How we use salary sources
Research snapshot: 2026-09-18. Catalog coverage and salary evidence are separate. A role can be searchable even when its salary is unknown.
Published estimates
Salary guides are source-specific estimates, not measured market distributions. Sample sizes, observation dates and gross/net treatment are often undisclosed. We show those gaps and preserve original career stages. Any mapping to our six levels is approximate. Leadership, ownership and specialist pathways are not inferred from years alone.
Advertised examples
Each disclosed job budget is one employer's advertised offer, not what every employee in that occupation earns. Dates, location and experience requirements stay attached to the example. Commission and ownership proceeds are not treated as base salaries.
Offer comparisons
Current guides and isolated adverts are display references only. A coloured comparison requires a reviewed comparable cohort, with at least 20 disclosures from five employers within the preceding 12 months, a documented method and consistent role, level, country, currency, gross/net basis, component and employment type. This threshold is a product safeguard, not a statistical guarantee.
An approved advertised-budget reference must be labelled as such, rather than employee-pay percentiles. Both bounds of the employer's offer are compared. Partially overlapping or broad offers remain neutral. Annual/monthly conversion is permitted only for otherwise compatible pay. We never infer foreign-exchange or net/gross conversions.
Limits and refreshes
We do not apply assumed city multipliers. Jobseeker expectations and international USD placements are separate cohorts. Retrieval dates do not establish when salaries were observed. Sources are refreshed through reviewed, dated dataset updates; a deployment does not make the evidence newer.