How To Raise Your Salary from $50,000 to $100,000 in Less Than Five Years

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For many, earning a six-figure salary can signify that they’ve made it – both professionally and in life. But if you’re only making half of that, it may feel like you’ll never reach the milestone.

We’re here to lift your spirits and inspire you because it is possible to go from a $50,000 salary to a $100,000 salary in less than five years.

Check out the advice from three career experts below, and start building your plan to boost your income to new heights faster than you thought possible.

Choose Your Profession Wisely (or Make a Switch)

Not all careers have the same earning potential. Allan Vu, founder of Work Remote Now!, advised ambitious professionals to identify positions they like that are both in demand and can pay up to six figures.

“And then meet the criteria,” said Vu. “I give this advice because many jobs are going to simply be an uphill battle to achieve a 100k salary due to saturation or less market demand.

“For example, those in some artistic fields may be able to achieve six figures, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy to do.” 

Physician assistants, nurse practitioners, statisticians, web designers, financial advisors and other roles in the technology, medical and finance sectors are popular jobs that pay more than $100,000 per year.

You may also be able to command a high salary by taking on jobs that few people want, such as oil rig worker, garbage collector or crab boat captain.

Understand the Factors That Determine Your Compensation

Daniel Space, a TikTok content creator focused on compensation known as DanFromHR, had this to say: “There are six elements that factor heavily into compensation, and the more you optimize your career for those, the higher salary you can earn.”

These six elements are:

• Job Level. “The more responsibility you have, the more value you have,” explained Space.
• Location. Companies located in large cities tend to pay better due to the higher costs of living.
• Company size (both in terms of employee headcount and profit margin). “Working for companies with high profit margins (B2B Tech is a great example) usually leads to much higher salaries, especially if the company is earning in the tens to hundreds of billions,” said Space. “Larger companies also tend to move away from single compensation types (just salary) to mixed models (salary, bonus, stock),”
• Industry. If you work for an industry that generates a lot of revenue, you’re likely to earn more money.
• Job family. According to Space, “The type of work you do matters. Roles that are either niche skill sets or directly impact revenue generation or protection are generally paid far better than roles that are more operational or administrative in nature.”
• Industry and job family alignment. “Working in a job family that the company places higher value in will lead to better salaries,” he continued. “There is a reason software engineers make far more in tech than they do in [consumer packaged goods], and why brand managers have the opposite experience.”

Double Your Professional Value

Kolby Goodman, the founder of website, The Job Huntr, said, “Companies look at employees just like any other business investment: What is the return on this investment (ROI)?”

Goodman explained businesses and their leaders tend to rely on four main areas to measure ROI: making money, reducing costs, optimizing time and limiting future risk.

“So, if you’re aiming to double your salary, you should actively find ways to more than double your impact and value add in these areas at your employer,” added Goodman.

“Focus on developing skills, taking on projects and improving processes that directly influence these key aspects of the business.” 

You don’t necessarily have to make a drastic career shift to get these results. In fact, Vu advised professionals to pursue “positions that are similar to your current skills.”

For example, Vu said, “if you’re a graphic designer, consider switching to UI/UX roles. If you’re a writer, consider SEO positions. If you’re a developer, consider learning a high-paying programming language.

“This will ensure that the skill improvement you need to reach $100,000 a year in less than five years isn’t too large to undertake.”

Be a Problem Solver

Kolby also shared, “The biggest and fastest way to make the most impact is to solve people’s problems!”

He provided a few questions you can ask yourself to find new ways to impact the business:

• What can you take off your boss’s plate?
• What are some recurring frustrations encountered by your team?
• How can you enhance your client’s experience working with your company or product?

“This approach to value-adding helps you build up a great track record of business impact while also providing key decision-makers with the badly needed relief they hope a new hire can provide,” he explained.

Learn To Sell Yourself

Unfortunately, becoming valuable is only half the battle.

You will also “need to network and create a great selling point for employers to pick you, [since] you’ll be competing with others for the same position,” warned Vu.

Goodman agreed, adding, “Improving your ability to communicate (on your resume and in the interview) the how and why behind your impact is crucial in achieving quick salary growth.”

Jump Ship

Consider this: “[Your current company] can’t outpace inflation and market compensation for internal employees, but a new [employer] can,” reminded Space.

“Changing jobs every two to four years can do a great deal for your salary.”

Get Advice From Others

You won’t be the first person to win a significant salary jump, so you may be able to learn from those who have made the journey before you.

Space suggested, “Ask people who are five to ten years ahead of you in the same job family and industry for their experience.”

Success Story: Ashley Barnett

Ashley Barnett, freelance writer, editor and owner of Hit Publish, shared her successful journey to doubling her salary in less than five years.

“In 2013, I was making $4500 a month gross as a freelancer, and in 2017, I was making $8000 a month gross,” she said.  

“I had two big mindset shifts. One was that if I was going to be spending time away from my family, I owed it to them to make it as profitable as possible.

“That changed my focus from providing maximum value for my clients to providing maximum value for my family. It gave me the drive to raise my prices, find higher-paying clients and refine my business to make more money,” Barnett continued.  

But that shift alone didn’t get her to six figures. As she explained, “It dawned on me one day that I had a mental block against being the primary breadwinner in our family. 

“I had an unconscious view in my head that the husband should make the most money. I felt that making more money was somehow breaking this traditional view of what the family structure should be.

“(I’d like to say that my husband did not hold this belief. It was just something that I had picked up along the way that was stuck there beneath the surface.)”

Barnett finished her story, sharing, “As soon as I had this realization, it was immediately dissolved. It stopped being a roadblock, and my income quickly rose to the $100,000 level.”

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