Where our numbers come from

The sources we use

• Official statistics first: for example the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the UK's Office for National Statistics and the Australian Bureau of Statistics for the local baselines, and national statistics offices abroad where they publish pay by occupation.
• Job boards and salary platforms that say what they measure: average pay in job ads, employee-reported salaries, or percentiles.
• Neutral surveys, such as national developer salary surveys.
• Never staffing, outsourcing or VA companies (VA MASTERS included), employer-of-record firms, or salary pages that don't explain how they were built.

Each figure is copied as published, with what it measures (average, median, middle 50%, range of job ads) and whether it covers local employers, remote work for foreign clients, or both. When a figure was visible only in a search result, our data file records that too.

How we build each range

1. Convert to hourly. Monthly and yearly pay is divided by the country's full-time hours: 40 a week unless the country publishes its own standard (United Kingdom 37.5, Australia 38). So a monthly figure × 12 ÷ (hours a week × 52).
2. Convert to USD at the central bank's reference rate on the date shown below.
3. Take the lowest and highest figure across the sources for that role and country. A single source gives a single number.

One exception: totals that include stock grants (Levels.fyi's medians, which lean towards large tech employers) are listed under each country's figures for reference, but they don't set the range, because they measure something different from pay.

If no source gives a usable figure, the cell says "Not published". Right now that's 0 of 104 cells.

Exchange rates used

• Philippines63.5 PHP per USDBangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, Reference Exchange Rate Bulletin, 23 October 2026 (BSP Reference Rate), rate for 2026-10-23. Checked Oct 2026.
• India94.943 INR per USDReserve Bank of India, reference rate INR / 1 USD (as at 1.00pm, source FBIL), rate for 2026-10-23. Checked Oct 2026.
• Colombia3,158.43 COP per USDSuperintendencia Financiera de Colombia, Tasa de Cambio Representativa del Mercado (TRM), official open-data series, rate for 2026-10-24. Checked Oct 2026.
• Mexico18.667 MXN per USDBanco de México, FIX exchange rate (pesos per US dollar), rate for 2026-10-23. Checked Oct 2026.
• Brazil5.038 BRL per USDBanco Central do Brasil, PTAX rate for the US dollar (sell rate), open-data service, rate for 2026-10-23. Checked Oct 2026.
• Argentina1,528.263 ARS per USDBanco Central de la República Argentina, official rate: wholesale reference rate (Comunicación A 3500), BCRA statistics API, rate for 2026-10-23. Checked Oct 2026.
• Ukraine45.051 UAH per USDNational Bank of Ukraine, official UAH/USD exchange rate, rate for 2026-10-23. Checked Oct 2026.
• Poland3.925 PLN per USDNarodowy Bank Polski, average exchange rate (table A no. 207/A/NBP/2026), rate for 2026-10-23. Checked Oct 2026.
• Romania4.777 RON per USDBanca Națională a României, official reference rate (daily XML feed), rate for 2026-10-23. Checked Oct 2026.
• South Africa16.563 ZAR per USDSouth African Reserve Bank, current market rates (Rand per US Dollar), rate for 2026-10-23. Checked Oct 2026.
• United Kingdom0.748 GBP per USDBank of England, daily spot exchange rates against US Dollars (Sterling per US$1), rate for 2026-10-22. Checked Oct 2026.
• Australia1.426 AUD per USDBank of England, daily spot exchange rates against US Dollars (Australian Dollar per US$1), rate for 2026-10-22. Checked Oct 2026.

How the calculator works

Every option is priced for the hours a month you choose. All three show a monthly total and a first-year total (12 months plus one-time costs).

In-house hire (US, UK or Australia)

• Wages = hours × the published wage range for the role (the middle 50% of wages where the statistics office publishes percentiles).
• US: benefits and payroll taxes come from the BLS Employer Costs for Employee Compensation survey for private employers with 1–49 workers: each benefit category's share of total compensation, divided by the wage share, gives a percentage of wages. "Legally required" already includes Social Security, Medicare, unemployment insurance and workers' compensation, so we don't add those twice. The one-time line is SHRM's average cost per hire.
• UK: employer National Insurance on pay above the secondary threshold, and the minimum employer pension contribution on qualifying earnings. The Employment Allowance, which many small employers can claim, isn't deducted.
• Australia: the Superannuation Guarantee. Payroll tax (only above a state threshold) and workers' compensation (varies by state and industry) aren't included.

Hiring directly abroad

• Pay = hours × the published pay range for the role in that country.
• Platform and transfer fees start at 0%: type in your own, because they depend on how you find and pay the person.
• Your time to find and vet someone starts at 0: add your hours and what an hour of your time is worth.
• Local employer costs in that country aren't included: they depend on how you engage the person. An accountant or employer-of-record service there can tell you.

An agency

• The example is VA MASTERS, the parent company of this site's publisher, because its rate card is public. Rates by role category, in USD per hour, all-inclusive:

• Administrative & Operations Support$6.50–$10.00/hr
• Finance & Accounting$7.50–$14.00/hr
• Marketing & Advertising$8.50–$15.00/hr
• Social Media Management$7.50–$9.00/hr
• Design & Creative Arts$8.00–$14.00/hr
• Tech / Development$12.00–$25.00/hr
• FeesNo setup fee · card or PayPal 4%VA MASTERS pricing page. Checked Oct 2026.

Which category each role uses: Virtual assistant: Administrative & Operations Support; Customer support agent: Administrative & Operations Support; Bookkeeper: Finance & Accounting; Digital marketer: Marketing & Advertising; Social media manager: Social Media Management; Graphic designer: Design & Creative Arts; Web developer: Tech / Development; Software developer: Tech / Development. Type in any agency's quote to replace the example.

The comparison line

"About X% less than in-house" compares the middle of each monthly range. Ranges overlap, so treat it as a rough guide, not a promise.

What the numbers don't include

• Equipment, software licences and office space.
• Management time after the hire, for any option.
• The cost of a hire who leaves early: with an agency, replacement is usually part of the price; hiring yourself, you start the search again.

Keeping it current

We re-check sources and exchange rates at least every three months, and fix errors as soon as we hear about them. See the corrections page or email hello@yourhiringpartners.com.