---
title: "Get started with Market Data"
description: "Market Data provides real-time compensation benchmarks so you can see how the market pays for any role, level, and location. Use it to inform pay decisions, build compensation bands, and understand equity practices across the market."
canonical_url: "https://support.pave.com/articles/get-started-with-market-data-gLV9KF4nPI"
md_url: "https://support.pave.com/articles/get-started-with-market-data-gLV9KF4nPI.md"
---
# Get started with Market Data

Market Data provides real-time compensation benchmarks so you can see how the market pays for any role, level, and location. Use it to inform pay decisions, build compensation bands, and understand equity practices across the market.

To open Market Data, click **Market Data** in the left sidebar.

## The Market Data landing page

The landing page is your starting point. From here you can search for a role, access Market Practices features, view your saved reports, and download resources.

 ![Market Data landing page showing the search bar, Market Practices cards, reports section, and resources](https://support.pave.com/api/attachments.redirect?id=b54ae667-3b74-4ea2-803b-8c5e819e0fdf)

**Search for a role**: Use the search bar at the top to find a job family by name or browse the catalog. Select a job family and level to view benchmarks. For details on Pave's job catalog structure (functions, family blends, job families, tracks, and levels), see [Explore the Pave job catalog](explore-the-pave-job-catalog.md).

**Market Practices**: Cards link to [Equity Practices](explore-equity-practices.md) and [Global Location Insights](explore-global-location-insights.md).

**Compensation reports**: View and manage your saved Excel reports.

**Resources**: Download the full job catalog, view the participant list, or read Pave's data methodology.

## Employee compensation benchmarks

After selecting a job family and level, Market Data displays compensation benchmarks for that role. Benchmarks are available for the following compensation types:

* Base salary
* Annual bonus (%)
* Target variable pay
* Target total cash
* New hire equity
* Ongoing equity
* Unvested equity

You can view benchmarks in a table, chart, or target pay mix format. The table view shows percentile values (10th, 25th, 50th, 75th, 90th) for each compensation type. Each benchmark includes a [Consistency Label](understand-consistency-labels.md) that indicates how reliably it represents the market.

Where raw data has insufficient sample size, Pave may display a [Calculated Benchmark](understand-calculated-benchmarks.md) generated by its models. Both raw and calculated benchmarks use the same filters, percentiles, and Consistency Labels.

### Filters

Narrow your benchmark results by location, company stage, industry, company ownership, and more. You can also apply a saved Peer Group to filter by a predefined set of company criteria. For the full list of filters and how they work, see [Filter Market Data benchmarks](filter-market-data-benchmarks.md).

### Equity settings

Equity benchmarks include additional settings that control how values are displayed:

* **View**: Gross value, net value, 409A value, or equity ownership (%)
* **Timeframe**: Total or annualized
* **Grant value**: Original grant value or current grant value

For details on equity compensation types, settings, and common definitions, see [Equity data benchmarking](equity-data-benchmarking.md).

## Market Practices

Market Data includes two features under Market Practices that go beyond individual compensation benchmarks:

* **[Equity Practices](explore-equity-practices.md)**: Benchmarks for how companies structure their equity programs, including burn rates, vesting schedules, vesting durations, and cliff periods
* **[Global Location Insights](explore-global-location-insights.md)**: Pay differentials across 50+ countries and 70+ cities, showing how compensation varies by location relative to a base market

## Reports

Create Excel reports to export benchmark data for offline analysis. Reports include the compensation types, filters, and equity settings you select, along with Consistency Labels and sample sizes.

You can access reports from the landing page or generate a new report from the benchmark explorer.

## Peer Groups

Peer Groups let you define a custom set of companies to benchmark against, based on criteria like industry, company stage, and headcount. Once created, a Peer Group can be applied as a filter to any benchmark search. For details, see [Create and manage Peer Groups in Market Data](create-and-manage-peer-groups.md).

## Market Data Pro

Some features require a Market Data Pro subscription:

* Equity Practices
* Global Location Insights
* Peer Groups
* Additional equity views (net value, 409A value)
* Excel report generation

All users have access to the core benchmark explorer with base salary, total cash, variable pay, and equity benchmarks (gross value and equity ownership views).

## Roles and permissions

Access to Market Data is controlled by roles in Pave. The default Benchmarker role can view benchmarks and reports and invite users. The Integrator role can view benchmarks and reports. Admins have full access.

To manage who can access Market Data and customize their permissions, see [Create and manage roles](../account-permissions/create-and-manage-roles.md) and [Configure role permissions](../account-permissions/configure-role-permissions.md).