Where the salary data comes from

Pay figures in this calculator are real survey wages from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program, May 2024 release. Each job title is matched to its official occupation code, and the calculator reads the measured 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th, and 90th percentile annual wages for that occupation — nationally and inside each metropolitan area, so New York, Seattle, and Dallas figures reflect wages actually paid there rather than a cost-of-living multiplier. Seniority is a position on that real distribution: entry level at the 25th percentile, mid at the median, senior at the 75th, lead between the 75th and 90th, director at the 90th. Where BLS suppresses a role in a metro for confidentiality, the national percentiles are scaled by that metro's all-occupations wage ratio; non-U.S. cities are converted from U.S. wages and are clearly labelled as adjusted. Survey wages exclude bonus, commission, and equity, and BLS reports any annual wage at or above $239,200 as that figure, so top-of-market pay in the highest-paying occupations is capped. Basic mode assumes a 40-hour week across 52 paid weeks; Advanced mode lets you override the salary, change contract hours and paid weeks, add bonus and benefits value, and enter the hours you actually work to reveal your real hourly rate.