Abstract: Method and system for obtaining and using observed market rates in estimating suitable market-based compensation for one or more jobs. Each observed market rate is assigned a job family and a combination of a job category and a job level of responsibility (C/L). Median market rates and average market rates are observed for different job families and are combined in a novel way to produce job family factors and C/L factors that, when multiplied together accurately reflect market rates for that job, even for a combination of job family and job C/L that is not represented in the data.