An internal spreadsheet shared among Googlers gives us our best look yet at how much the tech giant is paying for staff across a wide variety of job levels and locations around US, as well as by race and gender.
The spreadsheet, obtained by Insider, includes data from 2022 voluntarily submitted by over 12,000 US employees. It covers many roles, including software engineers, business analysts, and salespeople.
Insider analyzed the entire dataset and built tables and other data graphics showing how much employees reported making across various levels, locations, races, and genders. The graphics for levels and locations show the minimum and maximum base salaries, equity, and bonuses for each dataset.
The tables for race and gender show the median base salaries, equity, and bonuses of the data that was reported. If an employee selected more than one race, their salary data was included in the data for each respective race they selected, as well as the "two or more races" category.
Google equity is given to employees in the form of restricted stock units, which can significantly boost their total compensation. Not all employees submitted equity and bonus data.
A few caveats to note: The data is taken for full-time US employees only, and their levels, locations, races, and genders were self-reported. Insider discarded salary data in which the base compensation had clear typos.
Employees who had been at the company longer and worked at a higher level tended to have higher salaries. The employee with the highest base salary reported being a level 7 software engineer with a base salary of $718,000 and a total compensation package of just under $800,000. Other high-level software engineers' total compensation exceeded $1 million because they reported having larger bonus and equity packages.
Most software engineers on the sheet reported making a base salary of between $100,000 and $375,000.
"We compensate Googlers based on what they do, not who they are," said Google spokesperson Tamani Jayasinghe in a statement. "We run a rigorous pay equity analysis every year to make sure salaries, bonuses and equity awards are fair. This spreadsheet has old, self-reported data that has not been verified and is not an accurate representation of compensation across our workforce."
The company said the median total compensation for employees in 2022 was $279,802.
Google uses a level system to determine employees' pay grades and responsibilities. Generally, a higher level means more pay and higher expectations. The spectrum runs from level 0 (interns) to level 10 (unless your name is either Jeff Dean or Sanjay Ghemawat and you have ascended to the prestigious "senior fellow" level 11 position).
Like many of its peers, Google tends to pay salaries that meet the cost of living. Salaries trend higher in locations like the Bay Area and New York, and lower in places like Colorado and Georgia. Of course, there are exceptions. For this map, Insider included the most popular locations in the reported data where the company has an office.
To scroll through the salary info for each location, click on the dot for that respective place.
For race and ethnicity, employees could report multiple options. We also highlighted data for software engineers, given the high number of people with that job. For those who selected more than one race, their salary data was included in the data for each respective race they selected, as well as the "two or more races" category. Google publishes an annual diversity report that breaks down its workforce representation by percentages.
The following table includes the median values for base salary, equity, and bonuses.
Per Google's most recent diversity report, the US workforce was made up of 33.9% women and 66.1% men in 2022.
The following table includes the median values for base salary, equity, and bonuses for each gender, as well as the median values for each gender in five high-paying roles.
