Career Resources & Tools
Everything you need to research salaries, plan your career, and make informed decisions. Tools, calculators, guides, and data sources all in one place.
Where to Start, Based on What You're Trying to Do
A directory is only useful if you know which door to open first. Here is how we would sequence these resources for the most common situations.
"I just got a job offer — is it good?"
Look up the occupation and state in the salary search, then read the percentile guide to place the offer on the distribution. If the job is in a different city, run it through the cost-of-living adjustment before deciding, and the tax calculator for take-home pay.
"I want a raise"
Start with the negotiation playbook — it walks through exactly which numbers to pull and the scripts to deliver them. The supporting evidence comes from your occupation's salary page and its trend history.
"I'm considering a career change"
Use occupation comparison to put candidates side by side, check long-run trajectories in the trends explorer (read the trends guide first so the charts don't mislead you), and — if you're skipping the degree route — start from the no-degree analysis.
"I'm relocating"
The best states tool ranks every state for your occupation with cost-of-living adjustment built in; state pages show what else pays well in your destination.
Salary Search
Search and compare salaries for any occupation across all U.S. states and metro areas.
Wage Trends Analysis
Analyze historical salary trends and growth patterns for occupations over time.
Best States Tool
Compare salary potential across states for any occupation, adjusted for cost of living.
Industry Analysis
Explore salary data by industry and discover which industries pay the most for your occupation.
Salary Calculator
Convert between hourly and annual salaries, calculate take-home pay, and more.
Tax Calculator
Estimate federal and state taxes on your salary with detailed breakdowns.
SOC Code Guide
Learn about Standard Occupational Classification codes and how to find yours.
Methodology
Understand how we calculate salary data, career trends, and labor market insights.
No Degree Jobs Guide
Discover high-paying jobs that don't require a college degree.
How to Read Salary Percentiles
What the 10th-90th percentiles mean, why mean and median disagree, and how to judge any job offer against the full wage distribution.
Cost of Living vs. Salary
How Regional Price Parities work and how to convert any salary into real purchasing power before comparing offers across states.
Salary Negotiation Playbook
Turn government wage data into a defensible ask, with scripts for offers, counters, and internal raises.
Understanding Wage Trends
Nominal vs. real growth, volatility, and what recessions actually do to different occupations' paychecks.
Bureau of Labor Statistics
Official source for occupational employment and wage statistics (OEWS) data.
O*NET Online
Comprehensive database of occupational information including skills, knowledge, and abilities.
Bureau of Economic Analysis
Regional price parities (RPP) data for cost of living adjustments.
Data Sources Page
Complete list of all data sources used in Wage Atlas calculations.
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