Average Income by Career Experience: How Salaries Change at Every Stage

At some point in your career, you'll likely wonder: Am I getting paid enough?

The answer depends on what other people in your role actually earn, and how experience shifts those numbers. Below, we break down median salaries for 150 of the most common professions by years of experience, from just starting a job to 20-plus years in. If your pay looks low, the next move is knowing how to check, document, and ask for more. READ MORE

Does Gen Z know their number?

What’s your number? This is the first question I ask when considering a new hire. I expect those I ask to know what it costs for them to live—not just to survive, but to thrive. I start with this question because it gives me a chance to understand a prospective employee’s expectations and needs, and to assess my ability to meet them.

Since 2018, I have worked with close to 2,000 high school students, providing them with paid summer work experience. Most had never considered their number before. I also mentor many young Gen Zers who are now finishing college and looking for their first full-time post-college job. One mentee, Sophia Castellanos—who just graduated from my alma mater, Claremont McKenna College—earned a degree in international relations. She asked if I might have any opportunities for her. READ MORE

What Bobby Bonilla Day Can Teach Us About Deferred Compensation

Every year on July 1, Bobby Bonilla collects a check for $1,193,248.20 from the New York Mets. He has done so every July 1 since 2011 and will continue to do so through 2035. The date is so well known that baseball fans simply call it Bobby Bonilla Day.

For Mets fans, it is an annual punchline. For tax folks, it is something else: a reminder that when you get paid can matter almost as much as how much you get paid. READ MORE

Remote work pays well for executives but costs everyone else

As companies like PNC, JPMorgan Chase and Paramount bring employees back to the office, the debate has focused on collaboration, culture and productivity. Missing from that conversation is the impact of remote work on paychecks. However, a recent study found that the majority of tech workers lose thousands annually in work-from-home arrangements.

JobLeads, a job-seeking platform, analyzed salary data across 42 standardized tech roles and found that 86% of positions pay less when they are performed remotely than when they are performed in the office. The average remote worker earns $7,703 less annually, according to the report, roughly a 6% cut. Senior and mid-level workers each lose approximately $10,000 per year going fully remote, and the researchers say not a single senior-level role in the study commanded a remote premium. READ MORE

Proposed Filer Status Reforms: Impact on Executive Compensation Disclosure

On May 19, 2026, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed amendments (the Filer Status Proposal) to its filer status framework. These amendments present a major overhaul of the public company reporting regime, including with respect to executive and director compensation disclosure practices, by significantly increasing the number of public companies that would be entitled to both scaled compensation disclosure and exemptions from compensation-related requirements. READ MORE

In San Francisco, Even $180,000 Tech Salaries Are No Longer Enough

Katrine Razniak, 27, arrived in San Francisco in 2022 as a recruiter at LinkedIn, earning $70,000 a year. Her annual salary soared to $180,000 when she joined the software company Rippling to lead a team of account managers. Her partner, Adam Woodbury, 39, moved to the city in 2021 and earns $185,000 as a software engineer.

These days, even those six-figure salaries are no longer enough in San Francisco. READ MORE

CEO Pay Is Skyrocketing. Meet the 8 Leaders Making Over $100 Million

The Wall Street Journal just released its annual CEO pay analysis, and the data shows a clear rebound in payouts following a post-2021 slump. Notably, more CEOs made $100 million or more in 2025 than in any year since then.

Eight chief execs at S&P 500 companies hit a nine-figure payout, including a few names you’ve probably heard of: Warner Bros. Discovery’s David Zaslav came in fifth with $165 million in total pay, Blackstone’s Stephen Schwarzman hit sixth with $126 million and Goldman Sachs’ David Solomon scored seventh at $119 million. READ MORE

Pharma CEO compensation report

Who is the highest paid CEO in all of pharma? To be honest, the 2025 list of top paid chief executives looks a lot like the 2024 list. And that’s no surprise, given the year this CEO oversaw.

Eli Lilly’s David Ricks took home $36.7 million for the year, representing a 26% pay bump over the year prior. He helped the storied pharma along to a 45% revenue increase to $65 billion. Lilly broke the pharma mold in 2025, with its market cap rising 25%, briefly hitting a $1 trillion valuation.

So Ricks has commanded a compensation package to match, with Lilly’s board eager to keep him happy. READ MORE

Which Degrees Have the Highest and Lowest Early-Career Salaries?

Few college majors pay better after graduation than computer engineering.

The major also shows why more high school graduates are questioning whether a bachelor's degree is worth it: computer engineers earn the highest early-career median wage of any major, $90,000, but they also face an unemployment rate of 7.8%, one of the highest the Federal Reserve Bank of New York tracks. READ MORE

Salary pays for effort. Equity pays for uncertainty

Consider someone holding a share award in a private company.

They received it twelve months ago, during an optimistic conversation about growth and value creation. They signed the documents. They may even have paid something for it.

But ask them today what it is actually worth - not the number communicated, but what has to happen before they can make money from it - and many will struggle to answer. They know they have "equity". They are less clear on what they own, what sits ahead of them in the capital structure, what conditions apply and whether the exit timeline is realistic. READ MORE

CEO Compensation Trends: Record Highs in 2025

On June 23, 2026, the landscape of executive compensation in the U.S. has seen a significant shift, with over 12 CEOs surpassing $200 million in annual pay, marking a record high since 2021. Among these, Shankh Mitra of Welltower Inc WELL stands out with a staggering compensation package of $821 million, primarily in stock awards. This trend raises questions about the alignment of executive pay with investor returns and the overall health of corporate governance. READ MORE

Jeff Bezos Says It’s ‘Kind of Absurd’ A Nurse Making $75K Is Paying More Than $1,000 A Month In Taxes — ‘They Should Be Sending Her An Apology’

When one of the world's richest people starts arguing that someone else should be paying less tax, ears tend to perk up.

During an interview with CNBC last month, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos weighed in on the growing debate over wealth inequality and the financial pressures facing many Americans. Rather than focusing on who should be blamed, Bezos argued that policymakers should spend more time identifying why people are struggling in the first place and less time searching for villains. READ MORE

The Post-Proxy Transition: How Peer Tracking Is Changing for HR Teams

Every year, proxy season creates a familiar scramble. HR and compensation teams spend weeks analyzing dense SEC filings to answer a critical question from the board: How do our executive pay and corporate governance structures compare with our peers?

Following the conclusion of proxy season, HR and compensation teams use key peer policy information and updates to prepare for annual meetings and upcoming board and compensation committee meetings. However, sorting through and analyzing the information can be quite challenging for teams. READ MORE