Glossary

Job Postings Metrics

This page provides a complete list of metrics available in the US Job Postings API and their definitions. Metrics help you understand the volume, intensity, and characteristics of job postings returned by your filters.

Related: To learn how to apply filters when querying job postings, see the Filtering section of the US Job Postings API.

For performance reasons, some metrics may be approximations. Salary is defined as the average of all advertised salaries listed in a job posting.

Metrics

Metric	Definition
`unique_postings`	The number of unique (de-duplicated) monthly active job postings that match your filters. Each posting is counted once per month it is active. This removes duplicate postings that may appear multiple times online.
`duplicate_postings`	Job postings are often posted multiple times across different platforms. This metric counts the number of duplicate postings after de-duplication. Useful for understanding how often postings are repeated.
`total_postings`	The sum of `unique_postings` and `duplicate_postings`. Represents the total number of postings found online for the query, including duplicates.
`posting_intensity`	Ratio of total postings to unique postings. Indicates how heavily job postings are duplicated for the filtered dataset. A higher value means more reposting of the same positions.
`significance`	The relative concentration of each ranked item compared to all other postings in the filtered timeframe. This metric is only applicable for ranking requests. Larger scores indicate that the item occurs more frequently in the filtered postings than in the overall dataset. Cannot be used as a totals metric.
`unique_companies`	The number of unique companies represented in the filtered set of job postings.
`median_salary`	The median annual salary advertised on job postings.
`average_salary`	The average annual salary across advertised postings.
`min_salary`	The minimum annual salary advertised in the filtered postings.
`max_salary`	The maximum annual salary advertised in the filtered postings.
`median_posting_duration`	The median duration (in days) of closed job postings that match your filters. Measures how long positions typically remain open.

Facet Limitations

Facet	Definition
`sources`	This facet can only be ranked by `unique_postings` in a ranking, nested ranking, or ranking timeseries query. Represents the job boards where postings were originally found.

Usage Notes

Timeframe sensitivity: Metrics like unique_postings and posting_intensity are calculated per month within the filtered timeframe. Changing the when filter will affect all metrics.
De-duplication: unique_postings excludes duplicates, but total_postings includes them. Always use unique_postings for unbiased counts.
Ranking applications: Metrics like significance are intended only for ranking requests and should not be used as standalone totals.
Salary metrics: Only postings with salary information contribute to median_salary, min_salary, max_salary, and average_salary. Metrics may be approximate due to incomplete salary data.