You get the offer. Base salary, maybe some bonus, perhaps equity. Your first instinct is to compare it to your current salary — but that's the wrong benchmark.
The right question is: how does this compare to what the market actually pays for this role, in this location?
Start with the base salary benchmark
Before anything else, look up what people in equivalent roles earn in the same city. Not self-reported surveys, not glassdoor estimates — use official government data where available.
In Europe, this means:
- UK: ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE)
- Germany: Destatis earnings structure survey
- Spain: INE Encuesta de Estructura Salarial
- France: INSEE earnings statistics
- Netherlands: CBS labour accounts
In the US, use BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS).
These give you percentile data: p25, p50, p75, and often p90. That's what matters. An offer at the 40th percentile isn't necessarily bad — but you should know where you stand.
Don't just look at base
Total compensation matters, especially at tech companies. A £90k base with a £20k bonus and £30k/year in vesting equity is a very different offer to £90k base with no extras.
When comparing, always convert to a total annual compensation figure:
- Base salary: straightforward
- Bonus: use target, not maximum
- Equity: for public companies, use current market value divided by vesting period; for private companies, apply a significant discount for illiquidity and risk
- Pension/401k match: real money — add it in
- Health insurance: especially relevant in the US where employer coverage can be worth $10k+/year
Check the role level
A "Senior Engineer" at a 20-person startup and a "Senior Engineer" at a FAANG company are not the same thing — and shouldn't be paid the same.
Benchmarks are most meaningful when you're comparing like-for-like:
- Company size/type (startup vs. scale-up vs. enterprise vs. FAANG)
- Industry
- Specific function and seniority
If you can't find exact data, use the closest available and adjust. A senior software engineer in London at a mid-size fintech should typically sit between the median for "all software engineers" and the 75th percentile.
The city premium (or discount)
Location matters enormously. London pays ~40% more than the UK median for most roles. San Francisco pays 2x the US median for software engineers. Amsterdam pays a premium over the rest of the Netherlands.
This isn't just cost of living — it's also talent concentration, industry clusters, and competition for workers. When evaluating an offer, always use city-level benchmarks, not national averages.
Red flags in an offer
A few things that should make you pause:
- Below p25 for your role and location: unless there are very strong non-cash reasons, this is a below-market offer
- Vague equity terms: no cap table transparency, unclear vesting cliff, or preference stacks that could wipe out common equity
- Bonus "at discretion": means nothing is guaranteed; treat it as zero until proven otherwise
- Signing bonus that clawbacks if you leave within 2 years: essentially golden handcuffs — model what it costs you to leave
What a fair offer looks like
A fair offer typically sits between p40 and p60 for your role, level, and location. Offers above p75 are above-market. Offers at p90+ suggest either specialist skills, a bidding war, or a role that's genuinely hard to fill.
None of this tells you whether to accept. That depends on the role, the team, the career trajectory, the company stage. But at least you'll know what you're working with.
CompVerdict uses official government benchmarks — ONS, BLS, Destatis, INE, INSEE, CBS, ABS, and others — to give you an instant percentile verdict on any offer. Free, no sign-up.