Guides for pay work, in plain words
Plain-language guides to salary surveys and pay for HR teams at smaller employers. Written by the P50 team, with sources for every fact.
Salary survey basics
What salary surveys are and how to read them.
How to read P25, P50, and P75 in a salary report
P25, P50, and P75 are the 25th, 50th, and 75th percentiles of pay for one job. Here is what each means, how to compare your pay, and the mistakes to avoid.
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Salary survey vs. salary websites: which should you trust?
Salary surveys report pay that employers submit. Salary websites report pay that workers type in or that job ads list. Here is when to trust each one.
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What is a salary survey, and how does it work?
A salary survey collects pay data from many employers and reports it back as market rates. Here is how they work and why small companies rarely join.
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Doing pay work without a comp team
Step-by-step guides for HR generalists.
How to build a pay file from your payroll system
A pay file is one row per employee with job title, base pay, and work location. Here is how to export it from payroll and clean it up.
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How to price a job when you have no salary survey
A six-step method for pricing a job with free BLS data and public job postings, with a worked example and an honest note on what it cannot tell you.
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Rules and timing
Laws, safe practices, and the survey calendar.
Can employers share salary data? The antitrust rules
Yes, through a properly run survey. What employers cannot do is agree on pay or swap current wages with each other. Here are the rules in plain words.
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Pay transparency laws by state (2026)
Which states require pay ranges in job postings, who they cover, what to post, and when each law took effect. Verified against the statutes.
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When do salary surveys open each year?
Most U.S. salary surveys collect data in late winter and spring and publish in summer or fall. Here is the yearly calendar and what to do each quarter.
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