Bragswap

Salary.com vs Payscale

Updated

Salary.com is built on employer-reported, HR-verified survey data. Payscale's free data comes from its online survey of employees. Use Salary.com for the market rate of a job description, Payscale to see how your own profile changes pay.

Side by side

Salary.com and Payscale, from their own pages
Salary.comPayscale
Data fromEmployer-reported compensation surveysIts online salary survey, filled in by employees
How jobs are matchedEach job matched to several surveys (CompAnalyst)Your job title, experience and skills
UpdatedEvery month (CompAnalyst)200,000+ new profiles a month
Best forEmployer benchmarks for a job descriptionHow experience, skills and certifications change pay
Paid productsCompAnalyst, for employersPeer and pay software, for employers

Which one for you

  • You want what employers pay for a job like yours: Salary.com.
  • You want to see what people like you earn: Payscale.
  • You want the typical pay of your job in your city, free: the BLS median, also from employers. Salaries by job and city.

The BLS median for accountants in the Chicago area is $82,360 (U.S.: $83,680). Like Salary.com's data, it comes from employers, and the government publishes it free.

See where your pay stands for your job and city. Takes 30 seconds. Free, no sign-up.

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Questions

Is Salary.com accurate?

Its data is reported by employers through compensation surveys, so it reflects what companies pay for a job. Compare with the BLS median, also reported by employers.

What is the difference between Salary.com and Payscale?

Where the data comes from: employers for Salary.com, employees for Payscale's free data.

Sources

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, www.bls.gov/oes. BLS.gov cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from BLS.gov.