Wage & Benefits Survey/Report

Wage & Benefits Survey

Help Shape Lancaster County’s Workforce Data—Take the Wage & Benefits Survey!

Every year, the Lancaster Chamber gathers wage and benefit data from businesses across the county to create a valuable resource for employers. By participating in the Wage & Benefits Survey, you’ll help build a clearer picture of local compensation trends, benefits, and workplace policies—insights that directly support better decision-making for businesses like yours.

Why Participate?

✔ It’s free – No cost to take part, and you don’t have to be a Chamber member.

✔ It’s local & regional – The data focuses on Lancaster County businesses while also providing opportunities to compare regional workforce trends.

✔ It’s useful – Get access to a comprehensive report on wages, benefits, and workplace policies to help you stay competitive.

What’s New This Year?!

✔ Survey Administration: The survey will be hosted on the Sensible Surveys platform and will be administered by the team at the Lancaster Chamber. Sensible Surveys is user-friendly and intuitive, allows users to save progress and return later, and produces interactive, exportable reports for users once the survey results have been compiled.

Your input makes this report stronger—and helps ensure Lancaster businesses have the data they need to attract and retain talent. Take the survey today!

Coming Soon!

Member companies purchasing the Wage & Benefits Report receive a discount. All companies who participate in the data collection process – the Wage & Benefits Survey – receive an additional discount on the purchase price.

The Wage & Benefits Report provides county-wide data* on the maximum, minimum, and average wages, rate ranges across participating companies, annual wage adjustments, and wage histories from past reports as available. The Wage & Benefits Report includes nearly 300 positions across the following role categories:

Executive
Accounting & Finance
Building, Construction, & Utility
Customer Service & Operations
Education, Health, Hospitality, & Social Services
Engineering
Human Resources & Safety
Laboratory, Research & Development
Legal & Insurance
Marketing & Sales
Maintenance, Installation, and Facilities
Production
Purchasing, Transportation, & Supply Chain

Each position is defined by the Standard Occupational Classification System produced by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and/or local input from Lancaster area companies. The positions selected are reflective of Lancaster County’s economic environment. Participating companies have an option to submit position/role recommendations for future surveys to the Chamber team. Review our list of definitions here.

The Wage & Benefits Report also includes local companies’ practices on wage administration, incentive pay and compensation trends, recruitment and onboarding, vacation policies, retirement policies, and more! The section on work-based learning focuses on internships, apprenticeships, and other opportunities available locally for high school and college students.

Quick Links

Purcahse 2025 Wage & Policies Report

Frequently Asked Questions

When does the survey open?

COMING SOON for 2026!

When will the results be available?

The Wage & Benefits Report is available in the fall. 2025 results are available now!

How much does it cost?

It is free to participate in the Wage & Benefits Survey. The full Wage & Benefits Report, however, costs $450 for members and $600 for future members. Companies who participated in the survey receive a discount on their purchase price. You do not have to be a Chamber member to participate or to receive a discount.

I don’t know if I have the time to do it. Do I have to complete the survey all at once?

You do not need to complete the survey all at once. You can save your unique edit link (the URL that opens when you start participating in the survey) or retrieve your edit link from us. You can revisit the survey to provide information while it is open.

Do I need to fill out every question?

All required questions are indicated as such. Please complete as much of the survey as possible, as your contributions enable us to provide a more comprehensive overview of the labor market in Lancaster County.

Positions that do not have at least 5 responses from participating employers are marked as insufficient in the final report.

I started to fill in my data on the Wage & Benefits Survey, but I had to close out in the middle of participating. Where do I find my edit link?

Your unique edit link is the URL that is generated when you start participating in the survey. We recommend saving or bookmarking this link for easy reference as you move in and out of the survey. If you need to retrieve your edit link, please reach out to Abby Williams, awilliams@lancasterchamber.com.

What do I do if a position is not listed on the survey?

Why did you remove a position from the survey?

We evaluate the survey every year. We remove a position from the survey after three years without 3 or more companies reporting on it.

While your exact position may not be listed, there is a good chance that the responsibilities may be included under another title. Please refer to the job description document to see if there are any matching job descriptions based on role responsibilities.

If the position title is unavailable, please submit your requested position to the Chamber team for future consideration. We examine the positions every year and make decisions on survey inclusion based on how many companies are reporting and/or requesting those positions.

Do I need to convert pay to an annual/hourly rate?

No. In the survey, you can indicate whether the pay you are entering for the position is annual or hourly by entering 1 or 2, respectively. All pay will be converted to an annual rate in the final report to provide a year-long outlook on the position’s earnings.

I have concerns about my data. How is my data protected?

Your data is stored in the Chamber’s encrypted system. Your information is only used in the aggregate, and the data you provide is separated from your company during processing. You may opt out of having your name included in our list of participating companies at the end of the report.

What wage information do I need to include in the report for the positions?

Companies report on the following information for each role:

The Lowest Actual Base Pay
The Highest Actual Base Pay
The Average Actual Base Pay (Weighted)

How do I read the wage data on the report?

The Wage & Benefits Report provides averages of the reported data in each category listed above.

Why are some of the data points labeled insufficient for a position?

We only provide information if 5 or more companies report on it. We always encourage participating companies to complete as much as possible to prevent insufficient information!

You have data points on base pay and pay rate. What is the difference?

Base pay is the hourly rate that you pay an employee. An employee’s base rate may be the same as their regular rate; however, an employee’s regular rate may be higher than the base rate because the regular rate includes calculations on commissions, bonuses, piece-rate earnings, etc.

When an employee’s base pay is different from their regular rate, the regular rate is used – for example – when hourly employees work overtime or use sick leave.

Weighted pay is a concept under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) used to determine the pay for an employee who works over 40 hours per week across two or more roles with different pay rates. The calculation accounts for the time spent in each position and its corresponding rate of pay to arrive at an average hourly wage.

Who do I contact if I have other questions?

Please reach out to Abby Williams, awilliams@lancasterchamber.com, with all questions.

*Minimizing Risk of Antitrust Violations

The Lancaster Chamber helps organizations safely obtain salary, wage, and benefits data by ensuring compliance with U.S. Department of Justice guidelines. To preserve the integrity of the survey process, all data received by the Lancaster Chamber from participating members is treated as strictly confidential and is provided in aggregate format. Company-specific data is not shared with any other outside entity or individual, and companies participating in the survey can opt out of including themselves in our participating companies section of the Wage & Benefits Report.

Participation by competing employers in surveys of employee salaries, wages or benefits does not necessarily raise antitrust concerns. In fact, such surveys can have significant benefits. Employers can use information derived from benchmarking surveys to offer competitive compensation and benefits that attract and retain qualified employees. The Wage & Benefits data collection process and report ensure that:

1. The survey is managed by a reputable third-party provider like the Lancaster Chamber;

2. The information provided by survey participants is based on data more than 3 months old;

3. There are at least 5 organizations reporting data and no individual respondent’s data represents more than 25% on a weighted basis of that statistic; and

4. Any information disseminated is sufficiently aggregated such that it would not allow recipients to identify the compensation paid or benefits provided by any organization.

Questions?

Reach out to Abby Williams, awilliams@lancasterchamber.com.

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