How to Research Your Salary Expectations: A UK and US Guide

Before you can negotiate your salary, you need to know what to ask for — and that number must be grounded in evidence, not gut feeling. Asking too little leaves money on the table that you will never recover. Asking too much without backing it up signals poor self-awareness and can cost you the offer entirely.

According to a 2023 survey by Hays UK, 46% of professionals felt underpaid in their current role — but only 28% had researched their market rate before accepting their most recent offer. The gap between those two statistics is where most salary regret lives. This guide walks you through the research process step by step, with specific tools and real-world benchmarks for both UK and US job seekers.

Why Salary Research Matters Before You Apply

Salary research is not just a pre-negotiation activity. Done properly, it shapes your entire job search — helping you filter out roles that cannot meet your needs before you spend hours on applications and interviews.

Many companies now include salary ranges in their job postings, driven by transparency laws. In the US, Colorado, California, New York, and Washington State all require employers to include pay ranges in listings. In the UK, while there is no equivalent legal requirement yet, the government's Equality Act guidance and growing social pressure have pushed many employers — particularly in tech and finance — to include ranges voluntarily.

Even where ranges are included, they are typically broad. A listing might say £45,000–£65,000 or $70,000–$100,000. Your research determines where in that band you realistically and legitimately sit.

Step 1: Gather Data From Multiple Salary Sources

No single salary data source is complete. Each has strengths and blind spots. Using at least three sources gives you a credible range to anchor your expectations.

Key UK salary sources

Hays UK Salary Guide — Published annually, covering over 1,000 job titles across 15 sectors. It is free to download and is widely respected by UK hiring managers. When you cite "Hays' latest salary guide" in a negotiation, it carries weight.

Robert Half Salary Guide — Similar breadth to Hays, with particularly strong data for finance, technology, and legal sectors. Updated yearly, it breaks salaries down by region (London, South East, North West, Scotland, etc.) which matters significantly given the gap between London and regional salaries.

Glassdoor — Self-reported salary data from current and former employees. Most useful for tech and large-company roles where sample sizes are large enough to be statistically meaningful. Less useful for niche roles or smaller employers.

LinkedIn Salary — Available with a Premium subscription, it allows you to filter by job title, location, years of experience, and industry. Particularly useful for comparing your current salary against peers with similar career trajectories.

ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) — The UK's official labour market salary data, published by the Office for National Statistics. Less granular than commercial sources but authoritative and often cited by employers during disputes.

Key US salary sources

Glassdoor and LinkedIn Salary — Both more widely used and more data-rich in the US than in the UK, given the scale of the US labour market and greater willingness to share salary information.

Levels.fyi — Essential for anyone in tech. Provides highly detailed total compensation data (base, bonus, equity) broken down by company, level, and location. If you are moving into or within the US tech sector, this is the single most important source.

Payscale — Strong for detailed role-by-role comparisons across a broad range of sectors and US geographies.

Indeed Salary — Straightforward, free, and useful as a quick sense-check alongside the more detailed sources.

Step 2: Understand the Full Compensation Picture

Gross salary is only one component of your total package. In the UK especially, two offers with identical salaries can differ dramatically in real value.

UK-specific considerations

Pension contributions: UK employers are legally required to contribute a minimum of 3% to your pension, but many — particularly in banking, law, and the public sector — contribute 8–15%. A 10% employer pension contribution on a £50,000 salary is worth £5,000 per year, often untaxed.

Annual leave: The UK statutory minimum is 28 days (including bank holidays). Many professional roles offer 30–35 days. US-style "unlimited PTO" policies are still rare in the UK and where they exist, research suggests employees actually take fewer days.

Notice periods: UK professionals typically work one to three months' notice, which affects how quickly you can move between roles. This is worth factoring into any comparison with a role that has a longer notice period tied to a higher salary.

Bonus structures: City finance and consulting roles commonly offer bonuses of 20–100%+ of base salary. Understanding whether a bonus is discretionary or contractual, and what the typical payout history has been, is essential.

US-specific considerations

Health insurance: Employer-sponsored health insurance in the US can be worth $8,000–$20,000 per year. Compare not just the coverage on offer but the employee's share of premiums and deductibles.

Equity and stock options: In US tech, equity can dwarf base salary over a four-year vesting period. Understand the vesting schedule, the cliff, and — for early-stage companies — the preferred vs. common share dynamics before treating equity as part of your compensation.

401(k) matching: Employer match up to 3–6% of salary is standard at larger US employers. This is effectively a pay increase that compounds over time.

Step 3: Set Your Target Range and Know Your Floor

Once you have your market data, calculate three figures:

1. Your target number — what you genuinely believe reflects your market value given your skills, experience, and the research you have done. This is not your ceiling; it is where you want to land.

2. Your opening ask — typically 10–15% above your target in the UK, and 15–20% above in the US, where salary negotiation norms are more aggressive. This gives room to negotiate without ending up below your target.

3. Your floor — the minimum you will accept, accounting for total compensation including pension, bonus, and benefits. Below this number, you will decline.

How to handle the "What are your salary expectations?" question

This question often comes before you have full information about the role — a deliberate move by recruiters to anchor low. You have several legitimate options:

• Deflect politely: "I would prefer to understand the full scope of the role before discussing compensation. Can you share the budgeted range?"
• Respond with a range: Give a range where your floor is the bottom of the range you state — that way even the low end is acceptable to you.
• Cite your research: "Based on Hays' most recent salary guide and comparable roles on LinkedIn, I am targeting £X–£Y for a role at this level in [location]. Does that align with your budget?"

Step 4: Know the UK vs US Negotiation Norms

Salary negotiation is culturally different on either side of the Atlantic, and understanding those differences prevents you from misreading the room.

In the UK, open salary negotiation is common but expected to be measured and evidenced. Candidates typically present one counter-offer, backed by market data. Pushing more than once after a final offer is rare and can backfire. Notice periods of one to three months are standard, and trying to compress them dramatically is often seen as a red flag.

In the US, salary negotiation is far more expected and iterative. A recruiter who makes an offer anticipates that you will counter. Multiple rounds of back-and-forth are normal, particularly in tech. US candidates who do not negotiate at all are sometimes viewed as less confident.

For US tech specifically: total compensation — base, bonus, and equity — is the standard unit of comparison. A base-only counter without addressing equity is often incomplete. Levels.fyi data makes it relatively straightforward to benchmark total comp packages by company and level.

Step 5: Make Your Case in the Negotiation Conversation

Salary negotiation is not a confrontation — it is a conversation grounded in data. The candidates who do it well share three characteristics: they have done their research, they lead with confidence rather than apology, and they are specific.

A strong negotiation opening sounds like: "Thank you for the offer. Based on my research using Hays' current salary guide and comparable roles I have seen posted on LinkedIn, alongside the three years I spent leading projects of this scale at [previous employer], I was expecting something closer to £X. Is there flexibility to get there?"

Note the structure: gratitude, research citation, specific experience reference, clear ask, open question. This is very different from: "I was hoping for a bit more."

If the employer cannot move on salary, ask specifically about what can move: start date, remote working flexibility, sign-on bonus, additional leave, accelerated performance review, or professional development budget. Each of these has real value and most can be agreed without reopening a closed salary discussion.

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Putting It All Together

Researching your salary expectations is a multi-step process: gathering data from Hays, Robert Half, Glassdoor, LinkedIn Salary, and ONS (for UK) or Levels.fyi, Payscale, and Glassdoor (for US); understanding total compensation beyond base salary; setting a target, opening ask, and floor; and approaching the conversation with market-grounded confidence.

Candidates who skip this process tend to either undersell themselves — leaving significant lifetime earnings on the table — or enter negotiations unprepared and end up on the back foot.

For more on the wider job offer evaluation process, see our guides on how to spot traps in job postings and how to find a role aligned with your values.