Explore Global Location Insights

Global Location Insights shows pay differentials across geographic locations. A pay differential is the ratio of base salaries for employees performing the same job at the same seniority level in two different locations, expressed as a percentage of a base location. You can use pay differentials to compare the cost of labor across locations, plan compensation for distributed teams, and define pay zones.

For example, if the pay differential for the United Kingdom is 70% with US: All as the base location, an employee paid $100,000 in the US would be paid the equivalent of $70,000 in the UK for the same role and level.

Pay differentials focus on base salary. They do not include variable compensation, equity, benefits, or payroll taxes.

How pay differentials are calculated

Pave calculates pay differentials by comparing the median salary of employees performing the same job at the same level across two locations. Controlling for both job family and level ensures you are comparing equivalent roles, not just average salaries that could be skewed by different job mixes or seniority distributions between locations.

All salary data is converted to a shared currency using a trailing 30-day rolling average exchange rate before the comparison, so pay differentials reflect labor cost differences rather than currency fluctuations.

Set a base location

The base location is the reference point for all pay differentials on the page. By default, Global Location Insights uses US: All as the base location. You can change the base location to any available location. All other locations' differentials will recalculate relative to the one you select.

View pay differentials

Global Location Insights displays pay differentials for each location compared to your base location. Locations are available at three levels of granularity:

• Country: National-level data (for example, United Kingdom, Germany, India)
• Metro area: City or metro-level data (for example, SF Bay Area, NYC, London, Bengaluru)
• Market tier: Grouped locations with similar cost of labor (for example, US Tier 1 includes SF Bay Area, NYC, and Seattle)

Market tiers are defined by cost of labor, not cost of living. Locations are grouped into tiers because they have similar labor costs, even if the cost of living varies.

View by job family

Pay differentials can vary significantly by job family. Global Location Insights breaks down differentials by job family so you can see how location-based pay varies across different roles.

The breakdown uses job families rather than levels because geographic pay differences tend to vary more by function than by seniority.

Create custom tiers

Custom tiers let you group locations into your own categories. This is useful if your company has defined pay zones that include multiple individual locations.

To create a custom tier:

1. Select Create custom tier.
2. Name the tier (up to 200 characters).
3. Add the locations you want to include.
4. Save the tier.

The tier displays an average differential calculated as an unweighted average of all included locations. This means each location contributes equally to the average, regardless of how many employees or companies are in that location.

You can edit or delete custom tiers at any time.

Confidence labels

Each pay differential includes a confidence label that indicates how reliable the data point is. Confidence labels are based on sample size and margin of error, refined by models that account for bias, outliers, and incomplete data.

Higher confidence labels mean the differential is based on more data and has a smaller margin of error. Lower confidence labels indicate the data point is based on a smaller sample and may be less precise. If a location does not have enough data to produce a reliable differential, it displays as "Insufficient Data."

Access

All Market Data customers can view pay differentials for US: All and one additional company-configured location. Additional locations, custom tiers, and the full set of global locations are available with Market Data Pro.

FAQ

What is the difference between cost of labor and cost of living?

Cost of labor represents what it costs to hire for a given role in a given location. Cost of living represents what it costs for an individual to live in that location. Pave Market Data provides benchmarks based on cost of labor, which is the industry standard for compensation benchmarking.

What if I don't see a location I need?

Pave continues to add new locations as data becomes available. If a specific location is not available, you may be able to use a broader geography (for example, country-level data) or a market tier that includes a nearby location.

Why are some compensation types not available for all locations?

Pave requires data to meet accuracy standards before making it available. Some locations have limited data, so only base salary benchmarks may be available. Additional compensation types become available as data for that location grows.