Pay Raise Calculator
Free calculator · No signup · Runs in your browser
Take-home figures use the tax rate you entered — not a tax table. For real withholding, ask payroll or a tax professional.
Why a percentage is never the whole story
“Is four percent a good raise?” is two questions: four percent of what — and four percent after what inflation?
The raise that beats cost of living builds wealth; the one that doesn't quietly shrinks it. Convert every offer to dollars first, then judge it.
The arithmetic
How much is a 5% raise — really?
A pay raise calculator answers one question the moment you need it answered: the boss said four percent — what does that actually do to my paycheck? Percentages hide dollar amounts. Four percent of $40,000 is $1,600 a year; four percent of $120,000 is $4,800. The same sentence, spoken to two different people, means wildly different things, and almost nobody does this arithmetic comfortably in their head.
Whether you call it a pay raise calculator or a salary increase calculator, the arithmetic is the same. A salary increase is always two numbers in disguise: the percentage your employer quotes, and the dollars that actually hit your account. This page converts between them in both directions.
The math itself is simple enough to do on paper. New salary = current salary × (1 + raise percentage ÷ 100). A $50,000 salary with a 5% raise becomes $50,000 × 1.05 = $52,500. The dollar increase alone is current salary × percentage ÷ 100 = $2,500. To go the other way — you know the new salary and the old one — the raise percentage is (new − old) ÷ old × 100.
Four percent of $40,000 is $1,600. Four percent of $120,000 is $4,800. Same sentence, three times the money.
Pay periods are straight divisions of the annual figure: monthly is annual ÷ 12, biweekly is annual ÷ 26 (26 paychecks a year, every two weeks), weekly is annual ÷ 52, and hourly is annual ÷ 2,080 — the standard 40 hours × 52 weeks. So the $52,500 becomes $4,375.00 a month, $2,019.23 biweekly, $1,009.61 a week, and $25.24 an hour. Note that biweekly pay is not twice monthly pay: two months a year you get three paychecks, which is why biweekly ($2,019.23) is slightly less than half a month's salary.
Gross vs take-home
What a raise does to your take-home pay
Gross and net are the two numbers that get confused in raise conversations. Gross is the headline salary. Net — take-home — is what actually lands in your bank account after federal income tax, state income tax, Social Security, Medicare, and whatever else applies to you. A $2,500 gross raise does not put $2,500 in your pocket; it puts in roughly $2,500 minus your marginal tax bite.
This page deliberately does the net calculation the only honest way a simple tool can: you tell it your approximate total tax rate, and it applies that. The default is 22%, a common combined marginal ballpark, but yours could easily be 15% or 32% depending on income, state, and filing situation. Real tax withholding depends on brackets, deductions, credits, and pre-tax deductions like 401(k) contributions — a personal calculation, and this page is not tax advice. If you want precision, take the gross numbers to a tax professional or your payroll system.
At the table
What common raises are worth, in dollars
Numbers are leverage. Walking into a raise conversation knowing exactly what each percentage point is worth — to you, in dollars, per paycheck — changes the conversation from vague gratitude to a concrete business case. The table below shows what common raise percentages translate to at three salary levels, so you can anchor your ask in dollars.
| Raise | On $45,000 | On $60,000 | On $85,000 |
|---|---|---|---|
| +3% | $1,350 | $1,800 | $2,550 |
| +4% | $1,800 | $2,400 | $3,400 |
| +5% | $2,250 | $3,000 | $4,250 |
| +6% | $2,700 | $3,600 | $5,100 |
| +8% | $3,600 | $4,800 | $6,800 |
| +10% | $4,500 | $6,000 | $8,500 |
Average annual raises in the US have run between 3% and 4.5% in recent years — use that range as the floor of the conversation, not the ceiling of your ambition.
Straight answers
Pay raise questions, answered
How much is a 5% raise?
A 5% raise adds one twentieth of your current salary. On a $50,000 salary it is $2,500 a year, which works out to about $208.33 a month, $96.15 biweekly, $48.08 a week, or $1.20 an hour. On a $80,000 salary the same 5% is worth $4,000 a year. The dollar value scales linearly with your base pay, which is why the same percentage feels very different at different salary levels — and why percentage offers should always be translated into dollars before you judge them.
Is a 3% raise good?
A 3% raise roughly matches the average US annual raise, which has hovered between 3% and 4.5% in recent years. That means it is normal, not generous. The real test is inflation: if cost of living rose 3% in the same period, a 3% raise only keeps your purchasing power flat — you are earning more dollars that buy the same amount. A 3% offer in a year with 2% inflation is a modest real gain; the same offer in a year with 5%+ inflation is a real-terms pay cut. For a strong performer, 5-8% is a reasonable target, and anything above 10% usually accompanies a promotion or an outside offer.
How do you calculate a raise percentage?
The raise percentage is the dollar increase divided by your old salary, multiplied by 100. For example, if you go from $52,000 to $55,120, the increase is $3,120, and $3,120 ÷ $52,000 × 100 = 6%. To work in the other direction — from a percentage to dollars — multiply your current salary by the percentage and divide by 100: $52,000 × 6 ÷ 100 = $3,120. The calculator on this page does both directions at once: type the percentage and it converts to dollars across yearly, monthly, biweekly, weekly and hourly pay periods.
What is a good raise in 2026?
In 2026 labor markets, budgeted merit increases for typical office roles cluster around 3-4.5%, so anything at the top of that band or above is competitive for staying in the same job. Context shifts the bar: high performers commonly see 5-8%, promotions typically bring 10-20% on top of the base adjustment, and switching employers still tends to out-raise staying — external moves frequently land 10-15% increases. Location matters too: raises in high-cost coastal metros tend to run slightly higher in dollar terms. The strongest lever in every market is a documented, specific counter-case built on your results and market rate data.
Should I compare my raise to the cost of living increase?
Yes — it is the comparison that tells you whether you are actually getting ahead. Your raise minus inflation is your real raise. If you received 4% and cost of living rose 3%, your real raise is about 1%; if inflation ran 5%, your real raise is about −1%, meaning your paycheck buys less than it did last year even though the number went up. CPI is the common benchmark for employees, though your personal inflation (rent, childcare, healthcare) can run hotter or colder than the national average. Tracking your real raise over several years reveals whether your compensation is compounding ahead of or behind your costs.
How do I negotiate a bigger raise?
Preparation beats improvisation. Start with a one-page case: your quantified results from the last year (revenue, savings, projects shipped, scope you absorbed), your market rate from 2-3 salary data sources, and a specific number — ask for a figure slightly above your target so there is room to land. Time it after a win or during budget planning season, not during a stressful quarter. Practice the conversation out loud, including your response to 'not this cycle.' If the answer is genuinely no, ask what specifically would justify the increase next cycle and get it in writing — or treat the answer as market data and take your case to employers who will pay it. A competing offer is powerful but only if you are genuinely willing to take it.
