Something to doCompensation
Find out what your work pays elsewhere
A small research exercise to see where your pay really stands, from sources you can trust
Why it’s worth your time
Knowing the honest range for your work gives you something solid to stand on, whichever way it points. Pay for the same work varies with location, company size, level and how the package is split, so any single figure can mislead you. Three sources that roughly agree are hard to argue with, including by you.
How to find out what your job pays elsewhere
You’ll come away with a pay range for work like yours, from three sources, and a sense of where you sit in it.
We’ll turn this into a checklist you can tick off.
- Describe your job as it actually is.
One or two lines on what you really do, at what level, where, and for what size of company. For example: runs payroll and benefits for a 300-person company, manages one person, based in Denver. Titles vary a lot between companies, so you're matching the work, not the label.
Tip: If your job has grown past its title, describe the job you're doing now.
- Look up posted pay ranges.
Search current job postings for roles that match your description. In a growing number of places, employers have to include a pay range in the posting, which makes these some of the freshest numbers you'll find. Save two or three that look genuinely similar.
Tip: Posted ranges are often wide. The middle tends to say more than either end.
- Check one salary survey.
A government pay dataset, a professional association's survey, or a salary site all work. Write down what the figure covers: base pay only, or bonus and equity as well.
- Ask one person you trust.
A peer at another company, a former colleague, or a recruiter you know. Ask for a range for the role, not what they earn. It's a much easier question to say yes to.
You“I'm trying to get a realistic sense of what work like mine pays. I'm not asking what you make, just what range you'd expect for a role like mine. Would you be comfortable sharing that?” - Write down the range and where you sit.
Note the low, middle and high across your sources, and put your own pay on the same line. Then write one sentence on what might explain any gap: level, location, company stage, or how your package is split.
Tip: Keep the sources next to the range. Next year you'll want to know where each number came from.
Good moments for this: once a yearbefore a review or a raise conversationwhen your job changes a lot
We’ll turn this into a checklist you can tick off.
Keep going with Truest
Small actions add up. Truest helps you find the next thing worth doing, make the space to do it, and keep a record of your progress. It’s a private place to work on your career, and it’s yours, not your employer’s.
- It actually happensDo it now, and you’ve invested in your career today.
- A living page in your VaultKeep it as one page you add to, next to your reviews and your files.
- It’s yours to keepEach thing you do is saved to your private record, there when your next review or job search comes around.
Anything else we can help you with this week?
Making it work for you
Every workplace is different. Here’s what to think about before you start, and what might get in the way.
Things to think about
A lower salary with a generous bonus, equity or retirement match can add up to more. Compare like with like, and decide which one you actually care about.
What might make this harder
Your role may be a blend. Look up the two closest roles and treat the truth as somewhere between them.
Questions people ask
How do I know if I'm being paid fairly?
Compare your pay with a range for similar work, built from a few sources: posted pay ranges, a salary survey and someone you trust. Match on the work you do, not just your title.
Where can I find salary data for my job?
Job postings that list pay ranges, government pay data, professional association surveys and salary sites. Each has gaps, which is why using more than one helps.
Are salary websites accurate?
They're a useful starting point, but they mix levels, locations and company sizes, and some rely on numbers people report themselves. Treat any single figure as one data point and check it against others.
Can I ask a friend what their job pays?
It can be, but asking what range they'd expect for a role like yours is easier to answer and less personal than asking their salary.
Why this works, and where it comes from
Your sense of what you should earn probably comes from a handful of stray data points: a friend's offer, a headline, a number on a website that may or may not describe your job. None of them was built to answer your question. The point here is to swap a hunch for a range, and a range is what the question actually needs.
Compensation teams do a version of this all the time. They call it benchmarking: matching jobs to survey data to decide what the company should pay. A one-person version puts you on the same footing, so if you ever do raise the subject, you're talking about the kind of evidence your company already uses rather than about how you feel.
Be honest with yourself about what comes back. It's tempting to find the highest number and treat it as the answer. Sometimes the range says you're underpaid, and it's good to know that clearly. Sometimes it says you're paid about right, and the frustration lives somewhere else: the work, the pace, a colleague's raise. Knowing which it is saves you from spending a hard conversation on the wrong problem.
In the middle of a job offer, the recruiter's range for that role beats anything you'll find online, so ask for it directly. Someone at your own company earning more for the same work is a different puzzle too: outside data helps less there than understanding how pay is set where you are.
Other simple things to consider
More in Compensation
See allRead this alongside your role page
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An exercise written by Truest, based on our experience. Last updated September 25, 2026. We sell a career membership; where that’s relevant above, we say so.