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Data Sources & Methodology
How PayMetric Labs builds the salary benchmarks, contractor day rates, and take-home calculators it publishes for 26 global markets. Read this before you cite a figure in a negotiation.
Last updated
This page explains how our figures are built: where they come from, how we calculate them, and how much weight each one can bear. How we write, review, update, and correct content is covered in our Editorial Policy. Spotted a figure that looks wrong? Email hello@paymetriclabs.com.
01 · Salary & day-rate benchmarks
From raw pay signals to a published benchmark
Every salary and day-rate page is built from role, level, and location specific data. We never blend seniority levels or average across countries.
- 01
Collect
Salaries from recruitment salary guides, job postings with published pay, and public datasets. Day rates from agency rate cards, contract postings, and freelance marketplaces, never derived from salaries.
- 02
Standardize
One firm's Senior is another's Lead. Every figure is mapped to a common role family and seniority level, in local currency, before anything is calculated.
- 03
Calculate
A median and a P25 to P75 range for each role, level, and city. Year-on-year movement appears only where an earlier period exists to compare against.
- 04
Label & review
A confidence label reflects how many sources agree. Single-source figures still publish, with a lower label rather than hidden or inflated, after editorial review.
How to read a benchmark
Every salary and day-rate page leads with the same four elements. See a live example.
Median salary
£65K
Median
The middle of the market for this role, level, and place. Half of the pay signals sit above it, half below.
P25 to P75 range
The shaded band holds the middle half of the market. The outer figures mark the typical low and high ends.
Confidence label
How much weight the figure can bear, from High Confidence to Limited Market Data. Explained in section 02.
Data year
The period the figures belong to, so you can judge how current they are before you use them.
Never blended. Each market is benchmarked in its own currency and its own cities. We never average across countries or seniority levels, and cross-market comparisons state the exchange rate they use.
02 · Confidence labels
How much weight each figure can bear
Every benchmark shows one of three labels, set from how many independent sources cover it and how closely they agree. We do not raise newer markets to High Confidence just to look complete.
What it means
Corroborated across independent sources that agree closely.
How to use it
Safe to cite in a negotiation, a pay review, or a salary band.
What it means
Supported by fewer sources, or sources that disagree more.
How to use it
Good directional context. Pair it with a second data point before relying on it.
What it means
Early signals only, usually a niche role or a newer market.
How to use it
Treat it as a rough indication, not a benchmark.
03 · Take-home & tax calculators
Calculators built on each country's official rules
Take-home, employer-cost, and contractor calculators do not use the salary data above. Each runs on a tax engine written against the published rules for the tax year shown on the page.
Written from the source
Rates, thresholds, allowances, and social contributions are taken from the tax authority's own publications, not from third-party summaries.
Tested before publishing
Each engine is checked against worked examples from the authority or hand calculations before a calculator, or an article quoting it, goes live.
Local contractor structures
Contractor tools model the structure people actually use in each market, such as IR35 in the UK, sole trader or director in Ireland, ZZP in the Netherlands, Freiberufler in Germany, PJ in Brazil, B2B in Poland, and 1099 in the US.
Where the rules come from
Europe
- United Kingdom
- HMRC (Scottish income tax bands set by the Scottish Government)
- Ireland
- Revenue and the Department of Social Protection (PRSI)
- Germany
- Federal Ministry of Finance income tax tariff and statutory social insurance rates
- France
- DGFiP and URSSAF
- Netherlands
- Belastingdienst
- Spain
- Agencia Tributaria and Seguridad Social
- Portugal
- Autoridade Tributária and Segurança Social
- Estonia
- Estonian Tax and Customs Board
- Sweden
- Skatteverket
- Poland
- Ministry of Finance and ZUS
- Switzerland
- Federal Tax Administration and cantonal tax offices
Americas
- United States
- IRS, Social Security Administration, and state revenue departments
- Canada
- Canada Revenue Agency, provincial finance ministries, and Revenu Québec
- Mexico
- SAT and IMSS
- Brazil
- Receita Federal and INSS
Asia-Pacific
- Australia
- Australian Taxation Office
- New Zealand
- Inland Revenue
- Singapore
- IRAS and the CPF Board
- Hong Kong
- Inland Revenue Department and the MPF Schemes Authority
- Japan
- National Tax Agency and municipal resident tax rules
- India
- Income Tax Department and EPFO
- Philippines
- BIR, SSS, PhilHealth, and Pag-IBIG
- Vietnam
- Vietnam's tax authority and Vietnam Social Security
Middle East
- United Arab Emirates
- No personal income tax; end-of-service gratuity under the UAE Labour Law
- Saudi Arabia
- No personal income tax; GOSI contributions and the Saudi Labor Law
- Qatar
- No personal income tax; end-of-service gratuity under the Qatar Labour Law
04 · Our own estimates
Figures we model ourselves
Some numbers on the site are PayMetric Labs' own estimates rather than figures published by a third party. Pages that use them say so near the top.
- Benchmark medians and ranges
- Calculated by us from the sources above. They describe the market, not any single employer's pay band.
- Skill and AI premiums
- Our modelled estimate of how much more a skill tends to pay in a market. Treat it as directional, not as a guaranteed uplift.
- Currency conversions
- Cross-market comparisons use a stated exchange rate, which moves daily. The local-currency figure is always the reference.
- Year-on-year movement
- Only shown where an earlier period for the same role and place exists. Where it does not, we show nothing rather than guess.
05 · Keeping figures current
When and how figures are updated
- New tax years
- Tax engines are updated for each market's own tax year, which starts on different dates: 1 January in Ireland, 1 April in India, 6 April in the UK, 1 July in Australia, and so on.
- Budgets and fiscal events
- When a government announces new rates, such as the Irish Budget or the UK Autumn Budget, we update the engine once the rates are confirmed and recompute every article that quotes it.
- Salary benchmarks
- Reviewed on a rolling cycle. Every benchmark page shows the year its data belongs to, so you can see how recent a figure is before you use it.
- What the Updated date means
- An article's Updated date changes only when its substance changes, such as new rates or recalculated figures. Typo fixes and design changes do not move it.
06 · Limits of the data
What our figures do not tell you
No dataset captures every pay packet. Knowing the limits helps you use the figures well. None of this is personal financial or tax advice; see our Terms.
- Base pay, not total compensation
- Benchmarks describe base salary or day rate. Bonuses, equity, and benefits vary widely by employer and are only included where a page says so.
- Employers differ from the market
- Large tech firms and funded start-ups often pay well above the median; smaller firms and the public sector often pay below it. A benchmark is the middle of the market, not a quote.
- City figures are thinner
- Fewer sources cover smaller cities than national markets, so city benchmarks are more likely to carry a Moderate or Limited label.
- Calculators model a typical case
- Take-home results assume a standard employee with no other income and the default assumptions stated on each calculator. Your own reliefs, residency, or other income can change the result.