Salary Budget Survey: How to Use 2026–2026 Data for Smarter Compensation Planning

Introduction

A salary budget survey provides HR and compensation teams with aggregated data on what employers plan to spend on salary increases, helping organizations benchmark their own compensation planning against market norms. This article focuses on using 2025–2026 salary budget survey data—combined with real-time market data—to build defensible, practical salary budgets for U.S.-based workforces.

This guide is written for U.S.-based HR, total rewards, and compensation professionals responsible for annual salary budget planning. It does not address individual salary negotiation or job seeker concerns. The scope covers how to interpret survey results, convert them into working budgets, and address common pitfalls—but does not attempt to predict macroeconomic outcomes or provide vendor-specific survey comparisons.

Current challenges make salary budget planning harder than ever: cooling labor markets, persistent inflation uncertainty, executive pressure to control costs, and conflicting data across survey providers. HR teams often receive salary budget survey results showing U.S. employers planning around 3.5% increases for 2026, yet struggle to translate that headline figure into department-level budgets that account for turnover, pay equity gaps, and critical skills premiums.

How should you use a salary budget survey? Treat it as a directional benchmark and scenario-planning input—not a single source of truth. Combine survey insights with real-time salary data, internal analytics, and business priorities to build a budget that reflects your organization’s actual workforce and competitive position.

By the end of this article, you will:

Understand what a modern salary budget survey includes and what it misses
Learn how to interpret 2025–2026 salary budget survey data by country, industry, and job level
Follow a step-by-step process to convert survey results into department-level salary budgets
Discover how to combine traditional surveys with real-time salary data from tools like SalaryCube’s Bigfoot Live
Get a checklist to stress-test salary budgets before presenting them to finance and executives

Understanding Salary Budget Surveys

A salary budget survey is a specialized compensation planning survey that collects data from employers on their planned or actual salary increase budgets, typically expressed as percentage increases to base pay. Unlike surveys that benchmark pay for specific jobs, salary budget surveys focus on how much organizations intend to spend on merit increases, promotional increases, market adjustments, and salary structure increases across their workforce. This distinction matters because budget-level decisions (how much to allocate) differ fundamentally from job-level pricing decisions (what to pay for a specific role).

For compensation planning, salary budget surveys serve as a collective intelligence tool: they help HR teams understand what peer organizations expect to do, providing a reality check against internal assumptions and executive expectations.

What a Salary Budget Survey Actually Measures

Most salary budget surveys measure the following core metrics:

Overall salary increase budgets: The total percentage employers plan to allocate for all salary increases (e.g., 3.5% planned for 2026 in the U.S.)
Breakouts by increase type: Separate figures for merit increases, cost-of-living adjustments (COLA), promotional increases, market adjustments, and structure movement
Planned vs. projected vs. actual increases: Surveys often distinguish between what employers planned at the start of a cycle, what they projected mid-cycle, and what they actually delivered—comparing 2024 actuals to 2025 projections to 2026 plans

Survey data is typically collected during a defined window—often May through August for the following year’s budgets. This timing creates lag: by the time a report is published and accessed, labor market conditions may have shifted. For example, a survey collected in August 2025 may not reflect demand changes or inflation data from late 2025 or early 2026.

Most legacy surveys rely on self-reported employer data, submitted by compensation professionals who participate in exchange for access to the full report. Results are typically presented as medians and percentiles to reduce the impact of outliers from unusually large or small organizations. Note that participation requirements vary: some surveys require you to submit data to receive results, while others allow purchase access without participation.

This foundation matters because understanding what surveys measure—and their inherent lag—sets up how to interpret results and combine them with more current data sources.

Key Components and Breakouts in Modern Salary Budget Surveys

To make salary budget survey data actionable, you need to understand the segmentation dimensions most surveys include:

Geography: U.S. vs. Canada vs. global; some surveys provide state- or metro-level breakouts. For example, a survey may show U.S. employers planning 3.5% while Canada plans 3.3%, with India and Brazil showing higher percentages due to local inflation factors.
Industry: Sectors like tech, healthcare, manufacturing, finance, and education often show different budget levels reflecting talent demand and competitive intensity.
Organization size: Breakouts by headcount (e.g., under 500 employees, 500–5,000, over 5,000) or revenue bands help you compare your company size to relevant peers.
Job level: Executive, management, professional, hourly, union vs. non-union—each category may have different expected increase percentages.

These breakouts allow you to localize a national 3.5% figure into a realistic budget for your own workforce footprint. If 80% of your employees are professional-level staff in U.S. metro areas, the national professional-level figure matters more than global or executive averages.

However, many surveys lack granularity for hybrid or blended roles, emerging skills, or mid-year off-cycle adjustments. This is where real-time salary data platforms like SalaryCube’s Bigfoot Live fill gaps by providing daily-updated job-level benchmarks that surveys cannot deliver.

Understanding these components sets up the next section: how salary budget survey results connect to your broader compensation strategy.

How Salary Budget Surveys Connect to Overall Compensation Strategy

Salary budget survey results inform several key compensation planning decisions:

Annual merit cycles and COLA decisions: Survey data helps calibrate whether your planned merit increase pool is above, at, or below market.
Salary structure adjustments and pay band updates: If the market is moving 3.5%, your salary structure increases may need to keep pace to avoid compressing pay ranges.
Market adjustment pools and pay equity remediation budgets: Carving out funds for targeted corrections requires knowing how much peers allocate beyond base merit.

It’s critical to draw a clear line between budget-level decisions (how much to spend) and market pricing decisions (what to pay for specific roles). Salary budget surveys answer the first question; they do not solve job pricing or pay equity. For job-level benchmarking, you need market data at the role level—this is where tools like SalaryCube’s salary benchmarking come in, providing real-time, defensible data for specific jobs rather than aggregate budgets.

With this foundation, the next section zooms into how to read, interpret, and pressure-test 2025–2026 salary budget survey results.

Interpreting 2025–2026 Salary Budget Survey Results

Now that you understand what salary budget surveys measure and how they connect to compensation planning, let’s focus on practical interpretation of current-cycle survey data. The numbers below are illustrative examples based on typical 2025–2026 survey ranges—your specific survey sources may vary slightly.

The goal here is not to predict macroeconomics but to show you how to use survey results as a planning input, layered with your internal data and real-time insights.

Reading Headline Figures by Country and Region

Headline statistics from 2025–2026 salary budget surveys typically show:

U.S. employers planning around 3.5% overall salary increase budgets for 2026, down slightly from ~3.8% actual increases in 2025 as labor markets cool and inflation moderates.
Canadian employers planning around 3.3% for 2026, also slightly below 2025 actuals.
Global surveys often show higher increases (5%+) in markets with elevated inflation, such as Brazil, India, or certain APAC regions.

When interpreting these figures, distinguish between planned and actual numbers. Planned budgets represent what employers intend to do; actual figures from prior years show what they delivered. Tracking both helps HR teams build realistic scenarios—if employers consistently underspend or overspend their plans, you can adjust your expectations accordingly.

Align survey geography with your employee distribution. If your workforce is 80% U.S.-based in metro areas, prioritize U.S. regional data over global averages. If you have significant headcount in Canada, ensure you access Canada-specific results rather than relying solely on North American aggregates.

Industry and Job-Level Differences You Should Not Ignore

Salary budget survey results often reveal meaningful differences by industry and job level:

Hot sectors like tech, life sciences, and essential services typically show higher salary budgets (e.g., 4.0%+), while education, hospitality, and public sector organizations may plan lower increases (e.g., 2.5–3.0%).
Critical job levels may receive differentiated treatment: front-line hourly roles with high turnover or specialized technical talent often command above-average increases, while senior management may see more modest percentage gains.

When using these breakouts, prioritize segments that matter most to your organization:

Identify roles with high turnover, hard-to-hire skills, or elevated demand—these may warrant exceeding the survey median.
Identify regulated or public-sector roles constrained by pay scales—these may not move with market trends.

This analysis supports building differentiated salary budgets instead of applying a flat percentage across the entire workforce—a topic we’ll address in the process section.

Linking Salary Budget Projections to Inflation and Wage Growth

Salary budget survey figures exist in context: they’re influenced by inflation expectations, wage growth data, and broader economic factors. To interpret survey results effectively, consider:

Government wage data: The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Employment Cost Index (ECI) tracks actual wage changes. If ECI shows 4% wage growth while your planned budget is 3.5%, you may be losing ground competitively.
Headline inflation forecasts: While salary increases and inflation are not the same, employees and executives often compare them. If inflation runs at 3.2% and your merit increases average 3.5%, real wage gains are modest.

When survey figures suggest a 3.5% budget but your labor market intelligence—via real-time salary data from Bigfoot Live—shows certain roles moving 6–7%, you have a competitiveness gap for those specific jobs. Survey data provides the macro view; real-time job-level data identifies where targeted action is needed.

With survey results interpreted, the next section covers how to operationalize them into a working salary budget.

Turning Salary Budget Survey Data into a Working Budget

Interpreting salary budget survey data is only valuable if you can translate it into an actionable budget proposal. This section provides a practical, step-by-step framework HR and compensation teams can adapt for 2025–2026 salary budget planning cycles.

Step-by-Step Process to Build Your 2025–2026 Salary Budget

Use this process during your annual budgeting period or for mid-year reforecasting when conditions shift:

Gather inputs: Collect salary budget survey reports from your primary sources, real-time market data from platforms like SalaryCube, prior-year actuals (what you actually spent), turnover statistics by department, and financial targets from leadership.
Set global guardrails: Based on survey bands and CFO guidance, establish a target salary increase budget range (e.g., between 3.3% and 3.8% of payroll). This creates a ceiling and floor for scenario planning.
Allocate high-level budgets by country and business unit: Using survey benchmarks and headcount mix, distribute the overall pool. If 70% of headcount is in the U.S. and 30% in Canada, apply U.S. and Canada survey medians proportionally.
Factor in structural needs: Carve out funds for pay equity remediation, critical skills premiums, below-minimum corrections, and promotional increases. These are not discretionary—they’re required to maintain market alignment and compliance.
Stress-test scenarios: Model at least three scenarios—e.g., flat 3.5% across the board, 3.5% base with 5% for high-priority groups, or 4.0% if labor markets tighten. Use spreadsheets or compensation planning tools to see cost and competitiveness impact.
Align with finance and leadership, then codify manager rules: Present scenarios with clear trade-offs. Once approved, translate the budget into merit matrices, manager guidelines, and an exception process for off-cycle adjustments.

This numbered process ensures you move systematically from survey data to a proposal finance can evaluate.

Using Salary Budget Surveys Together with Real-Time Salary Data

Salary budget surveys and real-time salary data serve complementary roles:

Salary budget surveys: Provide a macro view of planned increases and trends—what employers intend to spend in aggregate.
Real-time salary data (e.g., SalaryCube’s DataDive Pro and Bigfoot Live): Provide job-level pay benchmarks updated daily for specific locations and hybrid roles.

Here’s a concrete example of how to combine them:

A salary budget survey shows U.S. employers planning 3.5% increases for 2026.
SalaryCube’s real-time data shows senior data engineers in Austin have moved +7% year-over-year due to elevated demand.
Your response: Plan an overall 3.5% pool, but carve out a 5–6% pool for the data engineering job family to avoid losing critical talent.

This layered approach ensures you’re competitive where it matters most while staying within aggregate budget constraints. SalaryCube allows integration of legacy survey data into a modern workflow, avoiding manual spreadsheet stitching and reducing cycle time from weeks to minutes.

Converting Budget Percentages into Pay Ranges and Manager Guidelines

Once your overall salary increase budgets are set, you must decide how to operationalize them:

Range and structure movement: Will you increase salary ranges by the full budget percentage, or split between structure increases (e.g., +2%) and pay increases (e.g., +3.5%)? Range compression occurs when pay increases outpace structure movement.
Compa-ratio guidelines: Employees below range midpoint may receive higher increases; those above midpoint may receive smaller or no increases. Define clear rules for each band.
Promotional and market adjustment funding: Separate these from merit pools. Promotions should not dilute merit funds; market adjustments address specific competitiveness gaps.

Use tools like SalaryCube’s free compa-ratio calculator to model how budget decisions affect individual employees. The salary benchmarking product includes range builder capabilities to translate survey-driven budget decisions into updated pay bands.

With a solid process in place, the next section addresses recurring challenges when relying on salary budget surveys.

Common Challenges with Salary Budget Surveys—and How to Solve Them

Even with a clear process, HR teams encounter predictable pain points: data lag, misalignment with internal reality, executive skepticism, and difficulty applying high-level percentages to complex workforces. Below are specific problems and practical solutions.

Challenge 1: Survey Data Feels Outdated by the Time You Use It

Problem: Salary budget surveys collected in mid-2025 may not reflect late-2025 market shifts, sudden inflation changes, or hiring demand fluctuations. By the time the report is published and accessed, conditions have changed.

Solution: Pair surveys with real-time data updated daily—such as Bigfoot Live—and build a mid-year “check-in” process. Instead of waiting a full year to adjust budgets, review critical roles quarterly and reallocate funds as needed.

Challenge 2: One-Size Percentages Don’t Fit a Mixed Workforce

Problem: A flat 3.5% budget masks the different needs of union vs. non-union employees, hourly vs. salaried staff, tech vs. back-office roles. Applying uniform percentages leads to under-investing in high-priority areas and over-investing in lower-demand segments.

Solution: Use salary budget survey breakouts by industry and job level, combined with internal analytics (turnover, performance distribution, compa-ratios). Weight certain groups higher based on flight risk and skills demand. SalaryCube can quickly benchmark key job families to justify differentiated treatments to leadership.

Challenge 3: Leadership Questions the Credibility of Survey Numbers

Problem: CFOs and executives may distrust survey vendors, question sample sizes, or challenge methodologies—especially when results conflict across providers. This skepticism delays approval and undermines HR credibility.

Solution: Document methodology clearly—include sample size, data collection period, weighting approach, and participation requirements. Cross-validate with at least one additional source (e.g., SalaryCube’s U.S.-only data for job-level benchmarks). Present a range of plausible scenarios rather than a single point estimate, demonstrating analytical rigor.

Challenge 4: Translating Survey Insights into Manager-Friendly Guidance

Problem: Managers receive ambiguous instructions like “average 3.5% increases” without clear rules for high performers, low performers, or off-cycle requests. This leads to inconsistent pay decisions and employee equity concerns.

Solution: Convert survey-informed budgets into merit matrices with specific percentage ranges by performance rating and compa-ratio position. Provide narrative guidelines and concrete examples. Tools like SalaryCube’s Job Description Studio and benchmarking capabilities anchor manager conversations in market data rather than gut feel—making pay decisions defensible and consistent.

Solving these challenges transforms salary budget surveys from static reports into dynamic planning tools that evolve with your organization and market conditions.

Conclusion and Next Steps

Salary budget surveys remain valuable directional tools for compensation planning, but they require careful interpretation and should never serve as your sole data source. For defensible 2025–2026 salary budgets, combine survey insights with real-time salary data, internal workforce analytics, and business priorities. This layered approach ensures your budget reflects both market trends and your organization’s specific competitive position.

Actionable next steps:

Audit your current salary budget surveys: Identify which sources you use, when data was collected, and whether participation is required to access results.
Map survey breakouts to your workforce: Align country, industry, and job-level segments with your actual employee distribution.
Build a scenario model: Create low, medium, and high salary budget scenarios for 2026 using survey ranges as anchors.
Layer in job-level benchmarks: Use SalaryCube’s salary benchmarking and Bigfoot Live to identify where targeted increases exceed the general pool.
Define a mid-year review cadence: Plan to revisit critical role competitiveness quarterly, adjusting budgets as market conditions evolve.

Related topics to explore: Pay range design and structure management, compa-ratio strategy and distribution analysis, pay equity budgeting and remediation planning, FLSA classification impacts on salary budgets—each connects directly to how budget decisions translate into compliant, competitive pay programs.

Additional Resources

These resources support specific aspects of salary budget planning but are not required to apply the process described above.

Internal analytics checklist: Before reviewing any salary budget survey, gather your current headcount by location and level, pay ranges and band structures, compa-ratio distributions, and turnover rates by department.
Salary budget planning deck template: Prepare a simple slide framework covering survey sources, scenario analysis, segment prioritization, and approval request—this accelerates finance conversations.
SalaryCube resources:
- Book a demo to see how real-time salary data complements survey-based planning
- Free tools including the compa-ratio calculator, salary-to-hourly converter, and wage raise calculator
- Methodology and security overview to understand how SalaryCube builds defensible U.S. salary data
- About SalaryCube for mission and pay transparency philosophy

If you want real-time, defensible salary data that HR and compensation teams can actually use alongside salary budget surveys, book a demo with SalaryCube.