Salary by company size: do bigger employers pay more?
Advertised pay by employer headcount, from 63,543 postings whose employer's size we could place, with the gap against other employers once function, level and industry are matched. As of November 9, 2026.
By Justin KullaLast updated
Pay by employer headcount
Employer sizes are partly estimated (about 76% of paid postings have one). Bands with fewer than 30 postings or 8 employers are left out.
| Group | Median | Middle half | Gap, job mix matched | Postings | Employers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 to 10 employees | $160,000 | $117,000 to $215,000 | +10.3% | 872 | 112 |
| 11 to 50 employees | $162,500 | $117,500 to $210,000 | +3.1% | 4,022 | 386 |
| 51 to 200 employees | $175,000 | $130,000 to $220,000 | +4.9% | 7,647 | 769 |
| 201 to 1,000 employees | $152,500 | $112,500 to $197,500 | +0% | 12,391 | 1,065 |
| 1,001 to 5,000 employees | $157,500 | $112,500 to $210,000 | +3.4% | 16,440 | 884 |
| 5,001 to 20,000 employees | $127,500 | $90,500 to $173,000 | −3.5% | 6,431 | 493 |
| 20,001 to 100,000 employees | $114,500 | $86,000 to $146,500 | −7.7% | 9,572 | 465 |
| More than 100,000 employees | $113,000 | $85,000 to $150,000 | −4% | 6,157 | 150 |
Median for all paid postings, any employer size: $137,000.
Questions about this data
- Do bigger companies pay more?
- Not in a straight line. Matched on function, level and industry, advertised pay is highest at employers of 1 to 10 employees (+10.3%) and lowest at 20,001 to 100,000 (−7.7%) against other employers. Raw medians differ more, because larger employers hold more senior roles.
- How do you know how big an employer is?
- From the employer's profile, a curated list of large employers, and, where neither exists, an estimate by an AI model from public information. About 76% of the postings counted here belong to an employer with a size we could place; the rest are left out of this table, not guessed. Sizes can be off by one band.
- Is a small employer’s posted pay reliable?
- Each band shows its postings and employers. A band needs 30 postings from 8 employers to appear, so a small number of employers can still shape it. Treat the smallest bands as a rough guide.
Method, download and how to cite
Data as of November 9, 2026. Rebuilt daily.
Pay is the midpoint of the range an employer posted (or stated in the posting text), converted to a year, on live U.S. professional jobs. It is advertised pay, not what anyone is paid.
A “gap, job mix matched” compares postings inside cells of the same function, level and industry, so a group is not credited for simply holding more senior or better-paid roles. It needs 150 or more postings across at least 5 cells with 15 postings on each side, and is shown as n/a otherwise. A gap is a difference in advertised pay between postings. It does not show that a skill, an industry or an employer size causes higher pay.
Download the CSV (aggregates only; no posting, employer or person is in it). Cite as: NextChapter, “Advertised pay in U.S. professional job postings, by employer size”, data as of November 9, 2026, https://launchyournextchapter.com/resources/pay-data/size
See also the AI skills salary premium, which uses the same method for AI skills only, and the salary by job title pages.
More pay data
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