Source-by-source tally reveals Goldman Sachs salary figures and discrepancies

Multiple compensation trackers show a wide spread in Goldman Sachs pay data for early 2026, creating confusion for employees trying to benchmark offers or plan careers. Wall Street Oasis, Levels.fyi, Payscale and industry summaries each report different metrics, definitions and samples that push reported numbers in different directions.

Wall Street Oasis describes itself as "an aggregated, community-driven compensation page for Goldman Sachs that summarizes salary ranges, bonus practices and employee-submitted compensation data across roles and locations." Its site aggregate, drawn from "2,715 total salary submissions," lists an average base salary of roughly $85,000, an average bonus of $35,000 and a combined "total average pay" of $120,000. WSO also reports an "actual average hours worked per week at Goldman Sachs based on our data is actually 66 hours" and uses that figure to convert to effective hourly rates, saying the $85,000 base equals $43 per hour on a 40-hour assumption but drops to $27 per hour on a 66-hour week.

Levels.fyi frames its numbers as medians of total compensation and explicitly states it "collects anonymous and verified salaries from current and former employees of Goldman Sachs." Its "Median Total Salary" table (last updated 2/13/2026) shows role-level medians such as $148,574 for software engineers, $272,465 for investment bankers and $464,466 for software engineering managers. Levels.fyi also reports extremes, noting "Goldman Sachs's salary ranges from $5,535 in total compensation per year for a Copywriter in India at the low-end to $1,004,000 for a Investment Banker in United States at the high-end."

Payscale offers a different aggregate, reporting "The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. pays its employees an average of $97,540 a year." Payscale’s snapshot is labeled Updated Jan 14 2026 and lists "Individuals Reporting: 190," along with employee-satisfaction metrics including a Fair Pay score of 2.49.

A comparative industry summary provides recruiter-style detail on the analyst pipeline. Depostly reports that "As of 2026, Morgan Stanley analyst base salaries match Goldman Sachs at $125,000 for first-years, $135,000 for second-years, and $145,000 for third-years." For Goldman Sachs specifically, Depostly lists first-year analyst base pay at $125,000, year-end bonuses of $65,000-$85,000, total first-year pay around $190,000-$210,000 and signing bonuses of $25,000-$50,000 that "often includes clawback provisions requiring you to repay portions if you leave within the first one to two years."

Why the differences matter to workers is clear: some sources report base salary averages, others report median total compensation by role, sample sizes vary from 190 to thousands, and regional or departmental splits shift figures substantially. Wall Street Oasis highlights department gaps such as Structured Products at $205,000 average versus Operations at $60,000. Levels.fyi’s role medians and Payscale’s fairness scores shift negotiating leverage differently depending on whether employees cite base or total comp, U.S. or international pay, and whether hours worked are considered.

For employees, the takeaway is practical. Verify figures against role, level and location; use role-level medians when comparing offers; and pay attention to signing-bonus terms and clawbacks. Expect continued variability as different datasets, definitions and samples are updated, and treat the numbers as complementary inputs rather than a single authoritative salary.