Remember when it was taboo to talk about salaries publicly? No longer.
The change has been dramatic, spurred in part by anonymized online portals like Glassdoor that collect information and make it publicly available. There are other factors as well: increased employee awareness of systematic inequalities in remuneration (and a will to change), and in the U.S., a new lawOpens a new window requiring publicly-traded companies to report on how median employee salaries compare to those of their chief executives.
This year’s results are in and the headlines, at least, are unimpressed. “Typical CEO pay package up 7% last year to a total $12 million,†proclaimed CBS. “CEOs – especially those in tech – are making more money than ever,†wrote VOX. “CEOs get $800,00 pay raise, leaving workers further behind,†lamented the Associated Press.
Given that the salary reporting requirement was passed in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, which stirred resentment against excessive pay gaps, that ambivalence is probably well-founded.
But what’s the story in tech? Long an economic driver, the tech industry has consistently shone in the dark world of post-financial crisis upheaval. Even in moments of economic uncertainty, it has been a reliable growth engine – recent disappointments notwithstanding. In a data compilation published by the Associated PressOpens a new window  based on the salary reporting requirement, at least six of the top 20 highest-paying companies were tech companies, including Google parent company Alphabet (median 2018 pay $246,804), Facebook (median 2018 pay $228,651) and Netflix (median 2018 pay $202,335).
Best Indicators
The median pay, which is the pay level at the halfway mark between highest and lowest salary (in this case, not including the chief executives), is generally considered a better indicator of company pay than averages, which can be significantly influenced by a few outliers.
Tech’s impressive statistics don’t end there. While most reports focused on the growing wage gap between workers and executives, some of tech’s most recognizable founders took highly symbolic salaries of next to nothing. Alphabet’s Larry Page reported a $1 salary last yearOpens a new window , and Twitter’s Jack Dorsey reported a salary of little more than $4. Of course, both those executives – as well as executives as other major tech companies, especially those still led by their founders – have significant stakes in their companies, usually worth millions.
Not So Different
It would be tempting to think that tech is immune from the traditions plaguing some more traditional companies. But if you look a little closer at the statistics, the picture, even in tech, is a little less rosy. As reported by VoxOpens a new window , tech employees’ overall average median pay in 2018 was $82,500 – nothing to sniff at, but still a 2% decrease from the preceding year.
Worse, average salaries for tech executives rose 15% to $6.6 million, which means that trends in tech are headed in the same direction as other companies.
In addition to that less-than-ideal picture painted by the latest reporting data, it’s also important to consider the context for tech workers. While they– along with those working in the pharmaceuticals or energy industries – have relatively high salaries on average, they often must live in markets that have higher-than-average costs of living. One look at the San Francisco real estate market could scare off even a high-earning worker.
Data from last year, compiled by HiredOpens a new window , a job search platform, showed that tech workers generally make more money in highly competitive markets to compensate for such costs. Statistics collected by the firm showed tech workers in the San Francisco Bay Area earning more than anywhere else in the U.S., including New York. Those salaries are rising as well, from an average of $133,000 per year in 2015 to $142,000 in 2017; a more significant rise, in real terms, than New York or Chicago.
In Austin, Hired statisticsOpens a new window showed tech workers salaries also rising quickly, but the real benefit of working in Austin is in the relative wealth: Hired estimated that for a tech worker in Austin to move to the Bay Area and maintain her standard of living, she would need a salary increase of $84,000 a year. In fact, salaries in the Bay Area are only $24,000 more per year than those in Austin.
Some expertsOpens a new window  who have examined the growing gap between worker and executive salaries blame the trends on an industry increasingly dominated by a few large firms. To stay equitable, it would seem that tech has to stay diverse. That might not be such a bad thing, especially if new companies arise in new markets. The hopeful founder of Facebook’s would-be successor might do well to look elsewhere than Silicon Valley.