ask for your salary expectation early, often in the first screening call, and the number you give becomes the ceiling for everything that follows. Research is how you answer with a range instead of a guess.

Start with the pay range, not the average

An average salary for "data analyst" is close to meaningless, because it blends entry-level roles at nonprofits with senior roles at Bay Area software companies. What you want is the range a US employer posts for your title, your level, and your city or remote band.

Practical order of operations:

• Search the job title on a big job board and filter for posted pay. Many US states now require salary ranges on postings, including California, New York, Washington, Colorado, Illinois, and Massachusetts.
• Check whether the level is included: Analyst II, Senior Analyst, Staff. Titles at the same company can differ by $40,000 or more across two levels.
• Compare the same company's other postings for the same level. That range tells you what they actually pay, not what the industry pays.

Sources worth checking, in order

• Postings with published ranges. Most reliable, because the employer wrote it down.
• Government wage data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which gives a median by metro area down to the tenth percentile. Slow to update, but honest.
• Employee-reported sites such as Levels.fyi, Glassdoor, and Blind. Useful for tech and finance, thinner for smaller markets and non-tech roles.
• Professional associations, which often publish annual compensation surveys for fields like nursing, accounting, HR, and civil engineering.
• Reddit salary threads for your city. Noise, but it is often the only data that exists for small metros.

Adjust for metro, remote band, and industry

A $95,000 salary in Austin does not equal $95,000 in Manhattan, and remote roles complicate it further. Many US companies use national bands with a geo multiplier: often 100% for New York and San Francisco, 90 to 95% for Seattle, Boston, and Denver, and 80 to 90% for lower-cost metros in the South and Midwest. Ask the recruiter which band applies to your location, in writing.

Industry also moves the number. A senior analyst at a 10-person startup in Columbus, a regional hospital system, and a large San Francisco software company can differ by 60% for similar work. Decide which one you are talking to before you build your range.

Build three numbers, not one

• Walk-away: the figure below which you would decline, factoring in insurance premiums and 401k match.
• Target: a realistic number you can defend with two data points, roughly the 60th percentile for your level and city.
• Stretch: the top of the posted band, which you mention only if you have leverage, like a competing offer or rare skills.

When you give a range, your target should sit in the lower half of it. If you say $85,000 to $105,000, expect an offer near $85,000. If you say $95,000 to $110,000, you have room to land at $98,000.

Write your answer before the call

Two sentences, rehearsed once out loud: "Based on the posted range and comparable roles in Denver, I am targeting $95,000 to $110,000 for this level. That is flexible depending on the overall package." Then stop talking about money and get back to the work. Total compensation also counts: a 6% 401k match, a $5,000 education budget, or fully covered family health insurance is worth thousands in cash terms, and it is fair to ask for those when base salary is capped.

Do not anchor on your current salary

Your current pay is a data point about your old employer, not about the market. US employers in states with pay transparency laws increasingly avoid asking for salary history, and several states ban the question outright. Answer with the range for the role you are applying for. If you are underpaid today and the new band is much higher, the researched range is the only thing that closes the gap, because a percentage raise off your current number will not.

Recheck the number before you accept

Offers sit for a few weeks between screening and signature, and bands shift every January. Do one final check of three postings at the same level before you sign, and if you find the posted range has moved, that is a legitimate question for the recruiter. Bring two citations to that conversation, not an opinion, and you will get a straight answer either way.