Salary & Career Glossary
Plain-language definitions of compensation, salary statistics, and career terms. 25 terms and counting.
Compensation Types
Base SalaryThe fixed amount of money an employee earns before bonuses, benefits, overtime, or other additional compensation — the guaranteed floor of your total pay.Benefits PackageThe non-wage compensation an employer provides — health insurance, retirement plans, paid time off, disability coverage, and other perks — worth $10,000-$30,000+ annually on top of salary.Equity Compensation (Stock-Based Pay)Compensation in the form of company stock or stock options — common in tech, finance, and startups, where it can represent 20-50% of total pay for senior roles.Hourly WageCompensation calculated per hour worked — the primary pay structure for approximately 56% of U.S. workers. BLS data converts all wages to both hourly and annual equivalents.Overtime PayCompensation at 1.5 times the regular hourly rate for hours worked beyond 40 in a workweek — required by the Fair Labor Standards Act for non-exempt employees.Total Compensation (Total Comp)The complete value of everything an employer provides — base salary plus bonuses, equity/stock, benefits, retirement contributions, and perks.
Salary Statistics
Mean Salary (Average Salary)The arithmetic average of all salaries for a role — calculated by adding all salaries and dividing by the number of workers. Typically higher than the median because high earners pull the average up.Median SalaryThe middle point of all salaries for a given role — half of workers earn more, half earn less. More useful than average salary because it isn't skewed by extremely high or low earners.Salary PercentileYour position in the salary distribution — the 75th percentile (p75) means you earn more than 75% of workers in the same role. BLS reports p10, p25, p50, p75, and p90.Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) CodeA federal system that categorizes every U.S. job into one of 867 detailed occupations — used by BLS, DOL, and Census Bureau to track wages, employment, and labor market trends.Wage DistributionThe full range and spread of salaries for a given occupation — from the lowest earners (p10) to the highest (p90) — revealing how pay varies by experience, location, and employer.
Career & Job Market
Career Growth (Salary Trajectory)The pattern of earnings increases over a career — typically steepest in the first 10 years, plateauing in the mid-40s for most occupations, with significant variation by industry and role.Gender Pay GapThe difference in earnings between men and women — women earn approximately 84 cents for every dollar earned by men when comparing full-time workers, though the gap narrows significantly when controlling for occupation, experience, and hours.Job Market Outlook (Projected Growth)BLS projections for how fast employment in an occupation will grow or shrink over the next decade — measured as a percentage change in total jobs.Pay TransparencyThe practice (and increasingly, legal requirement) of disclosing salary ranges in job postings — aimed at reducing pay gaps and giving workers better information for negotiation.Salary RangeThe minimum to maximum pay an employer is willing to offer for a position — increasingly required by law to be disclosed in job postings in many states.
Cost of Living
Cost of Living Index (COL Index)A measure of how expensive it is to live in a given city compared to the national average (100) — accounting for housing, food, transportation, healthcare, and other essentials.Geographic Pay DifferentialThe difference in salary for the same job in different cities — reflecting local cost of living, labor supply and demand, state taxes, and industry concentration.Purchasing PowerThe real value of your salary after adjusting for local cost of living — what your income can actually buy in terms of housing, food, and services.
Data Sources
BLS OEWS (Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics)The Bureau of Labor Statistics survey that produces the salary data used by SalaryTruth — covering 800+ occupations across all U.S. metro areas, with data from 1.1 million business establishments.Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)The federal agency that collects and publishes employment, wage, price, and productivity data — the authoritative source for salary information in the United States.
Salary Negotiation
CounterofferA revised compensation offer from your current employer after you receive an outside offer or announce your intention to leave — accepted by many but regretted by most.Market RateThe going rate for a specific job in a specific location — what employers are actually paying for a given role, based on supply and demand in the local labor market.Salary NegotiationThe process of discussing and agreeing on compensation with an employer — where research shows most people leave 5-15% on the table by not negotiating or negotiating without data.Signing Bonus (Sign-On Bonus)A one-time payment offered to a new hire as an incentive to accept a job offer — common in tech, finance, healthcare, and competitive labor markets, typically $5,000 to $50,000+.