Category
Salary & Pay
Salary & Pay guides on Jobnorthstar.
How Much Does a Welder Make? Salary Guide by State and Experience
Welding pay is almost always quoted as an hourly rate, then turned into an annual figure by the employer or the job board. The clearest free source for current numbers is the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) program, which publishes median and percentile wages for "Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers" nationally, by state and by metro area, with a May reference date each year.
Harlan Voss · 12 min read
Veterinary Technician Salary: Average Pay by State, Experience, and Specialty
Veterinary technician pay in the US is quoted as an hourly base rate, and the reference figure most employers and recruiters work from is the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) table for SOC 29-2056, Veterinary Technologists and Technicians. That table gives a national median hourly and annual wage plus the 10th, 25th, 75th and 90th percentiles, broken out by state and metro area, with a May reference date and a new release each year.
Marisol Teague · 10 min read
Project Manager vs. Product Manager Salary: Which Pays More?
On the published numbers, the product manager side pays more. The closest federal proxy for product managers, ONET's "Managers, All Other" category, shows a 2025 median annual wage of $141,900 (ONET OnLine, U.S. Department of Labor, 2025), against a median annual wage of $102,320 for project management specialists in May 2025 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2025-05) — a gap of $39,580 a year, about 39 percent.
Priya Nandakumar · 9 min read
Paralegal Salary: Average Pay by State, Experience, and Industry
Paralegal pay in the US is usually quoted as an hourly rate for firm and in-house staff and as an annual salary for government and supervisory roles, with overtime, year-end bonuses and shift or trial differentials stacked on top of base. The authoritative national figures — median hourly, median annual, and the 10th through 90th percentiles — are published by the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics in its Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) program under SOC code 23-2011, Paralegals and Legal Assistants, with a stated reference month and year on every table.
Marisol Teague · 11 min read
HVAC Technician Salary: Average Pay by State, Experience, and Specialty
Most HVAC technicians in the US are paid an hourly base rate, with overtime, on-call pay, shift differentials and sometimes commission on top — so the number on your pay stub and the number in a job ad often describe different things. The checkable national, state and metro wage figures for this trade come from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) program, under the occupation code 49-9021, Heating, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Mechanics and Installers, which is republished each year with a May reference date.
Harlan Voss · 11 min read
Plumber vs. HVAC Technician Salary: Full Pay Comparison
Plumbers and HVAC technicians sit close together in US national pay data, and in most states the difference between the two trades is smaller than the difference between a union shop and a non-union one, or between new-construction work and 24/7 service work. The honest comparison is not one national number but four: the annual median, the 10th percentile, the 90th percentile, and how fast you move up the apprenticeship steps.
Tobias Lindqvist · 8 min read
Getting Paid More as a Project Manager: A Negotiation Playbook
Getting paid more as a project manager usually comes down to three things you control: a defensible number drawn from published wage data, evidence that you delivered something measurable, and timing the conversation when your value is visible. Pay for this occupation is set differently by employer, state and industry — the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes separate median annual wages by top industry for project management specialists (2025), and CareerOneStop publishes state-level medians alongside the national figure (2024 and 2025 data).
Tobias Lindqvist · 8 min read
Physical Therapist vs. Physical Therapist Assistant Salary: Which Pays More?
Physical therapists out-earn physical therapist assistants. The median annual wage for physical therapists was $102,760 in May 2025, against $68,380 for physical therapist assistants (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2025) — a difference of $34,380 a year at the median, or roughly 50 percent more.
Harlan Voss · 9 min read
How to Ask for a Raise as an Administrative Assistant: Step-by-Step
Asking for a raise as an administrative assistant works best when you bring three things: a researched pay figure for your exact job title and metro area, a written record of work you took on beyond your job description, and a specific number you are prepared to say out loud. The raise conversation is a short, structured meeting, not a performance — most of the work happens in the two or three weeks before it.
Priya Nandakumar · 10 min read
How to Negotiate a Higher Salary as a Medical Assistant
Negotiating as a medical assistant works best when you argue from published wage data, a credential the employer values, and tasks nobody else in the clinic covers. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics put the median annual wage for medical assistants at $45,690, or $21.97 an hour, in May 2025, with the top 10 percent above $59,310 a year and the bottom 10 percent below $36,050 a year — that spread is the space you negotiate inside.
Desmond Okafor-Hale · 9 min read
How to Negotiate a Higher Salary as a Pharmacy Technician
Pharmacy technician pay is set mostly by your setting, your state, your credentials and the shifts you cover — and each of those is something you can put a number on before you ask. The median annual wage for pharmacy technicians was $43,460 in May 2024 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2024), so the question in any raise conversation is not whether you are paid "well" but where your rate sits against published figures for your state and industry.
Harlan Voss · 9 min read
What Does a Pharmacy Technician Really Earn?
Pharmacy technician pay is almost always set as an hourly rate, and the honest answer to "what do they earn?" is a range rather than a single number. The most reliable public source is the US Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) program, which reports median and percentile wages for Pharmacy Technicians under occupation code 29-2052, by state, by metro area and by industry.
Desmond Okafor-Hale · 11 min read
How Much Does a Medical Assistant Make? Salary Guide
Medical assistant pay is almost always set as an hourly base rate, then adjusted by geography, employer type, certification and shift. The authoritative national, state and metro figures come from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) program, which publishes a median, a mean and the 10th, 25th, 75th and 90th percentile wages for the occupation each year.
Tobias Lindqvist · 11 min read
Graphic Designer vs. UX Designer Salary: Full Pay Comparison
On national US wage data, UX design pays more than graphic design at every level. The median annual wage for graphic designers was $62,960 in May 2025, while web and digital interface designers — the category that covers most UX design jobs — had a median annual wage of $104,000 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2025). That is a gap of $41,040 a year, or about 65 percent, at the midpoint.
Marisol Teague · 8 min read