If you're setting compensation for an HR or People Ops hire, old salary ranges can create problems quickly. HR salary benchmarks need to account for the role's scope, location, and the skills the person brings to the table.
The market is also becoming more measured. Robert Half's 2026 Salary Guide, discussed in a recent SHRM podcast, projects HR wage growth of 1.6 percent in 2026, down from 3.2 percent in 2025 and 4 percent the year before.1 At the same time, specialized HR skills, particularly HR technology, analytics, and compensation and benefits, continue to see stronger demand.
What's Changed in HR Compensation?
The biggest change is that employers have more reason to look closely at the role before attaching a salary to it. A “Human Resources Manager” at one company may oversee a small HR function, while the same title at another organization may include employee relations, compensation, compliance, recruiting, and strategic workforce planning.
1. HR managers remain one of the higher-paid HR functions.
BLS's most recent data (May 2025) shows just how much responsibility is reflected in HR management compensation. The median hourly wage for HR managers is now $71.77, compared with $36.51 for HR specialists.2
That gap is a useful reminder when building a salary range: don't benchmark a leadership role against the broader HR labor market simply because the title contains “HR.”
2. Specialized HR functions can command their own benchmarks.
Compensation and benefits managers had a median hourly wage of $71.75 in that same May 2025 data,2 reflecting how specialized this work is. When a role owns pay structures, benefits strategy, or compliance, it can be difficult to replace with a generalist.
Where the Biggest Pay Shifts Are Happening
The most noticeable pressure is showing up around specialized skills. The same Robert Half data notes that HR technology and analytics skills continue to command a premium even as overall wage growth moderates.1
That matters when you're deciding whether a candidate's requested salary is above market. Sometimes the candidate is asking for more because the role requires a skill set that’s harder to find.
1. HR Technology and Analytics
HR teams increasingly rely on systems and data to manage recruiting, workforce planning, compensation, and employee information. Someone who can lead those functions while also understanding the business may sit in a different compensation bracket from a traditional HR generalist.
2. Compensation and Benefits
Compensation professionals have another advantage: they understand the very market you're trying to price. If the role owns salary structures, benefits strategy, pay equity, or workforce planning, those responsibilities should be reflected in the range.
Why Underpricing an HR Role Costs More Than It Saves
A lower salary range may look responsible when you're working within a budget. The problem comes when the range is low enough to remove qualified candidates from the search.
You can spend weeks interviewing strong candidates, only to lose them at the offer stage because the range never matched what the role required.
How to Benchmark Your Next HR Hire
Before setting the range, look at the role itself rather than starting with a salary number.
1. Define the scope.
Write down what the person will own. Recruiting, employee relations, compensation, compliance, HR technology, and strategic planning can all change the value of the role.
2. Check the geography.
National salary data gives you a useful starting point, but it shouldn't be the only benchmark you use. Compensation expectations can vary significantly depending on where the role is based and the local talent market.
Before setting your range, look at comparable roles in your specific market. A salary that is competitive in one location may fall short in another, especially for positions that require specialized HR experience or leadership responsibilities.
3. Compare the range with the candidates you're seeing.
Published data tells you where the market sits on average. It won't tell you what the specific people you're trying to hire are asking for right now, and that gap is exactly where Precision, one of the four principles behind our PATH process, comes in. At Journey Search Partners, our daily conversations with HR candidates give us real-time visibility into compensation expectations alongside the published numbers. If qualified candidates consistently expect more than your range, that's useful information before the search becomes a stalled requisition.
Read more: Partnering With a Recruitment Agency to Hire: What to Expect
Stay competitive without guessing.
There's no single number that makes every HR role competitive. The right one depends on the responsibilities, location, level, specialized skills, and candidate market surrounding the position.
Use published data to establish your baseline, then compare it with what real qualified candidates are asking for. That combination gives you a much better starting point than relying on an outdated salary range.
If you're hiring for an HR or People Ops position and need a clearer view of the current candidate market, request a Direct Hire search today.
References
- Fay, Dawn, interviewed in "The State of HR Compensation in 2026." SHRM Executive Network podcast, 2026, https://www.shrm.org/executive-network/insights/podcasts/state-of-hr-compensation-2026
- "Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025." Bureau of Labor Statistics, https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.t01.htm
