I've read that the average pay raise from the company you're already working for is about 10%. While the average increase in salary when you start a new job is

I've read that the average pay raise from the company you're already working for is about 10%. While the average increase in salary when you start a new job is about 20%. I think the differences are usually even more dramatic near the beginning of most people's careers. Entry level employees tend to be extremely underpaid and undervalued. With at least one year of experience under your belt, your worth on the job market is significantly higher than someone who's fresh out of college. But the company with which you've been working at since college rarely sees it that way, and tends to undervalue you. If you switch jobs, you are almost guaranteed a significantly higher salary -- even more so with two or three years under your belt. In my own case, I managed to more than double my salary in about three years of job hopping about once a year at the start of my career. Of course, simple math will tell you you can't keep that sort of thing for long (unless you're one of the few to win the career lottery and make C__ at a successful company). So eventually your salary increases will start to plateau, and you might even price yourself out of the job market entirely -- making your current job (the one willing to pay top market rates) that much more valuable for you to keep. But when you're just starting out, and even in the middle of your career, this won't be much of a concern.