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You\u2019ve been in your job for a few years now, and your salary hasn\u2019t budged. Your thoughts turn to the want ads.<\/p>\n
Changing jobs for a higher income is a time-honored tradition. Switch jobs too many times, however, and you risk being labeled a job-hopper.<\/p>\n
With that red flag in mind, we posed a question to several career experts: How often can you safely change employers, if your goal is to earn more money?<\/p>\n
American workers seem less loyal to their companies today than in the recent past. The median worker had a job tenure of 3.9 years in 2024, according to federal data, the lowest figure for employee tenure since 2002.<\/p>\n
The typical active jobseeker has been in their current job for roughly two years and three months, according to Indeed, the employment website.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe job market right now is a lot more fluid,\u201d said Priya Rathod, workplace trends editor at Indeed.<\/p>\n
Salaries are rising for many workers who remain in their jobs, but perhaps not as swiftly as they would like.<\/p>\n
The average employer planned to award pay increases totaling 3.5% in 2026, according to an October survey of 1,000 organizations by Mercer, a human resources consultant.<\/p>\n
With inflation hovering at an annual rate between 2% and 3%, a 3.5% pay raise is essentially flat.<\/p>\n
One way to raise your pay, of course, is to land a higher-paying job.<\/p>\n
Corporate recruiters are deluged with job letters. The number of applications filed on LinkedIn rose 45% between 2024 and 2025, The New York Times reports. AI has made it easier to apply.<\/p>\n
But when does job-hunting become job-hopping?<\/p>\n
The term is \u201coften defined as staying in roles for a little less than two years,\u201d Rathod said.<\/p>\n
Matthew Bidwell, a management professor at the University of Pennsylvania\u2019s Wharton School, agrees: \u201cIf you\u2019re systematically in jobs less than two to three years, they start to get nervous.\u201d<\/p>\n
For potential employers, job-hopping can be a red flag. It suggests one of two things, Bidwell said: \u201cEither it\u2019s because you\u2019re incompetent, and you keep getting edged out, or you have very itchy feet.\u201d<\/p>\n
Employers don\u2019t like turnover. It takes time and money to train a replacement: the equivalent of one or two years\u2019 salary, Bidwell said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat means I don\u2019t want to hire you if you leave after one or two years,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Yet, the stigma associated with job-hopping may be fading.<\/p>\n
American workplace culture used to value loyalty, a theme embodied in the pension, a retirement savings vehicle that rewarded workers for long tenure. But those sensibilities have changed.<\/p>\n
\u201cAttitudes have shifted drastically in the last 20 years,\u201d said Christine Sundry, associate director of the career center at Carnegie Mellon University\u2019s Heinz College. \u201cCareer paths today aren\u2019t necessarily linear.\u201d<\/p>\n
Young adults emerge from college today with more debt, Sundry said, and under immediate pressure to land a high salary.<\/p>\n
The remote work revolution of the COVID-19 era simplified the logistics of changing jobs.<\/p>\n
\u201cJob-hopping became something very serious a few years ago,\u201d said Jasmine Escalera, a career expert at the networking site Bold.<\/p>\n
Recent corporate layoffs may embolden workers to circulate their resumes.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe job seeker doesn\u2019t feel that they have to be loyal, because the company isn\u2019t being loyal,\u201d Sundry said.<\/p>\n
Changing jobs every year or two doesn\u2019t necessarily equate to job-hopping, experts say.<\/p>\n
Among twenty-somethings, some job-hopping is expected. Older workers might be expected to stay put longer.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think a lot depends on your job, and on your age,\u201d Bidwell said. \u201cChanging jobs every year in your early- to mid-20s isn\u2019t likely to be a problem. Over the years, if you keep doing it, it does start to raise eyebrows.\u201d<\/p>\n
If you do job-hop, career experts say, be ready to explain your decision in future job interviews.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat matters more than how often you switch jobs is whether each move makes sense and, more importantly, whether it can be explained to a potential employer,\u201d Rathod said.<\/p>\n
If you don\u2019t want to explain your job-hopping to future employers, then consider alternatives. Here are a few:<\/p>\n
Most American workers report that they didn\u2019t ask for a higher salary than they were offered when they took their current job, Pew Research reports. A higher salary becomes important, job experts say, if you don\u2019t get meaningful raises in the years to come.<\/p>\n
Most American workers feel they\u2019re entitled to a pay raise, but many balk at asking for one, according to a 2023 survey from the site B2B Reviews. Employees say they\u2019re not sure how to ask, fear rejection or worry about job security.<\/p>\n
Clearly, a worker who doesn\u2019t ask for a raise is less likely to get one.<\/p>\n
Better still, career experts say, ask for a promotion.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe other way people raise their wages is changing jobs inside companies,\u201d Bidwell said. \u201cThe nice thing about getting promoted is, you get a pay raise, and you also get bumped into a higher pay band.\u201d<\/p>\n
With a promotion, you become eligible for higher-paying jobs at other companies, as well.<\/p>\n
One way to persuade an employer to offer a raise or promotion, career experts say, is to say you\u2019ve been offered another job. But the strategy is risky, and it can backfire.<\/p>\n
If your company rewards you with higher pay for rejecting another offer, your colleagues may \u201clook at you as a little bit disloyal,\u201d Bidwell said. \u201cAnd if I think you\u2019re halfway out the door, how much am I going to invest in you?\u201d<\/p>\n
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: How often can you change jobs for more money? The rules of \u2018job-hopping.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n