Check a job before you take it: what it pays, what the employer's record shows, and what the place costs. Built on U.S. government records, each figure with its source. See an example report
“The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.”
— Walt Disney
Two independent public wage-data sources compared side by side, a plain-English target range to ask for, and the records that back it, each with a line you can say.
Their real federal enforcement record and wage-and-hour lawsuits, recent layoff notices, and SEC revenue and profit for public companies — plus hiring trend, visa-sponsorship reliability, and political giving.
Cost of living, rent, state income tax, school enrollment, climate, commute, political lean, and a relocation-cost estimate for the metro.
Not checking a whole job?
From our research
What happens after a layoff: the BLS survey of 3.3 million workers
Who lost a job held for three years or more, why it ended, how many had written notice, who was working again in January 2026 by industry and kind of work, and what the next job paid.
Amazon: 9,746 workers in 30 layoff notices
What state layoff notices and Labor Department H-1B filings show for Amazon: the notices over the past year, the sites, and the sponsorship record.
How to read BEA regional price parities: 387 metro areas
What a regional price parity of 95 or 110 means, how BEA builds one, how 387 metro areas spread around 100, why rent drives it and how the site uses it for pay after cost of living.
How to read OEWS wage data: 824 occupations in 393 metros
The columns and symbols of the OEWS workbooks, what a wage and a percentile mean, how precise the numbers are, and how the H-1B wage levels are built from them.
How to read DOL wage and hour enforcement data: 267,635 cases
The fields of a Wage and Hour case, the laws behind the numbers, what back wages agreed to pay and penalties assessed mean, and the cases a copy of the dataset leaves out.
Salary data by role and metro → · How we compare with AI search → · Read our research →
Wage data: U.S. Department of Labor OFLC LCA Disclosure Data and U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics OEWS. LCA filings reflect sponsored-worker wage offers, which skew toward mid-large employers and specific occupations — treat any estimate built from a small sample cautiously. Informational only; not legal, immigration, or financial advice.