
These Cities Offer the Best Chance at a Pay Raise
Which cities offer the best opportunities for scoring a raise? That might seem like an odd question (not to mention an unanswerable one), but PayScale recently crunched survey data from 160,000 respondents and came up with an answer. Top of the list: Ogden, Utah, where 85 percent of respondents received a raise after asking. Honolulu, HI, came in second with 82 percent, followed by Fresno, CA (81 percent), San Francisco, CA (80 percent), and Long Island, NY (78 percent). There are also cities where employers seem anxious to deny pay bumps, according to the data. These include Stockton, CA (where only 61 percent of respondents received a raise upon asking), Knoxville, TN (also 61 percent), Lakeland-Winter Haven, FL (59 percent), Baton Rouge, LA (59 percent), and Gary, IN (53 percent).
Nationwide, some 70 percent of those who asked for a raise received one, but the actual percentage increases varied wildly from employer to employer. For example, some 39 percent of employees received the raise amount they requested, while 31 percent gained a smaller amount. When denied a pay bump, only 22 percent believed the company’s explanation, a situation that often leads to spectacular distrust between employer and employee. “When employees don’t have visibility into their pay, they’re prone to develop a strong feeling that they’re underpaid and need to look elsewhere to be valued,” Mollie Lombardi, CEO of analyst and advisory firm Aptitude Research Partners, wrote in a note accompanying the data. “This research shows the need for better processes and better conversations about raises from both the employer and employees to address bias, promote fairness, diversity and – ultimately – a more satisfied and engaged workforce.” Want to land a raise? Follow these steps:
