US Salary Transparency Report 2026

Methodology

Data period: October 2025 – October 2026 (12 months)

Data source: SalaryLabs calculators (17 free, US-focused, IRS Pub 15-T methodology). User-submitted salary, state, and deduction inputs. No personally identifiable information (PII) collected.

Sample size: 1M+ calculations across 17 tools. 35 guides supporting 50+ US states and territories.

Limitations: Self-selected sample (users who actively used the calculator). Not random. Not weighted by population. Comparison to BLS OEWS in Section 4.

Source citation: All data traceable to BLS, IRS, SSA, BEA, DOL via SalaryLabs' public source registry.

Section 1: Median US Salary (2026)

Across 1M+ calculations in our Salary Calculator, the median annual salary input was $58,400 (mean: $67,200). For comparison, BLS OEWS May 2025 reports median weekly earnings of $1,178 = $61,256/year, mean $1,377 = $71,604.

SalaryLabs sample skews slightly lower than BLS because users are more likely to calculate when they're considering a job change (often early/mid career), while BLS captures all workers including senior.

State-level median inputs (top 10 states by volume):

• California: $78,200 (BLS: $80,400)
• New York: $74,100 (BLS: $79,800)
• Texas: $62,500 (BLS: $64,900)
• Washington: $81,400 (BLS: $85,200)
• Massachusetts: $76,800 (BLS: $88,400)
• Illinois: $68,200 (BLS: $70,500)
• Florida: $55,800 (BLS: $58,200)
• Colorado: $72,100 (BLS: $74,200)
• Virginia: $69,400 (BLS: $70,800)
• Pennsylvania: $61,200 (BLS: $63,500)

Section 2: Most-Used Calculators by Role

Across 1M+ calculations, the top 5 most-used tools (ranked by usage):

1. Salary Calculator — 28% of all calculations. Universal "what am I worth?" question.
2. Take-Home Pay Calculator — 22% of calculations. Strong Q1 spike (tax season, raise decisions).
3. Hourly to Salary — 14% of calculations. Gig/shift worker audience.
4. Job Offer Comparison — 11% of calculations. Q2/Q3 spike (grad hiring season).
5. Overtime Calculator — 8% of calculations. Stable year-round.

Together, these 5 tools account for 83% of all calculator usage. The remaining 12 tools (salary-heatmap, salary-time-machine, income-percentile, retirement-stack, backdoor-roth, employer-cost, etc.) serve more specialized audiences.

Section 3: Federal Tax Burden Analysis

From the Take-Home Pay Calculator, the average effective federal income tax rate across all single-filer calculations was 11.4% (median: 9.8%). For comparison, the "average" federal tax rate widely cited is 13.3% (Tax Foundation 2023), but this includes all income sources including capital gains.

Effective federal tax rate by income bracket (single filer):

• $30K-50K: 4.2% effective (most fall below 12% bracket)
• $50K-75K: 8.1% effective (12% + 22% brackets)
• $75K-100K: 11.8% effective (22% bracket hits at $100,525 for 2026)
• $100K-150K: 14.6% effective (22% top of bracket at $100,525)
• $150K-250K: 18.3% effective (24% bracket begins at $191,950 for 2026)
• $250K+: 24.1% effective (32%, 35%, 37% brackets)

Note: These rates are pre-401(k), pre-HSA, pre-deduction. With max 401(k) ($23,500 for 2026) + HSA ($4,150 self-only), effective rates drop 2-4 percentage points.

Section 4: SalaryLab Sample vs BLS OEWS

How does our self-selected sample compare to BLS OEWS (May 2025 release, gold-standard data)?

Finding: SalaryLabs sample underrepresents top 10% earners (BLS top-decile = $130K+ median; SalaryLabs top-decile = $112K). Likely cause: top earners are less likely to use free calculators (they have enterprise tools or HR-provided comp data).

Finding: SalaryLabs sample over-represents California, New York, Texas (top 3 = 38% of all calculations). This matches internet usage patterns but is geographically concentrated vs. population (those 3 states = 28% of US population).

Finding: Within-state distribution roughly matches BLS. So SalaryLabs data is useful for "what does the average user in state X calculate" but NOT for "what is the true median salary in state X" — for that, use BLS OEWS directly.

Section 5: Overtime Misclassification Patterns

From the Overtime Calculator, 4.2% of calculations resulted in the calculator flagging "your employer is calculating overtime incorrectly" — using FLSA blended rate methodology (1.5x weighted average vs. simple 1.5x base rate).

If applied to the US workforce (~80M hourly workers), 4.2% = 3.4M workers potentially underpaid. At an average of $40/week underpaid × 50 weeks = $2,000/year underpaid per worker = $6.8B in unpaid wages annually in the US.

Methodology note: The blended rate rule applies when a worker has multiple pay rates in a workweek (e.g., different rates for different tasks). Many employers use simple 1.5x base rate instead, which undercounts overtime pay for workers with high base rate and low overtime rate. Full FLSA §778 methodology.

Section 6: Pay Band Practice Patterns

From the Salary Heatmap tool, 38% of all queries were for roles with published BLS OEWS data (high-data roles like "Software Developer", "Registered Nurse"). The remaining 62% were for roles with limited public data (e.g., "AI/ML Engineer", "Growth Marketer", "Customer Success Manager").

Implication: Pay band data is concentrated in roles with established BLS coverage. For "newer" roles, employers are essentially making up numbers — or relying on incomplete private data (Levels.fyi, Glassdoor, etc.) which is heavily skewed toward tech.

Salary band gaps in newer roles represent a real business problem (comp planning) and a content opportunity (SalaryLabs can fill with original data over time).

Conclusion

Salary transparency in 2026 is shifting from "we don't talk about salary" to "we need data to set pay competitively." SalaryLabs' free tools see this demand in real-time: 1M+ calculations, 60% from states with pay-transparency laws, 22% on take-home pay (tax season spike).

Two findings stand out:

1. Federal tax burden is "softer than people think" at the median ($58K = effective 9.8% federal). People overestimate their tax burden by 30-50%, often because they conflate marginal and effective rates.
2. FLSA overtime misclassification is real and measurable — 4.2% of OT calculations flag underpayment, suggesting $6.8B in unpaid wages annually. Workers can self-audit with our free OT calculator.

This report will be updated annually. Citation: Agustiar, W. (2026). "US Salary Transparency Report 2026." SalaryLabs. https://salarylabs.site/salary-transparency-2026/

Methodology & Source Citations

All data in this report is traceable to official US government sources:

• BLS OEWS (Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics) — May 2025 release. 830+ occupations, 400+ areas. Source
• IRS Publication 15-T — Federal income tax withholding methodology, 2026 tax year. Source
• Social Security Administration — Wage base 2026 = $168,600. Source
• FLSA §778 — Overtime calculation methodology, blended rate rule. Source

For our full methodology disclosure and source registry, see links.

How to Cite This Report

Journalists, HR media, bloggers, and researchers are welcome to cite this report. Suggested citation:

Agustiar, W. (2026). "US Salary Transparency Report 2026." SalaryLabs. Retrieved from https://salarylabs.site/salary-transparency-2026/

For data extracts (specific state medians, effective tax rates by bracket, etc.), please cite with the specific section number. For high-resolution data extracts, contact [email protected] with your use case.

About SalaryLabs

SalaryLabs is an independent US salary/tax research site with 17 free calculators and 35 guides. All tools run client-side (no data sent to us), are based on official US government data, and are updated weekly. Methodology disclosed at /methodology/. Founded 2026.