---
title: 'FoundRole methodology: how salary estimates work'
description: Salary estimates on FoundRole come from pay advertised on the closest matching
  postings, last 12 months. How job and visa checks work too.
type: product
url: https://www.foundrole.com/methodology
date: 2026-11-03T21:43:18Z
og_description: 'Where each FoundRole number comes from: salary estimates, real-or-ghost grades,
  visa sponsorship history and remote checks, dated.'
og_image: https://www.foundrole.com/og/1r3lov.png
breadcrumbs:
  - label: Home
    url: https://www.foundrole.com/
---

Salary estimates on foundrole.com are built from the pay advertised over the last 12 months on the closest match that has enough postings stating pay: the same role in the same area when there are enough, otherwise the same role across the state or the whole country, and failing that the wider occupation or industry, with the date each estimate was built. Every other figure on a job comes from a source named below: the posting itself, pay on similar postings, public visa records or your own resume.

Below is where our data comes from and how each figure is made: posted pay, salary estimates, pay against the market, visa sponsorship history, the real-or-ghost grade, the remote check and resume match. Then when we show no number, what the figures cannot tell you, what changed and how to quote them. The figures at the top carry the date they were counted.


## Frequently Asked Questions

### How accurate are FoundRole's salary estimates?

An estimate shows the middle half and the middle figure of pay employers advertise over the last 12 months on the closest match with enough postings: the same role in the same area, otherwise the same role statewide or nationwide, or the wider occupation or industry, with the date it was built. In the ChatGPT and Claude app it names the match it used and how many postings are behind it. It tells you what employers offer for that work, not what one employer will offer you.

### Does FoundRole use Department of Labor wage data for job salaries?

No. Pay on a job, and every salary estimate, comes from pay advertised in job postings. US Department of Labor visa filings are used only for visa sponsorship figures: whether an employer has H-1B filings on record, how many it made and the wages it filed. No filings found means none turned up in those records, not that the employer refuses to sponsor.

### Why is FoundRole's salary estimate different from another site's?

Sites build estimates from different sources: ours comes only from pay employers put in their own postings over the last 12 months, taken from the closest match with enough of them, while others may use pay people report themselves or surveys. Compare the basis and the date shown next to each figure before deciding which fits your question.

### Does a low grade mean the job is a scam?

No. The real-or-ghost grade reads signals in the posting — its pay, level, detail, age and who posted it — and says how many of them look weak; it says nothing about the employer's intent. A low grade is a reason to check the role with the employer before you spend an evening on the application.

### Why don't you publish the exact rules behind a grade?

Publishing every cut-off would let a poster tune a listing until it passes, so we publish what each of the eight checks looks at and keep the exact limits private. The grade itself is never a black box: every job shows the reasons behind its letter.

### What if a job shows no pay and no estimate?

The employer left pay out, and no match had enough postings stating pay, even after widening to the whole country and to the wider occupation or industry, or we could not tell which role it is, so we show nothing rather than guess. Ask the recruiter for the range at the first call, before you spend time on interviews.

## Browse

- [Companies](https://www.foundrole.com/companies?utm_source=ai_markdown)
- [Jobs by country](https://www.foundrole.com/locations?utm_source=ai_markdown)
- [Jobs in the United States by state and city](https://www.foundrole.com/locations/us?utm_source=ai_markdown)
- [H1B sponsors by location](https://www.foundrole.com/h1b-sponsors?utm_source=ai_markdown)
- [H1B salaries](https://www.foundrole.com/h1b-salaries?utm_source=ai_markdown)
- [Sectors and industries](https://www.foundrole.com/sectors?utm_source=ai_markdown)
- [Jobs by career field](https://www.foundrole.com/careers?utm_source=ai_markdown)
- [Latest jobs](https://www.foundrole.com/jobs/latest?utm_source=ai_markdown)

# FoundRole methodology: how our salary estimates and job checks work

As of 6 Nov 2026:

- **4,300,000+** — Open jobs, read from employers' own hiring systems and career sites
- **1,788,000+** — Jobs that state their pay (about 4 in 10)
- **57,000+** — Employers with open jobs
- **3,728,000+** — US visa filings on record, fiscal years 2020–2026
- **196,000+** — Employers named in US visa filings
- **272,000+** — Employers in E-Verify records

Free to quote with a link to foundrole.com and the date.

## 1. What we measure, and what we don't {#what-we-measure}

Every number on FoundRole answers one question about one job or one employer. Read each one for what it is:

- **A job posting is an employer's advert**, not proof that a seat is open today.
- **Posted pay is the offer range in the advert**, not what people in that job are paid. It does not include bonuses or equity.
- **A salary estimate describes what employers advertise** for similar work, not what one employer will offer you.
- **The real-or-ghost grade describes the posting**, not the employer's intent.
- **A visa filing shows that an employer filed for a role**, not that it hired anyone or that it will sponsor you.
- **A resume match shows how your resume lines up with what the posting asks**, not your chances of an interview.

## 2. Where the data comes from {#sources}

- **Jobs and pay:** read from employers' own hiring systems and career sites, not bought as a resold feed.
- **Visa sponsorship:** the US Department of Labor's Labor Condition Application (LCA) disclosure files, and the employer data USCIS publishes for E-Verify. Both are public records.
- **Resume match:** the resume you upload, used for your own match.

Every salary estimate on FoundRole is built from advertised pay. None comes from visa filings.

## 3. Pay posted on a job {#posted-pay}

When a posting states pay, we show the employer's own figure, read from the pay fields the employer fills in or from the posting text.

- Bonuses, company revenue figures and amounts meant for other countries are left out.
- An amount outside a believable yearly range is dropped rather than shown.
- To compare jobs paid in different ways, pay is turned into a yearly figure: hourly × 2,080 hours, daily × 260 days, weekly × 52 weeks, monthly × 12 months.

## 4. Salary estimates from similar postings {#pay-estimate}

When a posting hides its pay, we estimate it from the pay advertised over the last 12 months on the closest match that has enough postings stating pay: the same role in the same area when there are enough, otherwise the same role across the state or the whole country, and failing that the wider occupation or industry.

- Copies of the same posting count once, and amounts far outside the rest are removed.
- You see the typical range (the middle half of that pay) and the middle figure (the median). On the site you see the date the estimate was built; in the ChatGPT and Claude app you also see which match it came from and the number of postings behind it.
- An estimate appears only when one of those matches has enough postings that state pay. Otherwise you see none.
- Estimates are rebuilt every day.

Quoted a single number? Pay taken from the posting is labelled as the employer's own pay, an estimate is always labelled as an estimate, and an estimate's single figure is its median.

## 5. Pay compared with the market {#pay-vs-market}

On a job that states pay, we compare the middle of its range with the estimate for similar postings from section 4.

- Within 5% either way reads **at market**.
- More than 5% under reads **below market**; more than 5% over reads **above market**.

It is a comparison with what other employers advertise, not a judgement of whether the pay is fair. The [salary comparison](https://www.foundrole.com/salary-comparison?utm_source=ai_markdown) tool uses the same figures, and compares employers only when enough of them post pay for the role.

## 6. Visa sponsorship history {#visa-sponsorship}

For each employer we show:

- whether it sponsors visas, and how many visa filings it made in the last four fiscal quarters;
- the wages it filed: the typical range (the middle half) and the middle figure, weighted by the number of workers on each filing, beside the prevailing wage for the role;
- whether it is enrolled in E-Verify;
- year-by-year history, with Pro.

A filing is an employer's application for a role, not a hire. Filings are matched to the employer and checked before we show them; when we cannot match an employer to its filings, we make no visa claim about it. We check for new Department of Labor files every day; the Department releases them each quarter. Look up an employer's filings on [visa sponsors](https://www.foundrole.com/h1b-sponsors?utm_source=ai_markdown).

## 7. Real-or-ghost grade (A–F) {#real-or-ghost}

Every posting goes through eight checks:

1. Pay compared with similar openings.
2. Experience asked compared with the job's level.
3. How well the posting covers the skills the role needs.
4. Whether benefits are described.
5. How much detail the description gives.
6. Whether the company is a real employer.
7. Whether a staffing agency may be behind it.
8. How long the posting has been up.

Each check passes, flags, fails or cannot run. The grade is a letter from A to F that reflects how many flags and failures a posting has, and you see the reasons. Each letter comes with its label: A or B reads **Low risk**, C reads **Some flags**, D or F reads **High risk**. When too few checks can run, the grade says **Limited data** instead of guessing.

Should you still apply? A lower grade is a reason to check the role with the employer before you spend an evening on the application, not proof of a scam. The reasons behind the letter are on the job page and in the ChatGPT and Claude app's answer for that job.

The same posting always gets the same grade: fixed rules set it. Weak postings are graded and moved down, never deleted, because a weak signal is not proof.

## 8. Remote check {#remote-check}

Only postings labelled remote or hybrid are checked. To count as remote, a posting has to pass five rules:

1. The role says remote, not just the company.
2. No office days.
3. Travel under 10%.
4. No on-site duties.
5. Not “remote for now”.

Fixed rules make the call, and every answer quotes the posting: lines from the title, the location line and the description, or the employer's own remote setting. We also show where you may work from — anywhere, only named places, or not stated. A posting is checked again when its text changes. More on the rules, with real examples: [remote jobs](https://www.foundrole.com/remote-jobs?utm_source=ai_markdown).

## 9. Resume match {#resume-match}

Skills from your resume and from the posting are mapped to one shared list of skills, so different wordings of the same skill count once. Required skills count more than nice-to-haves, and how well your level fits and whether the role is in the field you want move the score.

You see the score and its grade, the skills you match, the skills you are missing (the first three free, all of them with Pro) and the reasons.

## 10. How fresh the jobs are {#freshness}

- Most jobs are re-read from the employer every hour; some hiring systems are read less often.
- When the employer removes a role, it disappears here too. We keep the date each job was last seen.
- Copies of the same posting are merged into one job.

## 11. When we show no number {#no-number}

We would rather show nothing than a figure we cannot stand behind.

- **No salary estimate** when no match, from the same role in the same area to the wider occupation or industry, has enough postings that state pay.
- **No market comparison** when a job states no pay, or there is no estimate to compare it with.
- **No visa claim** when we cannot match the employer to its filings.
- **Limited data instead of a grade** when too few of the eight checks can run.
- **Not counted as remote** when a posting labelled remote is unclear about any of the five rules.
- **No match score** until you add a resume.

## 12. What the figures can't tell you {#limitations}

- We cover employers whose hiring systems and career sites we read, not every employer.
- Many jobs do not state their pay. Where few employers post pay for a role in a place, the estimate comes from a wider match — the whole state or country, or the wider occupation — and can sit further from local pay.
- Advertised pay is the range an employer offers, not what it finally agrees, and it leaves out bonuses and equity.
- Visa figures are US only and run behind the Department of Labor's release schedule.
- Employer matching can miss; a missed employer shows no visa claim rather than a wrong one.
- A posting that passes every check can still go unfilled, and a weak one can lead to a hire.

## 13. Updates and changes {#changes}

| Date | What changed |
|---|---|
| November 2026 | This page went up. |
| November 2026 | Corrected: some FoundRole pages said salary estimates came from US Department of Labor filings. They come from pay advertised on similar postings; Department of Labor filings are used only for visa sponsorship figures. |
| November 2026 | Corrected: some FoundRole pages said every salary estimate came from the same role in the same area. When too few of those postings state pay, the estimate comes from a wider match: the same role across the state or the country, or the wider occupation or industry. |

When a method changes, it is dated here. A figure we withdraw is named here, not quietly removed.

## 14. Using these figures {#quoting}

Free to quote with a link to foundrole.com and the date.

Suggested citation: *FoundRole, "FoundRole methodology", foundrole.com/methodology, accessed [date].* For a single figure, quote the number with the date shown beside it.

Found a figure that looks wrong? Write to [contacts@foundrole.com](mailto:contacts@foundrole.com) with the page link.

Free to quote with a link to foundrole.com and the date.

---

## Related

- [How It Works](https://www.foundrole.com/how-it-works?utm_source=ai_markdown) — where the openings come from and how each posting is checked
- [Salary Comparison](https://www.foundrole.com/salary-comparison?utm_source=ai_markdown) — compare a pay offer with what similar postings advertise
- [Remote Jobs](https://www.foundrole.com/remote-jobs?utm_source=ai_markdown) — the remote check, with real examples
- [Visa Sponsors](https://www.foundrole.com/h1b-sponsors?utm_source=ai_markdown) — employers with a real sponsorship record
- [Visa Salaries](https://www.foundrole.com/h1b-salaries?utm_source=ai_markdown) — what employers filed, by role and year


## Browse

- [Companies](https://www.foundrole.com/companies?utm_source=ai_markdown)
- [Jobs by country](https://www.foundrole.com/locations?utm_source=ai_markdown)
- [Jobs by state](https://www.foundrole.com/locations/us?utm_source=ai_markdown)
- [Careers A–Z](https://www.foundrole.com/careers?utm_source=ai_markdown)
- [H1B sponsors by location](https://www.foundrole.com/h1b-sponsors?utm_source=ai_markdown)
- [H1B salaries](https://www.foundrole.com/h1b-salaries?utm_source=ai_markdown)
- [Sectors and industries](https://www.foundrole.com/sectors?utm_source=ai_markdown)
- [Latest jobs](https://www.foundrole.com/jobs/latest?utm_source=ai_markdown)