Salary information for students and employers

Important considerations before viewing salary data sources:

• Methodology:
  • Take note. What are the data sources? What is the count of salaries that comprises a median or average?
• Fees:
  • Students should NOT pay fees for salary data! Career and Professional Development advises students to use only free information sources.
  • Fee-based sources are usually intended for human resource professionals who need extensive data to determine salaries to offer.
  • For employers, we do not endorse any fee-based services. We do link to reports from NACE, the National Association of Colleges and Employers (in which Career and Professional Development has membership). NACE provides more extensive salary reports to members, including fee-based reports. Employers can consider whether they wish to purchase NACE membership, and/or NACE fee-based reports.
• Salary sources that ask you to give information:
  • Some salary sites ask you to enter information such as your job title, location, and the salary you were offered. Be aware of this, and make your own decision about whether you want to use those types of websites.
• We provide salary data and links to other resources as a service to our students and to employers interested in recruiting Virginia Tech students.

Virginia Tech co-op and intern first-work-term wages of students enrolled in CEIP:

• Students enrolled in the Undergraduate Cooperative Education and Internship Program [CEIP], are asked to report their pay rate. See CEIP first work term wages.
• Please note that over a several year period:
  • Engineering majors have accounted for 82-92% of co-op enrollees.
  • Business majors have accounted for 5-13% of co-op enrollees.

National data:

• Use "Intern" in the job title at GlassDoor.com page to browse salaries anonymously posted by employees and employers.
• NACE, the National Association of Colleges and Employers has publications on compensation, some of which address intern compensation.

Bachelor's degrees / salary data from graduates for first jobs

• CPD administers the first destination survey, asking new Virginia Tech graduates to report if employed or continuing education after the undergraduate degree. Grads who say they are employed or in military service are asked to tell their salary. 
• We report the number and percent who respond, with salary data, for each year, in the First Destination Report, which includes:
  • Most current salary data.
  • Most current bonus data.

Master's and doctoral degrees / salary data from graduates

• The Virginia Tech Graduate School surveys graduates and publishes data about graduate student career plans, including salary ranges.

• NACE, the National Association of Colleges and Employers has publications on compensation.

Career and Professional Development does not own or maintain the websites listed below, and we do not endorse any fee-based products or services listed here. Links are provided as a service to Virginia Tech students. We encourage students to use free services and information only. Fee-based services are generally for human resources professionals.

Government data sources:

• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)
  [stats.bls.gov | BLS is part of the U.S. Dept. of Labor]
  Wage data on all occupations throughout the U.S.
  • Occupational Outlook Handbook
  • Overview of BLS Statistics on Pay and Benefits includes this, and much more: Overview of BLS Wage Data by Area and Occupation
• U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM)
  Pay rates for federal employees.
  U.S. federal government GS [General Schedule] pay scale information
• U.S. Library of Congress (LOC)
  Links to salary information sources information on compensation data available from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and the U.S. Dept. of Labor.
• Virginia Employment Commission (VEC)
  Wage data for employment in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
  See Virginia Employment Commission > Labor Market Information > Occupation Data > Occupations > OES > (select your search criteria). Results include entry-level annual wage data.

Non-government data sources:

• BestPlaces.net cost of living calculator
  [bestplaces.net]
  Compare salary in one city to its value in another city.
• Career Bliss.com > Salaries by job title and company name
  [CareerBliss.com]
  Salaries based on submissions by anyone. You can view salaries by location, state, city, zipcode, job title, industry, and company. The data may be more useful if you are looking at larger organizations for which more employees submitted salaries. Note the number of submissions in small font.
• GlassDoor.com
  Salaries are posted by individuals. You may see some info without creating an account, but may get blocked until you create an account. View by job title or company, and location.
• Levels.fyi
  Salary data by location, company, title.
• Parade Magazine > Annual What People Earn report
  [Parade.com]
  Features anecdotes, not comprehensive data, on salaries of everyday workers in a variety of jobs (and celebrities).
• PaycheckCity.com
  Free calculator to determine deductions from your gross pay, and thus estimate your net pay.
• Payscale.com > Free salary and benefits report
  [PayScale.com]
  "Give-to-get" tool: you have to provide extensive information to get salary data.
  Includes salary for current job, evaluating a job offer, and researching other jobs.
• Payscale.com cost of living calculator
  [PayScale.com]
  Estimate your current cost of living, how much it would cost to relocate, and the cost of living for your destination.
• Robert Half Company salary calculators
  Choose field; get ranges based on several factors including specialization, job category, location, years of experience, etc.
• Salary.com
  [Salary.com]
  Search U.S. salaries by job title and location.
• Salary.com > Cost of living for states and cities in the U.S.
  Shows estimated costs of living in different U.S. states and cities.
• SalaryExpert.com
  "Give-to-get" tool: you have to provide extensive information to get salary data.
  Contains a number of different resources, including a cost of living calculator.

• Financial management help for Virginia Tech students is provided by Hokie Wellness > for students > Financial Wellness.

For more assistance after viewing salary sources:

• Employers who would like assistance are welcome to contact our employer relations staff.
• Students who would like assistance are welcome to schedule an advising appointment.