Free tool
Salary range calculator
Type the bottom and top of a pay range to see how wide it really is, and how that compares with the ranges AI companies post. Or start from a midpoint and build one.
Compared with 623 yearly salary ranges in US dollars, posted by 49 employers and read on 28 August 2026. How they were measured
Check a range
Type both figures to compare. For reference, the median AI job post’s range spans 31.5% of its midpoint.
Build a range
The figure you want the range centred on.
The median AI job post spans 31.5%. Lower is tighter.
Type a midpoint and a width to build a range.
How to use it
- Type the bottom and top of a range, in any currency, yearly or hourly.
- Read its width as a share of its midpoint, and how that compares with real AI job posts.
- To make a range instead, type a midpoint. The width starts at the median posting's and you can change it.
Why you'd use it
A range only tells a candidate something if it is narrow enough to mean something. Measured against the midpoint, a $60,000 band on a $400,000 role says more than a $50,000 band on a $120,000 one, so width in dollars alone misleads.
Employers use it to set a band that reads as a real commitment. Candidates use it to see how much a posted range actually tells them before they apply.
Common questions
- What is a normal salary range width?
- Across the 623 AI job posts we measured, the median range spans 31.5% of its midpoint: half are tighter and half are wider. At the 15 employers with 8 or more postings, the typical posting ran from 18.2% to 55.0%.
- Why measure width against the midpoint?
- Because the same band means different things at different pay. Dividing the width by the middle of the range puts a junior range and an executive range on one scale, which is how the research compares employers.
- What is range spread?
- Spread is the width divided by the bottom of the range, the figure most HR teams use when they design pay bands. It always reads higher than width as a share of the midpoint, because the bottom of a range is smaller than its middle.
- Does the currency or pay period matter?
- No. Width is compared as a share of the midpoint, which comes out the same in dollars or euros, yearly or hourly. The comparison figures are yearly US dollar ranges, and comparing proportions is what makes other currencies and pay periods comparable at all.
- What if the bottom and top are the same number?
- Then it is a single figure rather than a range, which is as precise as a job post can be. 6 of the 623 posts we measured did exactly that.
- Is anything I type sent anywhere?
- No. The calculation runs in your browser, and nothing you type is sent to No Varnish or anyone else.
More free tools
- AI salary calculator
Pick a level to see what AI companies actually post for it, then type a yearly salary to see which quarter of those ranges it falls in.