Compensation Trends for October 2026

Explore U.S. compensation trends and labor-market insights as ERI forecasts salary growth and pay-increase expectations for the upcoming year.

The National Compensation Forecast is designed to capture salary changes across a broad range of jobs found in the United States economy. This index shows how national compensation has changed over the 20 years prior to the time of publication: October 2026.

Introduction
Each quarter, ERI examines compensation growth rates and provides guidance on expected increases for the upcoming year. These rates are calculated using ERI’s Salary Assessor and ERI’s Salary Increase Survey & Forecast.

Overall Salary Trends
October salary growth (0.48%) is up from the July 1 data release (0.44%), but remains lower than the predicted quarterly rate of 0.69%. Growth over the past year has been 1.94%, with an average quarterly growth of 0.48%.

10-Year Trends by Category
While it is valuable to know how all occupations are changing in this economy, it is also useful to know how different types of occupations compare with one another and how their growth has changed over time. Not all occupations grow at the same rate, nor do they grow at the same rate across time.