Here are 11 types of compensation data sources commonly used for benchmarking and pay decisions:
Third-Party Salary Surveys – Published reports from firms like Mercer, Willis Towers Watson (WTW), Korn Ferry, Culpepper, Pearl Meyer, and AON Radford provide market pay data by industry, geography, employer size, and job level.
Multiple Survey Aggregators - Salary.com purchases the most current salary surveys available from well-recognized, reputable compensation consulting firms. Then they aggregate it into a large database.
Government Data – Sources like the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and Canada’s Job Bank and Statistics Canada provide free, broad-based salary data.
Crowdsourced Data – Platforms like Glassdoor, Payscale, and LinkedIn Salary collect self-reported pay data from employees, though reliability varies.
Company-Specific Data – Some employers summarize pay expectations from candidates and employee exit interviews to build their own compensation database.
Job Posting Data Aggregators – Many job postings now have pay ranges that provide insights into how an organization pays compared to the market. Some employers manually summarize this data, but there is software available that does this for you. Squirrel was developed by CompTool. It offers real-time wage and salary tracking using employer-reported data from job postings.
Peer Network Data – Custom surveys designed and administered by a third party that help companies in an industry gather compensation insights for niche roles.
Publicly Available Compensation Disclosures – For publicly traded companies, executive and senior management pay data can be found in SEC filings (Proxy Statements and 10-Ks). Websites like Equilar compile this data for benchmarking.
Union Contracts & Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBAs) – Many industries with unionized workforces have publicly available agreements that outline pay structures, step progressions, and benefits, which can be useful for benchmarking.
Cost of Living & Geographic Pay Differential Data – Providers like The Economic Research Institute (ERI), The Conference Board, and Numbeo offer data on regional cost-of-living adjustments and location-based pay differentials to help companies set competitive wages in different markets.
Consultant & Industry Association Reports – Many industry associations (e.g., SHRM, WorldatWork, National Association of Manufacturers) and specialized consulting firms publish compensation trend reports, pay practice studies, and total rewards insights that can be useful for market comparisons.
What sources would you add to this list?
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