"What should I actually be earning?" is the question behind every raise request, job interview, and career pivot. This salary by occupation calculator answers it with hard data rather than hearsay. It pulls the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OES) benchmarks for a chosen job title, shows the 25th, median (50th), and 75th percentile pay, adjusts those figures for the cost of living in your city, and converts the median into an hourly wage.
Pick an occupation from the dropdown, choose the city you live in, and optionally type your own current salary. Every figure updates instantly so you can see exactly where your pay sits in the distribution.
How to Use
- Choose your occupation from the list. The dropdown covers common roles such as software developer, registered nurse, accountant, teacher, operations manager, chief executive, web developer, and electrician. Each one is tied to a real BLS OES occupation code.
- Select where you live. The national-average setting shows raw U.S. benchmarks. Picking a city like New York or San Francisco applies a regional cost-of-living factor; cities like Dallas or Atlanta apply a discount factor below 1.00.
- (Optional) Enter your own annual salary. Type your gross pay to see your hourly rate and your percentage above or below the median for that occupation. Leave it at 0 if you only want to research the benchmark.
- Check Hours per Week — the default 40 hours times 52 weeks equals 2,080 work hours, the standard the BLS uses to convert annual pay to an hourly wage. Lower it if you work part-time.
- Read the result card: the three national percentiles on top, the cost-adjusted local figures in the middle, and the hourly equivalent at the bottom.
The median is the line where half of workers earn more and half earn less. The 25th percentile means a quarter of workers in that occupation earn below that figure; the 75th percentile means three-quarters earn below it.
How the Benchmarks and COLA Work
The national numbers come directly from the BLS OES survey, which samples hundreds of thousands of employers each year and publishes annual wage percentiles for hundreds of occupations. The BLS reports median annual wage as the key benchmark, plus lower and upper percentiles, and it derives the hourly equivalent by dividing annual pay by 2,080 hours (40 hours a week for 52 weeks). That is why the median hourly equivalent on this page is always median salary divided by 2,080.
Cost of living is the reason the same occupation pays a "different" salary in different cities. A dollar earned in San Francisco buys less than a dollar earned in Dallas. To make benchmarks fair across locations, this calculator multiplies each national percentile by a regional cost-of-living index:
- Local wage = national wage × city cost-of-living factor
For example, a factor of 1.36 (New York) means the same job feels like it pays about 36% more locally just to cover housing, taxes, and everyday prices. A factor of 0.95 (Dallas) means you can live comfortably on slightly less than the national benchmark.
Where Does Your Salary Rank?
Once you enter your own annual salary, the calculator compares it to the occupation's national median:
Pay vs. median (%) = (your salary − median) ÷ median × 100
A result of +20% means you earn a fifth more than the typical worker in that role — usually the 60th to 65th percentile. A result of −20% puts you closer to the 35th percentile. Remember this comparison uses the national median; if your city's cost factor is high, your local purchasing power may actually be higher than the percentage suggests.
Examples
Example 1 — Software developer, national average. Choose software-developers and national-average. The 25th percentile is about $96,790, the median is $124,200, and the 75th percentile is about $156,210. The median hourly equivalent is $59.71. Entering your own salary of $95,000 puts your hourly rate at $45.67 and your pay about 23.5% below the median — a strong prompt to renegotiate or job-hop.
Example 2 — Registered nurse, not entered salary. Choose registered-nurses with no personal salary. The benchmark card shows a 25th percentile near $71,280, a median of $86,070, and a 75th percentile near $103,450, equal to an hourly median of $41.38. This is useful when you are deciding whether a nursing offer is competitive before you have a number to plug in.
Example 3 — Chief executive in San Francisco. Choose chief-executives and san-francisco (factor 1.49). The national median is $189,520, but the cost-adjusted local median is about $282,385. A $1,500,000 total-comp package converts to a $721.15 hourly rate and sits roughly 691.5% above the occupational median — high finance and C-suite territory.
Example 4 — Accountant in New York. Choose accountants-auditors and new-york (factor 1.36). The national median is $78,000, equal to $37.50 an hour. After cost-of-living adjustment the local median rises to about $106,080. A personal salary of $80,000 is only 2.6% above the national median but well below the New York-adjusted median, which explains why many accountants in expensive cities feel underpaid on paper.
FAQ
What is a good salary by occupation?
"Good" is relative to the 50th and 75th percentiles. If your pay is at or above the 50th percentile (the median) for your occupation and city, you earn more than half of workers in that role; the 75th percentile marks the top quartile. Use this calculator to find those thresholds for your specific job rather than relying on generic national averages.
Where do these occupation salary numbers come from?
The benchmarks come from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OES) survey, the largest authoritative source of US occupational wage data. Figures reflect May national estimates and are adjusted by an approximate regional cost-of-living index for the selected city.
How is the hourly equivalent calculated?
The BLS convention divides annual salary by 2,080 hours (40 hours per week × 52 weeks). So a $124,200 median software-developer salary equals about $124,200 ÷ 2,080 = $59.71 per hour. If you work a different schedule, adjust the Hours per Week field.
Why does the same occupation pay differently by city?
Because of cost of living, especially housing. A 1.36 cost factor in New York means prices run about 36% above the national average, so employers must pay more for the same standard of living. This calculator multiplies the national benchmark by that local factor to give you a comparable, apples-to-apples figure.
My salary shows below the median — should I change jobs?
Being below the median does not automatically mean you are underpaid for your experience, specialty, or company size. But it is a useful data point: combined with years of experience, performance, and benefits, a consistent gap below the 25th percentile usually justifies asking for a raise or testing the external market.
Does this include bonuses, stock, or benefits?
The BLS OES figures are base wages and salaries, excluding most benefits. Bonuses, equity, tips, and employer-provided health insurance are not fully reflected. If your package includes a large bonus or stock, add the annualized value to your gross salary before comparing it to the median.
Is the cost-of-living adjustment exact?
No. The city factors are approximate regional price indices and are rounded. They are intended for comparison, not precision budgeting. Actual costs vary by neighborhood, family size, and spending habits, so treat local figures as a directional estimate.
Disclaimer
This salary by occupation calculator is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, legal, or compensation advice. Occupational wage benchmarks are derived from publicly available BLS OES data and approximate regional cost-of-living factors; actual pay varies by employer, experience, education, industry, company size, and negotiation. Always verify current, location-specific compensation data with official BLS sources, employer surveys, or a qualified compensation professional before making career or pay decisions.