In this article
- Start here: the learning path
- How to negotiate a salary offer: the sequence
- What the research says about asking
- How a range works as an anchor
- How much does a small difference in starting pay matter?
- How do you compare two offers?
- What the law changes about the first pay question
- Each moment of a salary search, answered
- Questions interviewers ask on salary
- All 8 guides in Salary negotiation
- Follow-up questions
- Sources
- Salary negotiation
- Salary negotiation is a conversation in which a candidate and an employer move from an offered package to an agreed one, trading pay, equity and other terms against each other, with both sides holding alternatives.
- Total compensation
- Total compensation is the full yearly value of a job: base pay, any bonus at its target, and the yearly value of equity, which lets you compare offers that split pay differently.
- BATNA
- A BATNA, or best alternative to a negotiated agreement, is the best option you have if this negotiation fails, which sets the lowest deal you should accept. The term was coined by Roger Fisher and William Ury in their 1981 book Getting to Yes (Burgess, Beyond Intractability, February 2013).
- Anchor
- An anchor is the first number or range placed on the table in a negotiation, which pulls later offers towards it.
- Vesting schedule
- A vesting schedule is the timetable on which an equity grant becomes yours, such as a quarter a year over four years, which decides how much of the grant you hold if you leave early.
- Counteroffer
- A counteroffer is a reply to an offer that proposes different terms, sent in one message with a reason for each change.
Start here: the learning path
A salary search has five moments, and the method changes least between them: know your alternatives, say a number only with a reason, and put terms in writing.
Text description of the diagram
- A salary search has five moments, and the method changes least between them: know your alternatives, say a number only with a reason, and put terms in writing.
- Prepare. Work out your alternatives and your range before the first call.
- Prepare. Work out your alternatives and your range before the first call (the next two sections).
- The recruiter call. Answer the first pay question without naming a number too early.
- The offer. Respond, ask for time, and counter once with a range.
- The comparison. Convert every offer to total compensation.
- After you accept. Raises and promotions use the same method with a different bargaining position.
Interviews themselves come first. If you have not rehearsed your opening, read how to answer "Tell me about yourself"; for the whole sequence of rounds before an offer arrives, read how interview loops work.
- How to answer "What are your salary expectations?" in an interview
- What are your compensation expectations? Recruiter screen answers
- Negotiating a tech offer: what to say and what to count
- Negotiating a raise / promotion: how to ask and what to say
- What to say when asked your current salary
- 30 salary-negotiation questions with the exact words for offers and pushback
- Negotiating after a verbal offer: what to say and when
- How to Counter a Lowball Offer: Steps and What to Say
How to negotiate a salary offer: the sequence
The sequence has six moves, and each depends on the one before it. This order is our judgement of good practice, built on the evidence in the sections below, and it is not a legal or financial rule. First, learn the market range for the role and level. Second, set your BATNA: the best alternative you hold, such as another offer or your current job, and the lowest package you would accept. Third, wait for a written offer before you negotiate the number. Fourth, thank the employer, say you are excited, and ask for a day or two to review. Fifth, send one counteroffer with a range and a reason. Sixth, agree the final terms in writing.
Text description of the diagram
- The sequence has six moves, and each depends on the one before it.
- Fifth, send one counteroffer with a range and a reason. Sixth, agree the final terms in writing.
The reason to wait is that a number said too early becomes your anchor against yourself. The reason to counter once, with every request in one message, is practical: in our judgement, an employer can take a complete proposal to an approver in one step, whereas a series of small asks needs several rounds.
Knowing it is half the job. Saying it is the other half.
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Start Free Trial →What the research says about asking
One line of research suggests the barrier is not only whether people ask, but what happens after. A study of Australian survey data from 2013 and 2014 found that women asked for raises as often as men but received one 15% of the time against 20% for men (University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, June 2018). That is one country and one survey, and it says nothing about the best script.
A three-study paper in the Journal of Applied Psychology found that evaluators who were more racially biased expected Black job seekers to negotiate less than white ones, gave lower starting salaries when those expectations were broken, and were more resistant to making concessions (Hernandez, Avery, Volpone and Kaiser, 2019, summarised by the University of Colorado). The practical reading: negotiation outcomes depend on the other side as well as on you, so prepare evidence for every request and keep a real alternative.
How a range works as an anchor
A range works as an anchor because both ends of it influence the reply. The paper that named this effect, tandem anchoring, reports that range offers carry information about the offer-maker's limits and also shape how polite an extreme counteroffer seems (Ames and Mason, 2015). In a salary talk that suggests choosing both ends deliberately: the low end should be a figure you would accept, not a figure you hope to avoid.
Say the range as a sentence with a reason: "Based on the scope of the role and the market for this level, I was hoping for a base between X and Y." A reason lets the employer repeat your case to the person who approves the offer. Avoid ending with a question mark in your voice; a statement, followed by silence, is easier to answer than a plea.
How much does a small difference in starting pay matter?
A small difference in starting pay compounds because later raises are percentages of the base. Take a starting base of 100 index units and a five percent higher negotiated start of 105. With a three percent yearly raise, the extra ten-year pay is 57.3 units, more than half of a full year's starting base. The raise rate is illustrative; it sits near the 3.2% twelve-month rise in civilian wages and salaries in the Employment Cost Index for the quarter ending June 2026 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, released July 2026). At two and four percent the extra is 54.7 and 60.0 units. All three are computed in assets/data/salary-numbers.py.1
| Yearly raise (illustrative) | Ten-year pay, base 100 | Ten-year pay, base 105 | Extra from negotiating |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2% | 1,095.0 | 1,149.7 | 54.7 |
| 3% | 1,146.4 | 1,203.7 | 57.3 |
| 4% | 1,200.6 | 1,260.6 | 60.0 |
How do you compare two offers?
Comparing offers means converting each to total compensation and then testing it against the risk that its equity changes in value.
Suppose offer A, the equity-heavy offer, has a base of 100, a target bonus of 10 and an equity grant of 160 vesting a quarter a year, and offer B, the cash-heavy offer, has a base of 120, the same bonus and a grant of 60. Yearly value at grant-date prices is 150 for A and 145 for B. If the equity is worth half as much, the equity-heavy offer A falls to 130 and the cash-heavy offer B to 137.5; if it is worth one and a half times as much, A rises to 170 and B to 152.5.1
All figures are illustrative index units, computed in assets/data/salary-numbers.py. The ranking flips with the equity's value, so ask how the grant is valued and when it vests.
Text description of the diagram
- At grant-date prices the equity-heavy offer is worth 150 index units a year against 145 for the cash-heavy offer.
- If the equity is worth half as much, the equity-heavy offer A falls to 130 and the cash-heavy offer B to 137.5.
What the law changes about the first pay question
Pay-transparency and salary-history laws change what you can be asked and what you will see. In May 2026 a law firm summarised three new state laws: Virginia's, effective 1 July 2026, requires pay information in postings and bans salary-history questions; Maine's, effective 29 July 2026, requires a pay range on every posting for employers with ten or more employees; and Delaware's, effective in September 2027, covers employers with more than 25 employees (Foley and Lardner, 18 May 2026). Rules differ by place and change often, so check where the job is based. This page is not legal advice.
Each moment of a salary search, answered
Answering the salary-expectations question early
Answer the salary-expectations question with a researched range, or with a question about the range the employer has budgeted, and never with a bare number you could not defend. The full answer to the salary-expectations question has more scripts. The question arrives in three forms: a direct ask on an early call, a field on an application form, and a late "what would it take?" close to the offer. On an early call, in our judgement, ask first: "I'd like to understand the scope of the role first.
What range have you budgeted for it?" If the recruiter insists, give a range built from your market research, whose low end you would accept: "For a role at this level, I'm looking at X to Y." On a form, a range or "negotiable, based on total compensation" keeps the number from becoming a single anchor. A recruiter often asks this in the same call as the opening question, so rehearse it with Tell me about yourself.
Negotiating a tech offer: base against equity
A tech offer has five levers: base pay, a target bonus, equity with its vesting schedule, a sign-on payment and the job level. Price each lever in the same unit, as a yearly value, and add them into total compensation, as the comparison above does. A sign-on payment is paid once, so spread it over the years you expect to stay before you compare it with base.
Ask three questions about equity: how the grant is valued, when it vests, and what happens to unvested equity if you leave. You can say: "Could you walk me through how the grant is valued and how it vests?" In our judgement, level matters most, because the range for base, bonus and equity is usually set by level, so a request to move level is a request to move every other lever.
Handling pay questions on the first recruiter call
The recruiter screen is the first place a pay number can be requested, and the aim is to leave the call knowing the range for the role without having named a number you did not choose; the page on recruiter-screen compensation questions goes through each question in turn. In our judgement, a common order for the questions is this: availability and timing, then location and level, then pay. A calm reply to the pay question is: "I'm flexible on structure and want to understand the whole package.
What is the range for this level?" Where a posting already shows a range, as the laws summarised above require in some places, quote it back: "The posted range is X to Y; I'm aiming for the upper half given my experience." Where salary-history questions are banned, as in Virginia from 1 July 2026, you do not have to answer a question about past pay, and the reply above still works.
Negotiating a raise or promotion
Negotiating a raise uses the same method as negotiating an offer, from a different bargaining position: your alternatives are usually weaker, your evidence is your record, and the timing follows your employer's review cycle. Build a one-page case that lists results with dates and compares your pay with the market for your level.
Civilian wages and salaries rose 3.2% in the 12 months to June 2026 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, July 2026), so a request near that figure only keeps pace, and the case has to show why you are above it. In the meeting you can say: "Over the last year I delivered X and Y, and I now own Z. Based on that scope and the market for this level, I'd like to discuss moving my base to a figure between A and B."
What to say when asked your current salary
The best reply to "what are you earning now?" is short and calm and moves the conversation to the value of the new role. You can say: "I'd rather focus on what this role is worth than on my current pay. Based on the scope, I'm looking for a base between X and Y." The reason is the anchor effect: in our judgement, a current figure can become the number an offer is built on, even when the new role is larger.
Where the question is banned, as in Virginia from 1 July 2026 under the law summarised above, an employer covered by that law may not ask it, and you can say so politely; check whether the law applies to your job, because this page is not legal advice. Elsewhere, if the employer says it needs the figure for its own process, repeat the range you want and offer to discuss total compensation for the new role instead.
How to counter a lowball offer
A lowball offer is one that sits well under the market range for the level, and the reply has the same structure as any counteroffer: thanks, evidence, a range and one message. To tell a lowball from an ordinary first offer, compare it with the market range you researched, or with the posted range where the law requires one. You can write: "Thank you for the offer; I'm excited about the role.
Based on the market for this level, I was expecting a base between X and Y. Is there room to move towards that?" If the gap stays large after one counter, your BATNA decides what is open to you: with a better alternative you can decline politely and keep the relationship, and without one you may accept a smaller move on base in exchange for a review date or a higher level.
Negotiating after a verbal offer
A verbal offer is a spoken signal, not yet written terms, so the safest reply on the call is thanks and a request for the written offer. You can say: "Thank you, I'm excited about this. Could you send the details in writing, including base, bonus, equity, start date and level? I'll reply by a date I'll name once I've read them." In our judgement, a reply given on the call has less information behind it than one given after reading the document, and the document is also what you negotiate against. If the employer wants an answer on the spot, ask for a day or two, which is move four of the sequence above.
Questions interviewers ask on salary
Recruiters and hiring managers ask a small set of pay questions, and each has a short reply you can prepare. "What are your salary expectations?" and "What are you earning now?" are answered in the sections above. "Do you have other offers?" is answered truthfully: "I'm talking with a few companies, and I'd like to decide once I have the full picture here." Name an alternative only if it is real. "What would it take for you to accept?" is answered with the package: "A base in the range we discussed and a clear review point would let me say yes."
"Where are you in other processes?" is answered with timing: "One is at the final stage, and I'd like to respond to you by the date you gave me." Behavioural rounds also ask about conflict and persuasion; the behavioral interview questions guide covers those, and the questions to ask the interviewer article covers what to ask about pay, level and growth. Managers negotiating on the other side of the table can read the engineering management interview guide and the leadership interviews guide.
Follow-up questions
How to negotiate a salary offer?
Wait for a written offer, thank the employer, ask for a day or two, then send one counteroffer with a range and a reason. Agree the final terms in writing before you resign from anything.
How to negotiate salary after a job offer?
Treat the offer as the start of a short exchange, not the end of one. Reply within the time you were given, keep every request in one message, and name the alternative you hold only if it is real.
How to negotiate salary via email?
Write three short paragraphs: thanks and enthusiasm, your range with its reason, and the next step. Email gives you time to check the numbers and gives the employer text they can forward to the approver.
How to negotiate salary at entry level?
Entry-level candidates have fewer proof points but the same method: use the posted range if there is one, name the skills the role needs, and ask about level and review cycles as well as base pay.
How do you counter an offer on salary?
Counter with a range whose low end you would accept, give one reason, and ask for the whole package in one message. In our judgement, a complete proposal is easier for an employer to approve in one step than a series of small requests.
- Know your BATNA before anyone says a number.
- Wait for a written offer, then counter once with a range and a reason.
- A five percent higher start is worth about 57 index units over ten years at a three percent raise.
- Compare offers as total compensation and test them against a change in equity value.
- Laws on pay ranges and salary history differ by place; check where the job is based.
Sources
- Employment Cost Index summary, June 2026 (archived release USDL-26-1270) — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 31 Jul 2026
- Trends of pay transparency laws and salary history bans continue to grow: new laws enacted in Virginia, Maine and Delaware — Foley and Lardner LLP, 18 May 2026
- Research finds women ask for raises as often as men, but are less likely to receive them — University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, 26 Jun 2018
- Bargaining while Black: The role of race in salary negotiations (Hernandez, Avery, Volpone, Kaiser; Journal of Applied Psychology, 2019) — University of Colorado Boulder, Leeds School of Business, 29 Apr 2020
- Tandem anchoring: Informational and politeness effects of range offers in social exchange (Ames and Mason; Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 108(2), 254-274) — American Psychological Association (Crossref record), 1 Feb 2015
- BATNA (Heidi Burgess, Beyond Intractability; credits Fisher and Ury, Getting to Yes, 1981) — Beyond Intractability, University of Colorado Conflict Information Consortium, 1 Feb 2013
