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Guess the Salary

How well do you know what jobs pay? Drag the slider to guess a job’s median yearly salary in the US. A perfect guess scores 100; half or double the real figure scores 0. Five new jobs every day, plus endless practice, with real pay for 515 jobs from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (May 2025).

What does this job pay a year?

Clue: typical education to start is .

$20K$100K$450K

The median is

You were ·

See this job’s pay range and pay by state →

Today’s score: /500

Five new jobs tomorrow, the same for everyone.

Play “Which job pays more?”

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How scoring works

A perfect guess scores 100 points. Points drop the further off you are, in proportion: 10% off scores about 86, 25% off about 68.
Guessing half or double the real salary, or worse, scores 0.
🟩 is 80 points or more, 🟨 50 to 79, 🟥 under 50. The Daily 5 has a maximum of 500.
The figure to guess is the national median: half the workers in the job earn more. The median for all US jobs is $50,980.

Want the answers? Every job is ranked on Highest Paying Jobs.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (published 2026), and Employment Projections education assignments. Salaries are yearly medians before tax.

Version 1.0

About the Guess the Salary

Guess the Salary shows you a job and asks one question: what does it pay a year? Drag the slider to your guess and lock it in. The game reveals the real median US salary from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and scores you out of 100: the closer your guess, the more points, and half or double the real figure scores nothing. Every day brings five new jobs, the same for everyone, so you can compare scores with friends; Practice mode keeps going as long as you like and tracks your average. Each answer links to the job’s full salary page, so you learn what jobs really pay as you play.

How to use it

1 Read the job, and the clue about the education it usually needs.
2 Drag the slider, or use the − and + buttons, to your salary guess.
3 Lock it in to see the real median salary and your points out of 100.
4 Finish the Daily 5 and share your score, or keep going in Practice.

Frequently asked questions

How is my score worked out?

A perfect guess scores 100. Points fall in proportion to how far off you are: 10% off scores about 86 and 25% off about 68. A guess of half or double the real salary, or worse, scores 0. Being $10,000 off matters more for a $40,000 job than for a $200,000 one.

Where do the salaries come from?

From the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey, May 2025. Each answer is the national median: half of the workers in the job earn more and half earn less.

Is the Daily 5 the same for everyone?

Yes. The five jobs are picked from the date, so everyone who plays on the same day guesses the same jobs. Your score is saved in your browser, so you can come back later to share it.

Why does the slider jump in bigger steps at high salaries?

The slider uses a log scale from $20,000 to $450,000, so each step is a similar percentage. That gives fine control for typical salaries and still reaches the best-paid doctors.

Is any of my data saved?

Only your Daily 5 result and Practice average, in your own browser. Nothing is sent to a server and no account is needed.

How to guess salaries better

Start from the middle: the median for all US jobs is about $51,000 a year, or about $24.50 an hour.
Use the education clue. Jobs that need no formal education mostly pay $30,000–$40,000; a bachelor’s degree usually means $70,000–$130,000; a doctorate or medical degree can mean $200,000 or more.
Supervisors and managers earn more than the people they lead, often by 30% to 60%.
Skilled trades with an apprenticeship, such as electricians and elevator installers, often pay more than people expect.
Jobs where tips make up much of the pay show low medians, because cash tips are often not fully counted.

Use it in class or at work

Salary guessing is a quick way into careers lessons and pay-negotiation training: put a job on the screen, let everyone write down a guess, then reveal it and talk about why it pays what it does. For a contest, everyone plays the Daily 5 and compares totals. To practise the opposite skill, comparing two jobs, try “Which job pays more?”.

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