Raise Calculator
What raise to ask for, and what it is worth after tax and against inflation.
Asking for a raise means naming a number. The number has to cover the rise in prices since the last one, be worth the increase in take-home pay, and still be defensible against what the role pays elsewhere.
Enter your salary, the raise you are asking for and the inflation of the past year, and this calculator shows what you keep, whether the raise keeps pace, and the figure that would restore the ground lost.
At a glance
- What you enter
- Current gross annual salary, Raise you are asking for, Effective tax rate, Inflation over the period, Years since the last raise, What the role pays elsewhere (optional)
- What you get
- Salary after the raise, Net increase per month, Real change in purchasing power, Amount needed to catch up, Salary in the money of a year ago
- Formula shown
- Yes - every step, right below your results.
- Cost and privacy
- Free, no account needed, and nothing you type is stored.
See worked examples ↓ Read the FAQ ↓ Share this calculator ↓
Results are estimates for general information only - always verify with a professional or official source before acting on them.
How to use the Raise Calculator
- 1 Enter Current gross annual salary
- 2 Enter Raise you are asking for
- 3 Enter Effective tax rate
- 4 Enter Inflation over the period - How much prices rose since your last raise. Check your national statistics office.
- 5 Enter Years since the last raise (years)
- 6 Enter What the role pays elsewhere (optional) - Enter 0 to skip the market comparison.
- 7 Press Calculate. You get Salary after the raise, Net increase per month, Real change in purchasing power, Amount needed to catch up, Salary in the money of a year ago, and every intermediate step stays visible under “How is this calculated?”
- 8 Change one number at a time to see what moves the result - that is usually the most useful thing a calculator can tell you.
Worked examples
Real numbers run through this calculator. Open any example to load it into the form above and change it.
A 6% raise after two years without one
A $60,000 salary with 4% inflation in each of the two years since the last rise.
You enter
- Current gross annual salary
- $60,000.00
- Raise you are asking for
- 6%
- Effective tax rate
- 30%
- Inflation over the period
- 4%
- Years since the last raise
- 2 years
- What the role pays elsewhere (optional)
- $68,000.00
You get
- Salary after the raise
- $63,600.00
- Net increase per month
- $210.00
- Real change in purchasing power
- -2.2%
- Amount needed to catch up
- $4,896.00
- Salary in the money of a year ago
- $61,153.85
The raise takes the salary to $63,600.00, which is $3,600.00 more a year or $300.00 a month before tax, and $210.00 a month after tax at 30%. Two years at 4% compound to 8.2%, so a 6.0% raise leaves purchasing power 2.2% lower than it was. Catching up would take 8.2%, or $4,896.00, and the new salary is worth $61,153.85 in the money of a year ago. The salary paid elsewhere is $4,400.00 above the new figure.
A 12% raise after three years
A $48,000 salary with 3.2% inflation in each of the three years since the last rise.
You enter
- Current gross annual salary
- $48,000.00
- Raise you are asking for
- 12%
- Effective tax rate
- 22%
- Inflation over the period
- 3.20%
- Years since the last raise
- 3 years
- What the role pays elsewhere (optional)
- $0.00
You get
- Salary after the raise
- $53,760.00
- Net increase per month
- $374.40
- Real change in purchasing power
- 2.1%
- Amount needed to catch up
- $4,757.03
- Salary in the money of a year ago
- $52,093.02
The salary rises to $53,760.00, an increase of $5,760.00 a year or $480.00 a month before tax and $374.40 a month after tax at 22%. Three years at 3.2% compound to 9.9%, so the 12.0% raise is 2.1 points ahead of prices and clears the $4,757.03 that would restore the ground lost. In the money of a year ago the new salary is worth $52,093.02. No market comparison was entered, so the gap reads zero.
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Frequently asked questions
Should the raise be compared with one year of inflation or with all the years since the last one?
With all of them. Prices rise every year, and the calculator compounds the inflation rate you enter across the years since your last raise. Two years at 4% is 8.16% of lost ground rather than 8%, because the second year applies to prices that have already risen.
The real change line is the raise minus that compounded figure. When it is negative the raise leaves you with less purchasing power than before, even though the number written on the contract is larger than the old one.
Why is the net increase so much smaller than the raise?
Because the increase is taxed, and it is taxed at the rate that applies to the last dollar you earn rather than at your average rate. The calculator applies the effective rate you enter, so a $3,600 rise at 30% leaves $2,520 over the year, or $210 a month.
For a better answer, use your marginal rate rather than your average one: a raise can also push part of your income into the next band. The Salary Calculator turns a gross salary into take-home pay if you want to check how the rest of your income interacts with the new figure.
What is the salary in the money of a year ago?
It is your salary after the raise divided by one plus the inflation rate, which answers the question a negotiation is really about: what does this new salary buy at last year prices? In the first example $63,600 at 4% inflation is worth $61,153.85 in the money of a year ago.
It is a single year adjustment rather than a compounded one, so it is the right figure to compare with last year and the wrong one to compare with several years back. For that, use the compounded inflation figure instead.
How should I use the market rate field?
Enter the figure the role pays elsewhere and the calculator shows the gap between that and your salary after the raise. A positive gap means the market pays more than you would be earning, which is often a stronger argument than inflation because it is about what the work is worth rather than about your costs.
Use a range of advertised figures for the same role, level and location rather than a single number, and leave the field at 0 if you have nothing to compare with: the gap then reads zero and nothing else on the page changes.