Compensation Data
Estimating & Normalizing Reasonable Compensation
Compensation Data
For business valuators, normalizing a business owner’s compensation is a critical piece of the valuation process as there is an inverse relationship between reasonable compensation and value derived for the enterprise.
Following are DATA resources that will help make estimating reasonable compensation quick, easy and accurate. Click the underlined titles to go to the specific database.
BLS: Occupation Employment and Wage Statistics
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics database provides comprehensive employment and wage data across various occupations and regions.
CareerOneStop
CareerOneStop provides extensive salary and occupational data to support employment planning and career development.
ERI Compensation Hub
ERI Compensation Data offers detailed salary and compensation data critical for accurate corporate planning and market analyses.
Executive Compensation Survey
The Executive Compensation Survey from CompData offers extensive information on pay structures for leadership roles across a broad range of U.S. industries and geographic areas. It includes detailed data on more than 130 executive and senior management job titles, covering various components of compensation such as base salary, incentives, and total cash compensation.
Integra Officer Compensation Report
The Integra Officer Compensation Report offers detailed information on executive pay, assisting professionals in assessing compensation levels across privately held and closely held businesses. The data is relevant for a range of use cases, including financial reporting, tax compliance, litigation support, and business planning.
Occupational Employment Statistics
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) maintains the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) program to provide detailed information about job-specific employment levels and wage distributions across a broad range of geographic and industry contexts in the United States.
Occupational Outlook Handbook
The Occupational Outlook Handbook is a publicly accessible resource maintained by the Bureau of Labor Statistics that offers structured profiles of occupations across the U.S. labor market. It presents extensive data on job responsibilities, typical work settings, education and training requirements, wage estimates, and projected employment trends. With more than 300 occupational profiles, the OOH supports a wide range of users—including workforce planners, educators, analysts, and valuation professionals—who rely on reliable labor market data for decision-making and research.
Milliman Northwest Executive Compensation Survey
The Milliman Northwest Executive Compensation Survey compiles compensation data for senior leadership roles across a range of organizations located in the Northwestern United States. It includes both private and publicly traded companies and focuses on 19 executive-level positions.
PayScale Salary Reports
PayScale offers access to a comprehensive repository of salary information, used by organizations to assess compensation levels and inform decisions related to pay structure, equity, and workforce planning. The data encompasses a wide range of occupations, industries, and locations, and is updated frequently to reflect shifts in the labor market.
RCReports
RCReports offers robust compensation data specifically tailored for determining reasonable compensation in closely held businesses.
ValuSource: Compensation Data
ValuSource Compensation Data provides comprehensive salary benchmarks essential for accurate executive and employee compensation analyses.