How to Figure Out What a Role Should Pay
Going into a salary conversation without a number is how good candidates get underpaid. Here is a practical way to land on a range you can defend.
The fastest way to get underpaid is to walk into a salary conversation without a number of your own. When you have no figure, you end up anchored to theirs. A few hours of research fixes that, and it gives you a range you can say out loud without flinching.
Start with what the market actually pays
Public salary data is a starting point, not an answer. Look at several sources rather than one, because each has its own bias in how it collects numbers. Filter for your role, your location, and roughly your years of experience. You are trying to find the middle of the market for someone like you, not the highest number you can find.
On Koali, many postings show a real pay range, which does more of this work for you. A board where employers commit to a number is worth more than a dozen aggregator estimates. When you browse open roles, the ranges you see for similar jobs are some of your best local data.
Adjust for the specifics
The market middle is where you start. Then you move up or down for things that are true about you and the role:
- Scope. A title means different things at a five-person company and a five-thousand-person one. Match on the actual work, not the label.
- Scarcity. If the skill is hard to hire for, that is leverage, and it belongs in your number.
- Location and remote. A remote role may pay to a different market than the one you live in. Know which market it is pegged to.
- Total compensation. Base is only part of it. Bonus, equity, and benefits can move the real number by a lot, in either direction.
Build a range, not a point
Land on three figures: the number you would be genuinely happy with, the number that is fair, and the floor you would not go below. When you are asked, give the fair-to-happy part of that range, stated plainly. A range shows you have done the work and leaves room to negotiate without starting from a weak position.
Say the number without apologizing
The hard part is not the research. It is saying the figure without softening it. Practice it out loud until it sounds normal, because a number delivered with a wince invites a lowball. You did the work, so state it like a fact.
Research first, adjust for the specifics, and walk in with a range you can defend. When the offer comes, how to negotiate a job offer covers the conversation itself.