Slight Reduction in Salary Adjustment Budgets for 2025 and 2026
The recent 2025 Croner Salary Budget Survey revealed that budgeted salary increases in 2025 are slightly lower than last year and companies expect salary budget adjustments on average to remain unchanged for next year.
The findings as of August 2025 showed that among all Croner survey participants with formal salary adjustment budgets, the mean merit increase budget for the current fiscal year is 3.2% in this year’s population compared to 3.3% in last year’s population.
Similarly, the mean merit increase budget for the next fiscal year decreased from 3.3% in last year’s population to 3.2% in this year’s population.
Further, of the companies that participated in both the 2024 and 2025 surveys, 49% reported a year-over-year decrease in current fiscal year merit budget (on average, a decrease of 89 basis points). 33% of companies reported no change and 18% of companies increased their merit salary adjustment budget (on average, an increase of 69 basis points).
The salary budget adjustment survey data include companies that participate in the Croner Company’s annual industry-specific compensation surveys. The industries represented in the survey results include: animation and VFX, digital content and technology, entertainment, local media, software gaming, cable providers and content developers for television and streaming. This survey reported on most current salary adjustment budgets and salary structure adjustments for 2025 and the salary budget adjustments anticipated for 2026.
For more information about participation in a Croner survey, please contact Laurie Krashanoff, Manager, Account Relations, at +(415) 485-5521 or laurie@croner.com.
Follow this link to find out more about The Croner Company’s compensation surveys.
2025 Croner Salary Budget Survey Results
The Croner Company’s surveys and consulting services are relied upon by organizations at all stages of growth to establish and modify pay practices and align compensation with mission, values and market.
To learn more about our consulting services, please contact Lisa Dyakovski, Senior Consultant at the Croner Company, at (415) 485-5516 or lisa@croner.com.
For more information about The Croner Company’s compensation surveys, please contact Laurie Krashanoff, Manager, Account Relations, at +(415) 485-5521 or laurie@croner.com.