Where our numbers come from

How to read this

This site shows two kinds of number. Our rates are published figures: they are what we charge, they are listed in full on the rates page, and they do not change with the country a specialist lives in. Everything on the US side of a comparison is an estimate, and this page lists what each estimate is built from.

Where a figure came from our own conversations with clients, it says so. Where it is a range, we show the whole range. Every figure on this page was set in October 2026.

US salary figures

Fully loaded, by role

Tribe estimate. The midpoint of what our own clients told us they were paying, or quoted us, for the same role in the twelve months to October 2026. It is the fully loaded figure, so employer costs are already inside it. It is not a published benchmark and we do not present it as one.

US city multipliers

New York 1.18, San Francisco 1.26, Chicago 1.06, Austin 1.02, remote average 1.00

Tribe estimate, from the same conversations. Applied to the fully loaded figure, not to base pay.

Employer costs

25 to 40 percent on top of base pay

Payroll taxes, health cover, insurance, paid leave, equipment, software seats and space. The range is wide because health cover and space vary more than anything else on the list. We use 30 percent as the midpoint when one number is needed.

Recruiting fee

15 to 25 percent of first-year base salary

The contingency range US agencies quoted our clients for the roles we place. A retained search runs higher. Tribe charges no placement fee, so this line is zero on our side.

Time to hire in the US

6 to 10 weeks to a first day

Opening the role to the new hire starting, including notice. Tribe quotes five business days from request to shortlist, which measures something else, so we keep the two figures apart.

Hours in a Tribe year

1,920

Forty hours a week across forty-eight weeks. Paid leave is inside the monthly rate, so the four weeks are not billed twice. Twelve monthly rates equal the annual figure exactly.

Tribe rates

Fixed per role and level

Not an estimate. These are the rates we charge, published in full on the rates page, and they do not change with the country the specialist lives in.

How the level figures are worked out

We hold one US figure per role, for a mid level hire in a remote US average market. Junior and senior figures are that number moved along the same curve as our own rate card, rather than a second set of estimates with nothing behind them. For a executive assistant, our junior rate is 79 percent of the mid rate, so the junior US figure is the same share of the mid US figure.

Base pay is then read back out of the fully loaded figure at the midpoint employer cost, so the three lines in a cost breakdown always add up to the total shown beside them.

Corrections

If a figure here looks wrong, tell us and we will either show our working or change it.