What a benchmark means
SalaryIndex separates submitted salary values, market benchmark ranges, and normalized estimates. A benchmark should be read as directional market data, not a guaranteed offer or legal compensation recommendation.
Methodology
How SalaryIndex thinks about salary benchmarks.
Last updated: July 17, 2026
The platform is designed to make salary data easier to interpret by showing the context behind benchmark numbers, including country, range, sample confidence, and data source.
Gross, net, and normalized values
Gross values describe compensation before deductions. Net values describe take-home context when a country flow supports it. Normalized estimates help compare salary data across markets without hiding the original country context.
Confidence and sample context
A role or company view should become more useful as sample count, recency, and data quality improve. Early markets may show launch coverage or limited samples until more anonymous submissions are collected.
Data provenance
Salary data may come from anonymous user submissions, imported legacy records, seeded launch coverage, or derived estimates. SalaryIndex should label these sources clearly wherever they materially affect a public benchmark.
What is a SalaryIndex salary benchmark?
A SalaryIndex benchmark is an aggregated view of anonymous salary records for a specific role and market. The benchmark keeps gross and net compensation separate, then shows sample context, salary period, role, country, location, work setup, and company signals where enough data exists. Benchmark ranges are directional market signals, not guaranteed offers, payroll advice, tax advice, or a replacement for local compensation analysis.
How does SalaryIndex handle early markets?
Early SalaryIndex markets may start with limited sample coverage while new anonymous submissions are collected. In those cases, role pages should be read as directional context first. SalaryIndex labels sample counts, separates gross and net records, and only shows benchmark ranges when enough matching salary records exist for the selected role and country.
How does SalaryIndex protect anonymity?
SalaryIndex protects anonymity by keeping public benchmarks aggregated and context-based instead of turning individual contributors into public salary profiles. Public pages should not expose a single person's salary as a definitive benchmark. Narrow or under-sampled segments stay hidden or locked until enough anonymous records exist, while private salary history remains inside the user's account.
Why does SalaryIndex separate gross and net salary?
SalaryIndex separates gross and net salary because they answer different compensation questions. Gross salary describes compensation before deductions, while net salary describes take-home pay after deductions in markets where that context is available. Mixing them into one range can mislead candidates, recruiters, and employers, so SalaryIndex labels reported gross, reported net, and normalized estimates separately.
How to read early markets
New country and role pages can start with limited samples. Use early benchmark ranges as directional context, then review sample count, country, work model, and salary definition before making a compensation decision.