Pay report method
Every rule behind the Six-Figure Job Pay Report, so a figure can be checked and a different reading argued with. Method version 1.0, last changed 15 November 2026.
What the report measures#
The pay that job postings advertise, for the six-figure listings we collect: a salary of $100,000 or more a year, in US dollars. It does not measure what people are paid, and it says nothing about jobs that pay less, because we do not store them. Read each figure as “what employers who publish a six-figure range are advertising”.
The rules, in order#
- Window. Listings we collected 5 to 15 November 2026 that were posted in the 30 days before 15 November 2026 (or, when a posting has no date, collected in that period). A window is stated on every edition.
- Validated salary. The listing’s salary must have passed our salary checks with a confidence of at least 80 (out of 100), the same gate the salary guides use.
- US dollars only. Listings in other currencies are left out. We do not convert, so no exchange-rate guess enters a figure.
- Below the cap. The annual figure must be below $600,000. A figure at exactly $600,000 is a clamp from parsing, not a real value, and is left out.
- The figure. The midpoint of the advertised minimum and maximum, or the single figure when a posting gives one. The median of the advertised minimums is shown beside it as the more cautious reading.
- The statistic. Medians, not averages, so a few very high ranges cannot pull a figure up. Where an edition shows the “middle half”, that is the 25th to the 75th percentile of the same figure. The report also gives the median of employer medians, counting each employer with three or more listings once.
- Employer tables. Job boards and aggregators list other employers’ jobs under their own name, so they are not employers. Names starting with jobgether, jooble, adzuna, talent.com, lensa, jobrapido, careerjet, ziprecruiter, simplyhired, whatjobs, neuvoo, remote rocketship, remoterocketship are left out of employer rankings and employer counts. Recruiting and staffing firms are also left out of the employer table.
- Sample floors. A role needs at least 50 listings. A city needs at least 8 listings from at least 10 employers. A same-role remote against on-site comparison needs at least 20 listings from 5 employers on each side. A skill needs at least 50 listings from 10 employers. Groups below a floor are left out, not shown with a warning.
What the figures cannot tell you#
- Advertised, not paid. A range is an employer’s statement, and the midpoint is a convention. Offers can land anywhere in or outside a range.
- Six figures only. We store listings at or above $100,000, so the report describes the top of the market, not the market.
- Listings, not openings. One role advertised in several places, or posted more than once, can be counted more than once. Each edition gives a one-listing-per-employer-and-title figure as a floor for this when its run has it.
- Who we collect from. Company career pages and job boards, which lean towards technology employers. A few large employers account for a large share of listings, and the report says how large.
- One window. An edition describes its window. Editions are comparable only when the method version and sources are, and each edition says whether they changed.
Checks that come with each edition#
- What was counted. A funnel from every job stored in the window to those in the tables, so a reader sees what was dropped and why.
- Is the number robust? The headline median with the five largest employers taken out, with the Bay Area taken out (San Francisco, South San Francisco, San Mateo, Redwood City, Menlo Park, Palo Alto, Mountain View, Sunnyvale, Santa Clara, Cupertino, Milpitas, San Jose, Fremont, Oakland, San Bruno; a listing with no city is kept) and with one listing per employer and job title.
- Spot-check. A random sample of listings is compared by hand with their postings. The edition states the result only when the check was really done, with the date.
- Automated tests. They check that the salary bands add up to the listings, that every table is in the order its heading says, that the sample floors hold, and that the CSV matches the tables.
- Quoted evidence. The highest ranges are shown with the pay text exactly as the posting wrote it, the source and the day it was read.
A check appears on an edition only when its numbers exist. A missing check means it was not run for that edition, not that it passed.
Data dictionary#
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Listing | One job posting we collected and stored. It is not one opening: the same role advertised in several places can be counted more than once. |
| Validated salary | A pay figure that passed our salary checks, with a confidence of at least 80 out of 100. The report uses the stored yearly minimum and maximum; a listing whose figure did not pass the checks is not counted. |
| Advertised minimum / maximum | The lowest and highest figure in the posting's pay range, per year, in US dollars. |
| Advertised midpoint | Half-way between the advertised minimum and maximum. When a posting gives one figure, that figure. It describes the posting, not the offer or what anyone is paid. |
| Median | The middle value: half the listings advertise more, half less. The report uses medians because a few very high ranges would pull an average up. |
| Employers | Distinct company names behind a group of listings. A row with many listings but few employers is shaped by those few. |
| Seniority | The experience level stored for the listing (Senior, Staff, Director and so on). Many listings carry none, so seniority tables describe only those that do. |
| Work arrangement | Remote, hybrid or on-site as stored for the listing, from the source or, when the source gives none, from a sentence in the posting that says so. |
| Listings, in the CSV (listings) | Number of listings in the group. |
| value_usd, in the CSV | The figure for the row in US dollars: the median advertised midpoint, unless the row's label says otherwise (the headline rows name what they are). |
| share_pct, in the CSV | A percentage, where the row is a share (salary bands, range-width rows). |
| table, in the CSV | Which table of the report the row belongs to: headline, salary_band, seniority, role, work_arrangement, city, employer and, when an edition has them, skill, same_role_remote, same_role_onsite, range_width, sensitivity, funnel. |
History of method changes#
| Version | Date | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1.0 | 2026-11-15 | First published method (November 2026 edition). Validated USD salary with confidence of at least 80, annual figure below $600,000, midpoint of minimum and maximum, medians, sample floors for roles and cities, aggregators left out of employer lists. |
Using and correcting the data#
Every table of an edition is in its CSV, linked from the report. Quote the figures with a link back. If you find a mistake, or read a rule differently, write to support@6figjobs.com: corrections are listed on the edition they affect. For how the site collects, checks and removes listings in general, see How Six Figure Jobs works.