Raise Calculator

Enter the current and proposed annual salaries. The increase is new salary minus current salary; divide that difference by current salary and multiply by 100 for the percentage. Monthly and hourly equivalents assume 12 months and 2,080 hours per year.

A $60,000 salary with a 5% raise becomes $63,000, an increase of $3,000/year or $250/month before taxes.

Compare the raise with changes in benefits and working hours. Real purchasing-power change is (1 + raise rate)/(1 + inflation rate) − 1.

The gross-pay result excludes taxes and benefit changes. Inflation is an assumption, not a known future rate.

Enter the current annual salary and the proposed new annual salary. The form calculates the dollar difference and expresses it as a percentage of the current salary. It does not ask for a desired raise percentage and automatically generate a new salary. If you are starting with a percentage offer, first work out the proposed annual amount, then enter that amount here. Mixing a monthly figure with an annual figure will produce a misleading comparison.

Keep the pay components consistent. Comparing an old base salary with a new package that includes a possible bonus can overstate the guaranteed raise. You can examine total-compensation scenarios separately, but label the assumptions and keep conditional payments distinct from regular salary. The calculator cannot judge benefits, bonus conditions or whether an offer will be paid. Its percentage describes the two numbers entered, not the complete financial effect of changing jobs.

Moving from $50,000 to $55,000 adds $5,000. Divide that difference by the original $50,000 and the raise is 10%. Dividing by the new salary instead would give a different percentage and answer a different question. The reverse move from $55,000 to $50,000 is therefore not a 10% decrease; it is about 9.09%. Percentage changes depend on where the comparison starts, even when the dollar difference is the same.

The tool also accepts two positive salaries when the proposed amount is lower. A move from $60,000 to $57,000 gives a negative $3,000 change, or minus 5%. Its monthly equivalent is minus $250. That negative sign is not a calculation failure; it indicates a pay reduction under the entered figures. An unchanged salary produces zero change. A zero current salary cannot serve as a meaningful denominator for the percentage and is not accepted.

The monthly difference is the annual difference divided by 12. It is a gross-pay comparison, not the extra amount that will necessarily appear in your bank account each month. Taxes, benefit deductions, retirement contributions and pay schedules can change that amount. A $3,000 annual increase has a $250 monthly gross equivalent, but the calculator has not assessed how much of it you will retain after payroll deductions.

The hourly equivalent divides the annual change by 2,080, representing 40 hours over 52 weeks. It does not use your actual schedule because the form has no hours field. If your working hours change with the new role, compare each salary's hours separately using the salary-to-hourly tool or your own calculation. A higher annual salary can coincide with longer hours, so the dollar increase alone does not establish a higher effective return for time worked.

Inflation is not included in the displayed percentage. A nominal increase means more dollars, while a purchasing-power comparison also needs an inflation assumption. For example, an illustrative 5% raise alongside 3% inflation gives a real change of about 1.94%, using 1.05 divided by 1.03 minus one. Those percentages are hypothetical, not a claim about current inflation. Simply subtracting them gives an approximation rather than the exact ratio.

Other changes can matter without fitting into a salary box: commuting expenses, childcare, insurance contributions, paid leave and working hours. List them separately so they do not get hidden inside one percentage. The calculator does not recommend accepting an offer or determine what raise is fair for a particular role. Use it to check the arithmetic and translate an annual change into understandable amounts, then consider the wider terms of the compensation arrangement.