Where can you find wages for specific jobs?

The U.S. Department of Labor and the Bureau of Labor Statistics jointly compile an annual report on national wage estimates by major occupational group. Websites such as Salary and Payscale offer more specialized databases that sort wage estimates by company, geographical region, years of experience and job title.

People employed in the same field or even in the same job can have extremely divergent salaries, depending on their respective educational backgrounds, certificates or training program degrees, tenure or location within the United States. Many companies disclose starting salaries for entry level jobs or specially advertised jobs on their company web pages or on Internet job boards.