Trends in Salary Growth: Which Bank Positions Saw the Biggest Changes? (Salary Increases 2022-2025)
- elyse500
- 4 days ago
- 3 min read
Updated: 1 day ago
Inflation over the last few years has increased workers' salary needs. Post-COVID work environments have changed, and, to retain quality employees, banks have been forced to increase support staff salaries above historical needs. Annual salary budget increases averaged 3.0% from 2012 to 2022. In 2023 and 2024, the expected salary budget increases were 4% and in 2025 and 2026, this decreased to 3.5%. The primary question is who received the bulk of these increases during the 2023 and 2024 time period.
Over the last several years, executives at community banks, specifically the CEOs, have received salary increases below historical levels. This allowed banks to increase the salary budget and provide higher salary increases for employees below the executive level. To analyze this, we looked at year-over-year salary increases in our annual Blanchard Salary and Cash Comp Survey. To see if this was indeed the case, we also examined three salary ranges to identify where the highest increases occurred. The three salary ranges we analyzed were those earning less than $60,000, those earning $60,000-$90,000, and those earning more than $90,000.
We analyzed the salary increases from 0% of salary to over 10% of salary. According to our data, over the past three years, the largest salary increases went to positions earning less than $90,000 per year. The table below shows that from 2022 to 2025, 88% of respondents making less than $60,000 per year received raises of over 10%, while only 14% of respondents making over $90,000 per year received raises of over 10%.
Salary Percentage Increase Frequency by Salary Range 2022-2025
Salary Range | Number of Positions | No Increase | 0-5% Increase | 5-10% Increase | 10%+ Increase |
$0-$60,000 | 66 | 1.52% | 1.52% | 9.09% | 87.88% |
$60,000-$90,000 | 47 | 4.26% | 17.02% | 25.53% | 53.19% |
$90,000+ | 42 | 33.33% | 21.43% | 30.95% | 14.29% |
After reviewing the increases over the 2022 - 2025 period, we broke this down further on a year-over-year basis. We examined year-over-year increases to determine whether actual salary increases were beginning to return to levels more common before 2022. As the three tables below show, year-over-year increases across the different salary ranges from 2022 to 2025 have started to normalize toward pre-2022 levels. As the tables illustrate, the most significant increases occurred in the 2022 – 2023 time period across all salary ranges. Since that time, year-over-year increases have begun to decline across all three salary ranges. However, so far, positions below the $60,000 salary level are still seeing the most significant year-over-year increases.
Frequency of 3%+ Annual Raise by Salary Range 2022-2025
Salary Range | 2022-2023 | 2023-2024 | 2024-2025 |
$0-$60,000 | 80.30% | 76.92% | 52.46% |
$60,000-$90,000 | 59.57% | 52.17% | 52.17% |
$90,000+ | 45.24% | 27.27% | 31.25% |
Frequency of 4%+ Annual Raise by Salary Range 2022-2025
Salary Range | 2022-2023 | 2023-2024 | 2024-2025 |
$0-$60,000 | 72.73% | 66.15% | 44.26% |
$60,000-$90,000 | 57.45% | 41.30% | 34.78% |
$90,000+ | 35.71% | 20.45% | 25.00% |
Frequency of 5%+ Annual Raise by Salary Range 2022-2025
Salary Range | 2022-2023 | 2023-2024 | 2024-2025 |
$0-$60,000 | 57.58% | 52.31% | 27.87% |
$60,000-$90,000 | 51.06% | 36.96% | 30.43% |
$90,000+ | 30.95% | 18.18% | 18.75% |
In Summary, employees in lower salary ranges were more likely to receive raises of at least 3% each year versus those in higher salary ranges. However, from 2024 to 2025, the likelihood of obtaining these larger annual increases declined across all salary groups.
Key Takeaway: Employees in lower salary ranges were more likely to receive raises of at least 3% each year
It is important to remember to be strategic when determining the annual increases in employee salaries. First, research appropriate market salaries using salary benchmarking surveys to understand the market fully. Next, ensure salaries align with your compensation philosophy. Finally, when it is time to increase wages, take into account the current position versus market and each individuals job performance.