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A salary can feel generous or tight depending on one thing above all else: where you live. In some parts of the country, $40,000 might barely cover the basics. In more affordable places, though, the same paycheck can stretch surprisingly far.
To see just how much difference location makes, I asked ChatGPT to help identify where a $40,000 salary goes the furthest in the U.S. and what that looks like in real living expenses. READ MORE
It’s a seller’s market for skills that mesh with an increasingly AI driven environment, and a handful of them are at the top of hiring managers’ lists. While the broader job market has stalled since summer, small business hiring remains steady, and AI is having an impact on entry-level hiring for Gen-Z workers. But of course that also means that if you’ve got skills in working with and programming AI systems then you’re in demand.
A recent report from recruitment services outfit Robert Half provides estimated starting salaries for key roles across different professional fields, and the big take-away from the data is that 84 percent of the hiring managers surveyed said they’d offer higher salaries for job candidates who have the most sought-after skills. READ MORE
Are you, the indispensable finance professional, being fairly compensated? Talent and business advisory firm Robert Half’s newly released 2026 Salary Guide may help answer that question.
The average mid-range salary of a CFO is $269,750, spanning from $195,500 on the low end to $321,750 on the high end, according to the guide. For the rest of the finance team, the mid-range salary is $185,000 for a controller, $94,750 for a senior accountant, and $62,000 for an entry-level staff accountant. READ MORE
In 2022, Nancy Romanyshyn stood up in front of dozens of her fellow HR industry veterans, swallowed her pride, and did something that scared her: She shared her entire pay history.
She, like others, was daunted by new laws around pay transparency and the start of salary ranges being posted for open jobs—mandates that, she said, made her nauseous at first. But since ignoring the changes was not an option, she wanted her peers in HR to buck the decades-old trend of silence around salaries and prepare for a time when it would become part of business as usual. READ MORE
By its strictest definition of bordering the Atlantic Ocean, the East Coast is comprised of 14 states running from Maine in the North to Florida in the South, although some analyses include Vermont and Pennsylvania because of their proximity to the ocean and their cultural connections to the Eastern Seaboard states they border.
The area is loosely divided into three regions: New England in the Northeast, the Southeastern states and the Mid-Atlantic in between. READ MORE
While many employers are willing to pay more for specialized talent, job offers can fall short of candidate expectations. And while most professionals express confidence in negotiating salary, they can struggle to gauge their worth and what’s up for discussion.
Dawn Fay highlights key findings from the 2026 Salary Guide from Robert Half and what’s ahead for both job seekers and hiring managers. She provides tips and advice for negotiating salary, as well as share insights on impactful benefits and perks. READ MORE
A group of Tesla shareholders, backed by several US politicians, is calling for the rejection of the historic $1 trillion compensation proposed for Elon Musk. The proposal, which will be put to a vote in November, has sparked heated controversy over the automaker's governance. The SOC Investment Group and the treasurers of Nevada, New Mexico, and Connecticut are denouncing a strategy aimed at retaining Musk "at all costs," even as Tesla experiences delays in its strategic objectives and a decline in its performance. The coalition also opposes the reappointment of three directors deemed to have failed in their supervisory role. READ MORE
Under a new law in Maine, covered employers are now required to provide compensation or show-up pay to employees who report to work but have their shifts canceled or reduced.
In passing this legislation, Maine joins a handful of states that require show-up pay, also known as reporting time pay, including California, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York and Rhode Island. READ MORE
Sometimes, the best way to invest in employees' career and development is to let them invest in you.
Nearly half of employees consider equity compensation — a benefit that gives them a stake in their company's shares — a must-have benefit for a new job and view it as a critical tool to help achieve their retirement goals, according to a recent survey from financial services company Charles Schwab. Adding an effective equity compensation package may be the perfect solution for benefit leaders looking to attract, retain and engage their workforce. READ MORE
The 2006 SEC and 2010 Dodd-Frank mandated executive pay proxy disclosure requirements significantly increased the amount of information that companies must disclose, and shareholders and other interested parties must navigate to determine a company’s executive compensation program. The SEC’s June 26, 2025, Roundtable gave voice to many of the positive and negative attributes to the current proxy disclosure regime, with near universal support for ensuring the disclosed information is more readily accessible and material to investors’ understanding of the program. While many commentators expressed concerns about the complexity of the Pay versus Performance (PVP) disclosure rules and some cited the lack of interest in this disclosure, others welcomed the disclosure, as it provides investors with an analysis of outcome-based compensation compared to performance rather than the static view of compensation reported in the Summary Compensation Table (SCT). Indeed, the main reason Dodd-Frank mandated the PVP disclosure was the failure of the 2006 rules to provide investors with a true, consistent picture of pay and performance. READ MORE
Equity compensation is taking on a growing role in the retirement strategies of American workers, with new research from Charles Schwab showing that nearly all stock plan participants consider it an important workplace benefit.
Three-quarters of those surveyed described equity compensation as “very important,” and almost half said it is essential when evaluating new job opportunities. READ MORE
Ever catch yourself wondering how your parents—or maybe your grandparents—managed so much with just one paycheck?
I do. My mom likes to remind me that back in the late 1970s, my dad’s modest salary as an accountant was enough for a mortgage, a car, and family vacations. They weren’t living large, but they weren’t drowning in debt either.
Fast forward to today, and most couples I know are running on two full-time incomes just to stay afloat. And even then, the math often feels impossible.
So, what changed? Let’s break it down. READ MORE
The wealthiest Americans have been doing even better than previously thought — and are driving a consumer spending surge that has been fueling the U.S. economy as they splurge on travel, hotels and dining out, newly-revised economic data shows.
Updated figures released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis on Friday show that income growth since 2020 from investments, rental properties and businesses has been far more robust than previously reported. Capital incomes were revised up by a total 4.4 percent, reflecting the post-lockdown boost in stock prices and home values that has disproportionately benefited the wealthiest. READ MORE
After two uncharacteristic years of decline in 2022 and 2023, the pay for chief executive officers (CEOs) of the 350 largest firms in the U.S. increased in 2024. As of the latest data available, realized compensation—which captures what CEOs took home in pay after any stock-based compensation was sold—averaged nearly 23 million dollars in 2024 at the 350 largest publicly traded firms, an increase of 5.9% since 2023.
EPI’s new CEO pay data page details the latest information on CEO pay, the sources of CEO pay, and how CEO pay compares with what typical workers are paid, the stock market, and the pay of other highly paid workers. The new web page also provides historical data on each measure as far back as 1965. READ MORE
Tesla is now buying advertising on Elon Musk’s X (formerly Twitter) to get Tesla shareholders to vote for his CEO compensation package worth up to $1 trillion in stock options.
Tesla, under Elon Musk’s leadership, has famously been against advertising. The CEO is even on the record saying that he “hates advertising” and that “other companies spend money on advertising and manipulating public opinion, Tesla focuses on the product.” READ MORE
As we dive headfirst into the digital era, the way we pay our employees is undergoing a significant transformation. Don't get me wrong, Bitcoin has been a great ride but its volatility is a nightmare. Thankfully, stablecoins are coming in to save the day! So, how are these cryptocurrencies and stablecoins reshaping the salary landscape? Buckle up, because it's about to get interesting. READ MORE
Nearly 11 million Americans work as managers in the United States. A diverse field, managers can be everything from legislators to chief executives to school administrators. They can work on farms, in hospitals, in childcare centers, or at corporations. They can also earn a pretty substantial salary-the average salary is in the six figures (over $141,000 a year). But which management jobs are the most lucrative? Stacker identified the 30 management jobs that pay the highest median salaries and listed them in order from least lucrative to most, using 2024 data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. According to BLS, the estimates "are calculated with data collected from employers in all industry sectors in metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas in every state and the District of Columbia." READ MORE
Across the United States, median full-time salaries vary widely depending on the state. From booming coastal economies to regions with lower costs of living, geographic differences play a major role in shaping income levels.
This visualization maps out the median full-time salary by state in 2024 using data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, the latest data available as of September 2025. READ MORE
Excessive levels of executive pay are headline news and have become a focal point of public scrutiny and academic debate. The wide – and increasing – ratio between executives’ and workers’ pay raises questions about corporate ethics, fairness, and societal impact. Yet executive pay decision-makers report on significant challenges in translating ethical principles into practice and perceived unfairness in executive rewards persists. Dr Sue Shortland reports on recent research.
In their academic paper “Bridging Theory and Practice: Ethical Governance of Executive Compensation in the Financial Times Stock Exchange 100”*, published earlier this year Perkins and Shortland report that the Chief Executive Officer (CEO)-to-worker pay ratio stood at 324:1 among Standard and Poor’s 500 companies in 2022, up from 61:1 in 1989. Not only is the differential considered to be egregious but it continues to increase. READ MORE
Elon Musk addressed the pay debate directly on X after a user urged shareholders to back the proposal. He said, “It’s not about ‘compensation,’ but about me having enough influence over Tesla to ensure safety if we build millions of robots.” He added, “If I can just get kicked out in the future by activist shareholder advisory firms who don’t even own Tesla shares themselves, I’m not comfortable with that future.” READ MORE