Free Tool

What's your minimum acceptable salary?

Not your dream number, the floor. The number below which you'd say no. Answer a few questions and we'll walk you through how to find it, using your own numbers, not a guess pulled from thin air.

Your role & experience

This sets your starting benchmark. You can override it with your own researched number in the next step if you already have one.

Tip: in the next step, pick the experience tier where you've been doing the work independently, not just present for it. That's usually a more accurate read than counting years alone.

This adjusts for general wage patterns by education level. A strong portfolio, certification, or track record can outweigh this in real negotiations, use it as a starting point, not a ceiling.

Location & your own research

Remote doesn't always mean location-blind, some companies still pay by where you live. Select your state so we can adjust for cost of living.

Pulled from BLS OEWS, Levels.fyi, Glassdoor, or a real offer/posting? Drop it here and we'll use it as your base instead of our estimate.

Beyond the base salary

Two offers with the same salary aren't equal if the benefits differ. Fill in what applies, skip what doesn't.

Your Minimum Acceptable Base Salary

$0

Negotiation range:

Below your floor Your target range

How we got here

Field benchmark$0
Experience adjustment$0
Education adjustment$0
Cost of living adjustment$0
Minimum acceptable base salary$0
These are default estimates, not guarantees. They're built to give you a reasonable starting floor, not to replace real research. Before you negotiate, cross-check against BLS OEWS, Levels.fyi (tech-specific), or Glassdoor for your exact role and location.

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The Framework, In Full

Want to understand the "why" behind every number above? Here's the full methodology.

01

Start With the Floor, Not the Dream Number

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Your "minimum acceptable salary" is the number below which you'd say no, not your ideal number. Separating the two changes how you negotiate. Walking into a conversation knowing your floor means you never accidentally accept less than you can actually live on, even under pressure or excitement about a new role.
02

Adjust for Location, Correctly

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Remote doesn't always mean location-blind. Some companies pay a national flat rate, others adjust by where you live. Cost of living calculators combined with BLS regional data give you a realistic picture, a flat national number can badly undersell you in an expensive market or overshoot in a cheaper one.
03

How Experience Tiers Actually Shift Offers

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Entry, mid, senior, and leadership levels aren't just about years, they're about scope of ownership. A common blind spot is rounding yourself up or down inaccurately. Ask honestly: are you executing someone else's plan, or building the plan yourself? That answer usually places you in the right tier more accurately than years alone.
04

Reading a BLS Entry Without Getting Lost

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The BLS OEWS database lists median and mean wages by occupation and region. Median is the true middle point, half earn more, half earn less, and it's usually more reliable than the mean, which can get skewed by a few very high earners. Find your specific occupation code, not just a broad category, for the most accurate number.
05

What Counts Beyond Base Salary

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PTO has real dollar value. Health insurance premiums your employer covers have real dollar value. A 401(k) match is money left on the table if you don't account for it. Two offers with identical base salaries can be worth thousands apart once you actually price out the full package.
06

Put It Together: Your Personal Formula

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Field benchmark, adjusted for experience tier, adjusted for cost of living, equals your minimum acceptable base. Add in the dollar value of benefits for your real total compensation picture. That's the formula the calculator above just ran for you.
07

Where to Look It Up Yourself

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Numbers in any calculator, including this one, go stale. For the most current data, always cross-check: BLS OEWS for government wage data by occupation, Levels.fyi for tech-specific compensation, and Glassdoor or Payscale for broad coverage across industries.

Know your floor. Now let's get you the offer.

Once you know what you won't go below, the next step is making sure you never have to. Our concierge packages handle the resume, the applications, and the search itself.

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