Free Tool · US Salary Data

Know your market worth in 2026

Real salary data across tech, business, creative, healthcare, and AI roles — sourced from BLS and 2026 market reports.

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Roles tracked

What is the US Salary Explorer?

The US Salary Explorer is a free interactive tool that lets you compare median annual salaries across five career categories: Technology, Business & Finance, Creative & Marketing, Healthcare, and AI/Emerging Roles. It’s built for professionals navigating a career change, evaluating a job offer, or benchmarking their current pay.

Data is sourced from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program — the most authoritative source for US occupational pay — combined with 2026 market data from Glassdoor, Kore1, Coursera, and Motion Recruitment for roles the BLS doesn’t yet formally categorise (like Prompt Engineer or GEO/AEO Specialist).

How is the salary data calculated?

Every figure went through a three-tier verification process in May 2026. First, we queried live SERP results for each role via the SERP API, pulling Google AI Overviews and Glassdoor salary snippets as they appeared in search in May 2026. Where Glassdoor data was surfaced (the majority of roles), that figure is used directly as the primary source — it reflects current US market pay across self-reported salaries from verified employees.

Where Glassdoor wasn’t available in SERP results, we used the Google AI Overview range as the secondary source. As a fallback for remaining roles, we took BLS OEWS May 2024 50th-percentile figures and applied the BLS Employment Cost Index cumulative adjustment factor of 1.064 (representing wage growth from May 2024 through Q1 2026, based on +3.5% Q1 2025 and +3.4% Q1 2026 year-over-year ECI data). Each card in the tool shows its data source label so you know exactly how each figure was derived. The BLS OEWS May 2025 release is scheduled for May 15, 2026 — we’ll update official figures then.

Is this tool free?

Yes — permanently free, no sign-up required. ThePivotWave builds free tools to help professionals make better-informed career decisions. There’s no paywall, no email gate, and no premium tier. The data updates when new BLS or major market reports are released.

How can I improve my salary?

The fastest way to move up a salary band is typically a combination of: gaining a credential that signals seniority, switching employers (job-hopping remains the most reliable pay accelerator in tech), or shifting into a higher-paying adjacent role. For AI/emerging roles specifically, hands-on project work beats certifications in most hiring contexts right now.

For structured upskilling, DataCamp is worth looking at for data science and AI roles, and Coursera’s professional certificates (Google, IBM, Meta) carry genuine hiring weight for career changers. Neither is a silver bullet — but both are among the more practical options compared to expensive bootcamps.

Frequently asked questions

Is this data only for the US? ▼

Yes — all figures are US market salaries in USD. Every source (BLS, Glassdoor US, Kore1, Motion Recruitment) covers the US specifically. If you’re comparing against a UK, EU, or global salary, expect significant variation — tech salaries in particular can be 30–60% lower in most European markets compared to US equivalents.

Why does Glassdoor show different numbers than BLS? ▼

BLS captures base salary across all company sizes and geographies — including small businesses, regional employers, and non-profits. Glassdoor reflects self-reported figures from verified employees, skewing toward larger companies and tech hubs. In this tool, Glassdoor 2026 is our primary source because it’s current: BLS figures are from May 2024 and require forward-adjustment. One important difference: BLS SOC codes don’t always map cleanly to job titles. The BLS “Advertising, Promotions & Marketing Managers” code ($161K) covers director-level roles — the Glassdoor Marketing Manager figure ($106K) better reflects what most people mean by that title. We used Glassdoor where it was available for exactly this reason.

How reliable are the AI/emerging role figures? ▼

Less reliable than BLS figures, and we say so in the tool. Roles like Prompt Engineer and GEO/AEO Specialist don’t have formal BLS occupation codes yet, so figures come from job posting aggregators and self-reported salary databases. Treat those numbers as directional, not definitive — and expect significant variance depending on employer, industry, and geography.

When will this update with the latest BLS data? ▼

The BLS OEWS May 2025 data releases on May 15, 2026 — we’ll update the BLS-sourced fallback figures then. For Glassdoor and market figures, we re-verify via SERP quarterly and update when a meaningful shift appears. The tool was last verified via SERP API in May 2026.