• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia
TechLinkedIn

LinkedIn’s New Tool Lets You Compare Your Salary to Others

By
Kia Kokalitcheva
Kia Kokalitcheva
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Kia Kokalitcheva
Kia Kokalitcheva
Down Arrow Button Icon
November 2, 2016, 9:00 AM ET
Courtesy of LinkedIn

LinkedIn wants to help its users compare their salaries to their professional peers.

On Wednesday, the social network for the professional opened up access to its new salary tool to its users in the U.S., U.K., and Canada. Now, professionals can look up aggregate data about the salaries of other users with the same job and in the same location to see how their own pay measures up.

“One of the things in our research that has become quite obvious is that salary is a big part of how people make career decisions,” LinkedIn director of product management Dan Shapero told Fortune.

When users input their profession and location, LinkedIn’s tool shows them a breakdown of others’ compensation. Users can then filter by years of experience, education level, and other criteria. According to Shapero, these filters can help LinkedIn’s users get a better sense of how they measure up. For example, they might discover that peers with more experience or a relevant graduate degree are consistently paid more. In turn, this might give them guidance as to how to achieve the compensation level they want.

Get Data Sheet, Fortune’s technology newsletter.

One filter notably absent from the salary tool is gender. Studies have shown that women are often underpaid for doing similar work to male counterparts. Some companies have also begun to do away with compensation negotiations for new recruits as some studies have shown that women don’t negotiate as aggressively for higher salaries as men.

However, it would have been difficult to collect this data as gender is not included in the profile LinkedIn users fill out.

“I think our goal is to facilitate conversations and help people make good decision,” said Shapero when asked about the lack of data by gender. Moreover, because LinkedIn aggregates salaries of both genders, it could help women get a sense of whether they’re being underpaid if the median pay is significantly higher than theirs, he explains.

To get a start on its new salary database, LinkedIn (LNKD) reached out to 1 million of its users across various locations and jobs and asked them to submit data about their compensation. Now that the tool is available to all LinkedIn users, they’ll be able to freely access results for one salary search, but will have to contribute their own salary to the database if they want to continue exploring the tool. LinkedIn Premium users can access the data without sharing their own. And while the data only covers jobs in the U.S., U.K., and Canada for now, users in other countries will be able to access it. This can come in handy if an engineer in Germany is considering a job in California, for example, and wants to get a sense of the market.

To ensure it has accurate data, LinkedIn has figured out that roughly 10% of data submitted by its users isn’t entirely reliable, so it discards it from the data is shows users.

For more on LinkedIn, watch this Fortune video:

LinkedIn plans to eventually work closely with universities to tailor its salary tool to the needs of students as they plan their careers. It also plans to add suggested coursework from Lynda.com, an online education company it purchased last year for $1.5 billion, as a way to help users work toward the compensation level they want, when applicable.

“We believe people would invest in themselves more if they knew the certain R.O.I. [return on investment],” said Shapero.

Of course, LinkedIn is far from the only company to provide this type of salary tool. For example, Glassdoor, a popular service for looking up reviews of companies from employees, recently debuted its own.

About the Author
By Kia Kokalitcheva
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest in Tech

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Latest in Tech

vegan cheese
AITech
A Mark Cuban-backed vegan cheese company trained AI to scrutinize cardboard boxes. It’s saved $400,000
By Jake AngeloMay 1, 2026
44 minutes ago
Young trade worker learning on job
SuccessHiring
Forget Big Tech: Small businesses will hire nearly 1 million grads in 2026—and some of the hottest roles are gloriously AI-proof
By Emma BurleighMay 1, 2026
2 hours ago
Andrew McAfee
SuccessCareers
MIT AI expert warns automating Gen Z entry-level jobs could backfire—and cost companies their future workforce
By Preston ForeMay 1, 2026
2 hours ago
duke
Big TechAmazon
Amazon Prime Video reaches deal with Duke Blue Devils to air 3 games per season
By The Associated PressMay 1, 2026
5 hours ago
valerie
CommentaryLayoffs
Tesla’s former HR chief: the AI layoff panic Is built on a false premise—here’s what most workers need to know
By Valerie Capers WorkmanMay 1, 2026
5 hours ago
AI
AIdisruption
Meet the Americans dismissing AI hype and using it with ingenuity: ‘The efficiencies gained out of it have been tremendous’
By Cathy Bussewitz and The Associated PressMay 1, 2026
5 hours ago

Most Popular

China dominates the world's lithium supply. The U.S. just found 328 years' worth in its own backyard
North America
China dominates the world's lithium supply. The U.S. just found 328 years' worth in its own backyard
By Jake AngeloApril 30, 2026
24 hours ago
Accenture's Julie Sweet blew up 50 years of company history. She says the hardest part is still ahead
Conferences
Accenture's Julie Sweet blew up 50 years of company history. She says the hardest part is still ahead
By Nick LichtenbergApril 29, 2026
2 days ago
Apple cofounder Ronald Wayne—whose stake would be worth up to $400 billion had he not sold it in 1976—says that at 91, he has no regrets
Success
Apple cofounder Ronald Wayne—whose stake would be worth up to $400 billion had he not sold it in 1976—says that at 91, he has no regrets
By Preston ForeApril 27, 2026
4 days ago
The U.S. economy is booming — just not where 50 million Americans live
Commentary
The U.S. economy is booming — just not where 50 million Americans live
By Derek KilmerMay 1, 2026
9 hours ago
Exclusive: America's largest Black-owned bank launches podcast with mission to unlock hidden shame holding back generational wealth
Banking
Exclusive: America's largest Black-owned bank launches podcast with mission to unlock hidden shame holding back generational wealth
By Nick LichtenbergApril 29, 2026
2 days ago
America shot its arsenal empty in 2 wars. Now it needs Beijing's permission to reload
Commentary
America shot its arsenal empty in 2 wars. Now it needs Beijing's permission to reload
By Steve H. Hanke and Jeffrey WengApril 30, 2026
1 day ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.