Where Salary Data Comes From

Good salary data comes from four sources with different biases. Government statistics, like the occupational employment series, cover most payroll jobs but lag by a year or more and merge titles broadly. Administrative data from payroll providers is fresher but skewed toward their client base.

Job postings show offered ranges, increasingly mandatory in pay transparent states, but only describe hiring, not the existing workforce. Self reported sites suffer selection bias, since the proud and the aggrieved post. Triangulate all four.

When a range agrees across sources, trust it; when it splits, the spread itself is your answer..