One of the biggest concerns we hear from clients is that it is difficult to find affordable salary surveys. That doesn’t always have to be the case. We’ve compiled this list of employer-reported salary surveys and market data sources that punch above their weight class in terms of value. Each of the data sources below is under $3,000 a year. These surveys are all highly affordable salary surveys and can ensure you have good data sources and avoid the tempting, but bad salary surveys.

Squirrel

A compilation of nearly 4.0M job postings that all include actual pay ranges.  Different from salary surveys which analyze what companies are paying, Squirrel data shows what companies are willing to pay.   Squirrel allows users to search for specific companies, locations, job titles, and years of experience, providing more detail than any salary survey can because of its unique data source.  

• Survey Type: General Industry with Technology Jobs
• Technology Specific: No
• Cost: $1,499 – $2,999
• Participation Required: No
• Jobs Represented: Over 5,000
• Companies Represented: Over 5,000
• Purchase Link: Link

Compensation and HR Group

The Compensation and HR Group offers a free salary survey for participants and is currently open at the time of this posting. This survey includes a wide range of jobs and has more than 500 participants, many from the New England states.  

• Survey Type: General Industry with Technology Jobs
• Technology Specific: No
• Cost: $0
• Participation Required: Yes
• Jobs Represented: Over 1,000
• Companies Represented: 400 – 500
• Purchase Link: Link

Empsight

Although Empsight’s Technologies and Security survey focuses on large multi-billion dollar organizations with larger information technology and IT security departments, the price point ($1995) makes it a very attractive option.  Although your organization may not be a multi-billion dollar company, you are most likely competing with them, and this information may be critical in your efforts to stay competitive.  

• Survey Type: Various Segments
• Technology Specific: Yes
• Cost: $1,995
• Participation Required: Yes
• Jobs Represented: Varies by Survey
• Companies Represented: Varies by Survey
• Purchase Link: Link

Culpepper

Culpepper Compensation Surveys are designed for business use by HR and compensation professionals and executives. They collect and report updated compensation data year-round, allowing you to base your compensation decisions on always-current data. Culpepper Compensation Surveys deliver relevant, industry-specific compensation data for organizations providing technical, engineering, scientific, and medical products and services. Primary sectors include IT, technology, engineering, life sciences, and healthcare.

• Survey Type: General Industry
• Technology Specific: Yes
• Cost: Varies
• Participation Required: Yes
• Jobs Represented: >500 
• Companies Represented: Unknown

AJ Gallagher

The Gallagher National Compensation Survey is a general compensation survey covering positions prevalent in a wide variety of industries across the United States.  The 2021 report presents data on 209 positions from 1,000 organizations covering over 378,000 employees.  The survey contains data cuts based on FTEs, revenue, region and state. 

• Survey Type: General Industry
• Technology Specific: No
• Cost: $1,995
• Participation Required: Yes
• Jobs Represented: 209
• Companies Represented: 1000
• Purchase Link: Link

Mercer Technology Survey

Mercer collaborated with Gartner to create an Information Technology salary survey. This IT survey is a subset of Mercers’ benchmark database survey and includes data for 1,100 IT positions, all levels, and career streams, and represents over 2,600 companies.

• Survey Type: General Industry with Technology Jobs
• Technology Specific: Yes
• Cost: $2,300
• Participation Required: Yes
• Jobs Represented: 1,982
• Companies Represented: 1,157
• Purchase Link: Link

EAA

The National Wage & Salary Survey is an accurate and comprehensive source for this important information. This report is especially useful for companies with operations in multiple regions, for national recruiting, and for adjusting pay rates for transferred employees.  This survey is published with the cooperation of participating employer associations nationwide who are part of the Employer Associations of America (EAA).

• Survey Type: General Industry
• Technology Specific: Yes
• Cost: $1,100 – $1,500
• Participation Required: No
• Jobs Represented: 150
• Companies Represented: 1300
• Purchase Link: surveys@mranet.org

Willis Towers Watson

The WTW Benchmark Select Salary Survey provides access to high-quality, reliable, and consistent compensation data for more than 250 select jobs around the world.

• Survey Type: General Industry
• Technology Specific: No
• Cost: $2800
• Participation Required: No
• Jobs Represented: 250
• Companies Represented: Unknown
• Purchase Link: Link