Compensation and Benefits Managers Salary

Yes — at the median salary of $125K, rent takes 16.8% of take-home pay. A 2-bedroom at the HUD Fair Market Rent runs $1,261/month. That stays under the 30% guideline most financial planners use.

The 10th-percentile wage — what new compensation and benefits managers typically earn — is $70K/year. Take-home on that works out to about $4,203/month. At HUD’s $1,261/month FMR, rent would take 30% of that take-home — manageable on an entry-level income.

Local pay runs 16% below the national median — $125K here vs. $149K nationally. Cost of living is 8% below the national average, which narrows that gap in real purchasing power.

Augusta-Richmond County pays $125K median vs. the U.S. average of $149K — that’s -16%. After adjusting for local cost of living (RPP 91.9), the purchasing-power equivalent is $136K — below the national median.

The median is $125,340 a year, that works out to about $60 an hour. But the range is wide: entry-level workers start around $70,050, and experienced compensation and benefits managers can clear $254,040. These are BLS numbers, based on employer-reported data, not self-reported surveys.

On that salary, you'd take home roughly $7,499/month after taxes. A 2-bedroom here rents for about $1,261/month, which eats 16.8% of your paycheck. That's under the 30% guideline most financial planners use, so the numbers work.

Augusta-Richmond County has a Regional Price Parity of 91.9 (100 is the national average). That's below average, your money stretches further here than the raw salary number suggests. After cost-of-living adjustment, the median compensation and benefits managers salary is worth about $136,387 in national-average purchasing power.

The table above ranks every state by median pay for this role. Keep in mind that the highest-paying states tend to have the highest costs of living, so the top salary doesn't always mean the most money in your pocket.