Method: the formula, the sources and what is excluded

The formula

There is no score, no weighting and no editorial adjustment anywhere in it. Ordering on every table is by a computed number, ascending or descending as stated, and that is the whole ranking method.

Where the rates come from

A national social security agency, tax authority or labor ministry, wherever one publishes the rate. Every line carries the URL it came from and the date it was read. 23 of 63 lines are marked high confidence, meaning the figure was read on the statutory body's own page. 40 are marked medium, meaning the statutory site blocked automated retrieval and the figure was taken from a national payroll reference publisher instead. Those are named on the country page.

What we exclude, deliberately

Anything set per employer rather than by statute, anything set regionally where there is no national figure, and anything that depends on a collective agreement. The full list is here. The effect is that our figures are floors and are lower than what most employers pay. We prefer a number that is provably too low to one that is invented.

The two salary levels

Each country page shows a mid-level salary and double it. This is the only honest way to show contribution ceilings: in the Philippines the marginal statutory cost above the ceilings is zero, in Portugal there is no ceiling at all, and a single headline percentage would hide that difference completely.

Currency

We publish no exchange rates and convert nothing. Each country is in its own currency, provider fees are in the dollars the provider publishes, and comparisons between countries are made on the uplift percentage rather than on converted amounts. An exchange rate we could not date would put a fabricated number into every figure on the site.

Corrections and the data itself

The whole dataset, including every source URL, is at data.json under CC BY 4.0. If a rate here does not match the statutory source today, tell us and we will re-read and re-date the entry.

How companies get on this site

We include every employer of record that publishes a price on its own website for the US market, plus the largest providers that do not, marked "Not published". No provider can pay to be included, excluded, or moved. We do not own, operate, or hold a stake in any product listed. The ranking formula is: published list price per employee per month, ascending, with providers that publish no price listed after them in alphabetical order. We do not accept free accounts, demos, or review units.

Placement is not for sale

No provider has paid, or can pay, to appear here or to be ordered above another. The referral payouts that could influence a site like this are published next to the prices on the provider page and again on the disclosure page.

Last updated: 2026-08-30