Location-Adjusted Pay
Location-adjusted pay is a compensation policy that sets an employee's pay band based on where they live rather than where the company is headquartered. 46% of US remote-first companies use some form of location-adjusted compensation, most commonly national compensation bands with geographic modifiers.
This is one of the two dominant compensation models for distributed teams, the other being a single national or global pay band regardless of location. Companies choose location-adjusted pay to control costs and maintain internal equity relative to local cost of living, while companies choosing flat bands often prioritize hiring competitiveness and simplicity over cost optimization.
For the full compensation policy breakdown, see Remote Work Compensation Report 2026.