How big of a raise can you expect in 2027? * Josh Steinfeld for Pave * Nov 4, 2026 Updated 1 hr ago * 0 Josh Steinfeld for Pave As companies are going through their annual budgeting exercises for 2027, one of the most impactful decisions they will make is how much additional budget to allocate to employee salaries. This number dictates how much most employees will see their pay increase for 2027. While this increase in budget tends to be relatively stable from year to year, that doesn't mean all employees receive the same increase every year. To get a better understanding of how companies are approaching these pay increases, as well as a number of other decisions heading into 2027, Pave partnered with Alpine Rewards to survey major employers across industries. People are also reading... Merit raises are steady, and so are promotion budgets. The median merit budget among U.S. companies is 3.5% of payroll for 2027, which is almost identical to what companies actually spent in 2026 and to last year's version of this survey, which also found a 3.5% median planned budget for 2026. Raises have settled into a pattern. The budget set aside for promotions and market adjustments also looks similar, with a median of about 1%. Outside the U.S., the story is much the same: A 3.5% raise may not feel exciting to some employees, but there are other levers available to companies to reward employees. Top performers are rewarded with equity. Here is the catch with an overall budget of 3.5%: It is not what everyone gets. Most companies will use performance to differentiate increases for high performance. In fact, the report found that 87% of companies use individual performance ratings to set merit increases, and only 9% hand out the same increase across the board. Beyond salary, companies are leaning on stock to reward high performers. The research found that 61% of companies use equity to deliver additional compensation to their top-performing employees. The key takeaway here is that while salary increases sit within tight boundaries, equity is where companies have room to pay a standout employee more. The fastest route to a big raise is a promotion. If you want a double-digit pay increase, the data says to get promoted. The most common average promotional increase is 9% to 12%, roughly three times a typical merit raise. Promotions are also not rare. Thirty-two percent of companies promoted between 10% and 15% of their workforce over the past 12 months, and another 29% promoted more than 15%. Overall, 61% promoted more than 1 in 10 employees. Timing is flexible too: 57% of companies promote employees off-cycle rather than making them wait for the annual review. A promotion can bring equity along with it. Among companies that offer it, 51% typically make employees eligible for equity in an off-cycle promotion. Two other interesting findings from the survey revolve around headcount growth and approaches to pay transparency. 2. Pay transparency is also a manager skill. Companies are still figuring out how transparent they want to be around pay. In recent years, providing salary ranges in job postings has become common, with many candidates seeing this as a minimum expectation for applying for a job. Based on the survey, 80% of companies include a salary range in every U.S. job posting, even where the law does not require it. Beyond putting salary ranges in job postings, approaches to pay transparency are inconsistent. But what many companies are doing is training the people who have the conversations. About half of companies (51%) plan to increase manager training or guidance on pay in 2027, the most common planned approach to transparency identified for 2027. Many of these companies are building on an already established foundation: 42% already give formal pay training to all people managers and 54% provide written talking points. The reason is simple. A pay decision is only as good as the explanation that comes with it. When managers can clearly describe how a raise, a range or a promotion was determined, employees understand what they are paid and why. If you are not sure how your own pay is set, ask your manager where you sit in your range - and what it would take to move up. Methodology Survey data: Pave and Alpine Rewards partnered to run a survey on "2027 Trends and Budgeting," in which 251 companies participated, mainly from the technology and life sciences industries. Full survey results of the 2027 Compensation Budgets & Planning Report with breakouts for company size, industry, and more can be found in Pave Data Lab. Turnover data: Pave's real-time compensation dataset consists of 1M+ employees from 9,000+ companies. Turnover data is calculated as the rate of employees from 12 months ago that are no longer at the company. This story was produced by Pave and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.

Pave and Levels.fyi announce strategic alliance, bringing Levels.fyi data into Pave Agent and Market Pricing. Oct 28, 2026, 17:27 ET Compensation decisions draw on more data than ever, and that data is scattered across surveys, spreadsheets, and tools. Pave has built the place where it all comes together: one platform, powered by real-time intelligence and open to every source compensation teams trust. Today's strategic alliance with Levels.fyi is the latest step in that effort. SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 28, 2026 /PRNewswire/ - Pave, the Agentic Compensation Management platform, today announced a strategic alliance with Levels.fyi, a compensation data platform that shows what work pays by company, level, location, and skill. The alliance builds on Pave's partnerships with The Croner Company, Korn Ferry, WTW, and others and reflects a continuing commitment: making it easier for customers to bring the critical data behind their pay decisions into one place. Pave will continue to expand the network of data partners available on the platform, so that compensation teams don't have to stitch together sources by hand or choose between the ones they trust. Through this strategic alliance, Pave customers can now access Levels.fyi data inside Pave Agent as well as Pave's Market Pricing tool to compare pay for a role across sources, benchmark against real-time Market Data, and price jobs and build competitive pay ranges. Customers can analyze Levels.fyi data alongside their own compensation data and any other data sources they choose to use. Pave Agent can use Levels.fyi data as a reference input to deliver compensation intelligence, so teams can ask a question in plain language and see the answer across Levels.fyi, their other sources, and real-time intelligence from 9,000-plus companies in Pave's dataset. Levels.fyi adds a distinct lens on the market. Its data is contributed directly by the people earning it and backed by proof documents such as offer letters, W-2s, and pay stubs. Alongside survey and real-time views, it shows compensation teams what talent is actually earning. With Levels.fyi data in Pave, mutual clients can: * Ask Pave Agent to compare pay for a role across Levels.fyi, WTW, Korn Ferry, Croner, and Pave's real-time Market Data, all within one platform * See self-reported Levels.fyi data next to survey and real-time benchmarks to understand where the market views agree and where they diverge * Analyze Levels.fyi data alongside their own compensation data to see where their pay stands * Give every analyst on the comp team, not just the person who manages the survey license, direct access to Levels.fyi data in their daily workflow "Compensation decisions are only as good as the data behind them, and no single source tells the whole story," said Matt Schulman, CEO of Pave. "Our goal is for Pave to be the central source for the data compensation teams use to make decisions, with real-time intelligence from 9,000-plus companies as the foundation and every source a client trusts available alongside it. Croner, Korn Ferry, WTW, and now Levels.fyi are steps in that effort, and we will keep adding more. Clients shouldn't have to choose between the data sources they trust. They should have them all in one place." "Effective compensation benchmarking starts with a simple question, 'How do we compare with the companies we actually compete against?'" said Zuhayeer Musa, co-founder of Levels.fyi. "Our data gives customers a current, company-level view of the market, backed by real proof such as offer letters and pay stubs. Bringing that perspective into Pave means teams can build the peer groups that matter to them, focus on a single competitor, and combine Levels.fyi's rich intelligence with the rest of their stack. Pave has set the standard for connected compensation, and we're excited to keep helping our mutual customers make faster, more confident pay decisions." Levels.fyi data is now available to mutual customers through Pave Agent and Pave's Market Pricing tool. Existing customers can contact their account teams for access and availability details. About Pave Pave is the Agentic Compensation Management platform, powered by real-time compensation intelligence from 9,000-plus companies and a growing network of data partners. Beyond Market Pricing, Pave's platform spans Market Data benchmarking, Compensation Planning, Total Rewards, Team View, Visual Offer Letters, and Pave Agent, giving compensation teams one connected system to price roles, plan cycles, and communicate pay across the business. To learn more, visit www.pave.com. About Levels.fyi Levels.fyi is a compensation data platform that shows what work pays by company, level, location, and skill, and offers a different perspective of the market. Its data is contributed directly by the people earning it, backed by proof documents like offer letters, W-2s, and pay stubs. Levels.fyi reports 1M+ compensation data points, 2,100+ companies with fresh data, and 8,500+ company job ladders mapped, and says more than 3M professionals use the platform every month. To learn more, visit www.levels.fyi. SOURCE Pave