You should be paid what you’re worth, but you need context to be sure what you’re asking for is realistic. Knowing your market value is one of the key steps in making your case for a raise.

I’ve compiled a list of salary resource websites to help with your research.

Here’s what you need to consider with these types of sites:

Self-Reported Salaries

There’s no independent confirmation of crowdsourced reports like those on Glassdoor.com.

Employers who post jobs on these types of sites don’t often give a salary, and even if they do, that number doesn’t reflect total compensation, just money.

Titles Do Not Always Line Up

A director at one organization might be a VP at another. Responsibilities for a director at one company may be different than at another.

Geography makes a big difference. If you’re in Omaha, you can’t compare your salary to someone in New York.

Industry Matters

A project manager in healthcare may make more than a project manager in manufacturing.

Type of Compensation

This can have a significant effect on the salary listed. Some jobs pay a big chunk of income via commission, bonus or merit pay. The number you see on the site may or may not include this.

Do your best to find jobs comparable to yours and account for potential differences. For example, if you find three jobs that involve managing more than 50 employees and another job that manages a department of 100, do your best to account for the difference.

You should be paid what you’re worth, so go find out what you’re worth!