Ask anyway

Take it before they change their mind

The offer lands in your inbox. It is more than you make now, the search was long, and every instinct says accept it before they reconsider. Most people do exactly that. Only 30 percent of US workers said they asked for higher pay the last time they were hired, a figure from the Pew Research Center's 2023 survey of 5,188 workers.

Asking usually works

Among the workers who did ask, about two thirds came away with more. Pew found that 28 percent received the full amount they requested, and another 38 percent were offered more than the opening figure, even if less than they wanted. Almost none lost the offer for asking. They simply moved the number.

The market is not the reason

A hard market makes silence feel sensible, and salary negotiation starts to look like a luxury you cannot afford. The evidence runs the other way. Robert Half's 2026 Salary Guide reports that 84 percent of hiring managers will pay more for candidates with in-demand skills, and 74 percent worry about meeting pay expectations at all. CareerBuilder found that 73 percent of employers leave room to negotiate, while 55 percent of workers never use it.

What to bring

Know your market rate before the call, not during it. Name one specific number rather than a range that lets them pick the floor. Tie it to what you do, the skill they need and the result you carry in. Then ask once, plainly, and stop talking.

What asking really costs

The fear is always that the offer disappears. It almost never does. The cost of asking is one uncomfortable moment. The cost of staying quiet compounds, because every raise you are ever given is built on the first number you accept.