Compensation Benchmark Tool
"Is $300k good?" has no answer until you know where it sits in the distribution for your role, level and location. Find your percentile — and the gap to the next benchmark.
Benchmark console
Your $360K sits at the 50th percentile of Senior · Silicon Valley. Built-in band figures are indicative — use verified data for real negotiation.
Your $360K is at the 50th percentile for Senior · Silicon Valley. That's solidly market — room to push toward p75 with leverage.
Reaching the 75th percentile would take $90K more — that's your quantified ask. Present it as data: "this is at p50 for the band; the median/p75 is $450K."
Build your TC in the Salary Explorer and value equity in the Stock-Based Comp Calculator before benchmarking.
Why percentile beats the raw number
"Is $300k good?" has no answer until you know the role, level and location — and where $300k sits in that market's distribution. Percentile, not the raw figure, is what tells you if you're underpaid.
Knowing you're at the 40th percentile is useful; knowing it would take $X more to reach the median or 75th is actionable. The distance to the next percentile is your negotiation target.
The same total comp can be 90th percentile for one level/location and 25th for another. Always benchmark against the right band — the market you're actually in, not a global average.
"I heard someone got more" loses to "this offer is at the 35th percentile for this role and location." A defensible percentile position is the strongest, calmest negotiating posture.
Answering 'is this good?'
The question every professional asks about their pay — "is this good?" — has no answer in the form it's usually posed, because a raw number carries no information without a market to measure it against. Three hundred thousand dollars could be exceptional or below-market depending entirely on the role, the level, and the location. The instant you fix those and look at where your figure sits in that market's distribution, the question becomes answerable: you're at the fortieth percentile, or the eightieth, and now you know.
That shift from raw number to percentile is the whole discipline of compensation benchmarking, and it's how professionals reason about pay. The median tells you what's typical; below it suggests you're underpaid for the band; above the seventy-fifth is strong; ninetieth-plus is top-of-market. And crucially, the distance from where you are to the next benchmark is not just information — it's your negotiation target, a specific dollar figure that would move you to the median or the upper quartile.
The bands matter as much as the number. The same total compensation can be ninetieth percentile for one level and location and twenty-fifth for another, so benchmarking against the wrong band — a global average, the wrong city, base instead of total comp — produces a confidently wrong answer. Always position yourself against the market you're actually in, using a consistent definition of total compensation on both sides.
And in the negotiation itself, a percentile is the strongest, calmest posture you can hold. "I heard someone got more" is anecdote and loses; "this offer is at the thirty-fifth percentile for this role and location, and the median is this much higher" is data and wins. Use this tool to find where your total compensation sits and what it would take to move up — and build that total comp first in the Salary Explorer, valuing the equity in the Stock-Based Compensation Calculator. The built-in bands here are illustrative; for a real negotiation, plug in current distribution data for your exact band.
Trusted by Professionals at Negotiation Time
“Walking into a review knowing my comp was at the 38th percentile for my band — and that reaching the median meant a specific dollar figure — completely changed the conversation. Data beats anecdote, exactly as the tool says. The gap-to-next-percentile is the actual ask, quantified. Got the raise. Indispensable for negotiation.”
“The percentile-not-raw-number framing is the entire discipline in one line, and this tool teaches it well. I tell clients to plug in current distribution data for their exact band — the method is sound, the built-in bands are honestly labelled illustrative. Pairs perfectly with the salary explorer and stock-comp tools. Excellent.”
“Clean percentile positioning with the location-band selection, which is crucial — my TC was p80 in Europe but would've been p40 in the Valley. The negotiation framing is spot-on. Would love to import live distribution data, but entering my own band figures works. Genuinely useful at offer time.”
“As someone with no reference point, seeing where an offer sat in the distribution for the actual role and city was clarifying in a way no salary number could be. The 'is $X good?' question finally had an answer. Chains right into the salary explorer for the TC build-up. Fast and empowering.”
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percentile = piecewise-linear interpolation of TC against p10/p25/p50/p75/p90 band anchors · Indicative bands, not a survey · Last reviewed: 2026-06