Trust center
Where every number comes from
We start from one verified federal pay benchmark, then label everything we model on top of it as an estimate — so you always know what is measured and what is calculated.
Verified
Pay for the broad accounting occupation nationally, in every state, and in every metro BLS publishes — each a direct federal measurement.
Estimate
Role, experience, employer-type, and CPA-credential figures are modeled on top of those measurements and labeled Estimate everywhere they appear.
Never claimed
A CPA-specific federal wage, company pay without enough verified submissions, or any figure we can't source.
The measured foundation
The BLS wage benchmark
$83,680
national median · May 2025
This is a direct U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics OEWS measurement for Accountants and Auditors (SOC 13-2011) — public-domain federal data, and the most reliable wage anchor available. BLS publishes the same measurement for every state and every metro area it covers, so the pay shown on a state or metro page is measured there, not scaled down from this national figure. Everything else on the site is built on top of these.
Important: BLS measures one broad occupation — it does not isolate licensed CPAs, nor split out role (tax vs. audit vs. controller) or firm type. So we treat this as the verified baseline, never as a CPA-specific wage.
Everything modeled on top
Estimated figures
Role and seniority breakdowns, the experience curve, the CPA-credential premium, employer-type figures, and calculator output are all estimates — the verified median for the area scaled by documented multipliers. BLS measures one broad occupation per area, so none of these cuts exist in the federal data. They are labeled Estimate everywhere, and they are excluded from the verified dataset download (which contains the national BLS row only).
The CPA license premium is a modeled estimate, not a federal fact. BLS does not publish a wage for CPAs specifically, so we cannot — and do not — present the credential bump as measured data.
▸The technical detail: documented multipliers, in full
Every modeled factor and the exact multiplier it applies to the baseline median, shown as a percentage change. Factors compound (they are multiplied, not added), so a CPA who is also in technology stacks both adjustments. The calculator shows you precisely which factors were applied to your estimate, and each figure sharpens toward data-calibrated values as verified submissions accumulate.
Years of experience
Entry-level through 20+ years.
- 0–1 years
- −14%
- 2–4 years
- −4%
- 5–7 years
- +8%
- 8–12 years
- +20%
- 13–20 years
- +32%
- 20+ years
- +42%
CPA credential
The modeled license premium.
- CPA licensed
- +12%
- Not CPA licensed
- baseline
Employer type
Big 4 through nonprofit.
- Big 4 firm
- +12%
- National firm
- +5%
- Regional firm
- −2%
- Local firm
- −8%
- Industry / corporate
- +4%
- Government
- −6%
- Nonprofit
- −10%
Industry
Sector pay differences.
- Technology
- +14%
- Finance & banking
- +12%
- Healthcare
- +2%
- Manufacturing
- baseline
- Retail & consumer
- −4%
- Government & public sector
- −7%
- Nonprofit
- −10%
- Other / not sure
- baseline
Public-accounting background
Firm experience signal.
- Public accounting background
- +5%
- No public accounting background
- baseline
Big 4 experience
Brand-pedigree signal.
- Big 4 experience
- +10%
- No Big 4 experience
- baseline
Work arrangement
Remote / hybrid / onsite.
- Remote
- +1%
- Hybrid
- baseline
- Onsite
- −1%
Role and seniority multipliers also apply; they are shown on each role page and in the calculator. Note that location is not a multiplier — a state or metro page starts from the BLS measurement for that area itself, so these adjustments are applied to local measured pay rather than to a scaled-down national number.
Buying-power adjustment
Real pay: salary adjusted for local prices
A dollar buys more in some places than others. To compare pay across markets on equal footing, we restate each salary in national-average price terms using the BEA Regional Price Parity (RPP) — the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis measure of local price levels versus the national average (100.0):
real pay = nominal ÷ (RPP ÷ 100)The nominal wage is the verified BLS figure and the RPP is a verified BEA measurement, but the real-pay figure is a derived combination of the two — so it is labeled “Real pay · BEA-adjusted,” never Verified.
Real pay is not take-home pay. It adjusts only for local price levels. It does not model federal or state taxes, housing choices, commuting, benefits, or personal spending, and higher buying power is not the only thing that makes a market a good place to build a career. Where the BEA publishes no RPP for an area, we show “RPP unavailable” and exclude it from real-pay rankings rather than estimate a value.
Anonymous & moderated
Real CPA submissions
CPAs submit their own compensation anonymously. Every submission is reviewed by a moderator, normalized to a standard role, and only ever used in aggregated, anonymized benchmarks. Contact details and proof are kept private and are never exposed to the public.
As submissions accumulate, they progressively replace modeled multipliers with data-calibrated estimates — first nationally, then by role, region, and employer.
Small-sample suppression
When we withhold company pay
Company-level pay is suppressed until at least 3 verified submissions exist for that employer. Below that threshold we show no company number at all — a thin sample can be misleading or re-identifying, so a withheld figure is safer than a shaky one.
When we do show a company figure, we always disclose the sample size so you can judge how much weight it carries.
Editorial integrity
Sponsored content never moves a number
Advertising and employer placements never influence a salary figure. Sponsored content is clearly labeled, kept separate from the data, and never placed above a salary answer.
Our benchmarks are derived from BLS data and moderated submissions only — no advertiser can buy a better number, a higher ranking, or a suppressed-data exception.
Hard boundaries
What we do NOT claim
- We do not claim a CPA-specific federal wage. BLS tracks the broad Accountants and Auditors occupation; the CPA premium is modeled.
- We do not present role, experience, employer, or credential estimates as measured data — they are labeled Estimate.
- We do not show company pay without enough verified submissions, and we never fabricate a sample size or a source.
- Figures are base/total cash — they exclude benefits, equity, and cost-of-living adjustment, and are not a guarantee of any individual's pay.
What changes over time
How the data gets sharper
The BLS state & metro OEWS import has landed: every area figure on the site is now a source-backed measurement rather than a modeled one. Estimates only ever flip to Verified when real data backs them — never by hand. The remaining estimates are the cuts BLS does not publish, and as moderated submissions accumulate, those modeled multipliers give way to data-calibrated benchmarks by role, region, and employer.
We refresh the BLS baseline when new OEWS releases land. Spot an issue? Tell us and we will correct it.
Not financial advice. Estimates are informational and may not reflect any specific individual's pay. Always corroborate with multiple sources before making career or compensation decisions.