Sign inAbout the raise calculator
A raise announced as "4%" or "$2,500" is hard to picture until you know what it does to your paycheck. This free raise calculator converts the raise either way: enter a percentage to see the dollar amount, or enter dollars to see the percentage. It then shows your new annual salary, how much more you will see per paycheck and per month, and, if you add an inflation rate, what the raise is worth in buying power.
Use it to check a raise you have been offered, to set a target before you ask for one, or to compare a promotion with an outside offer. The math runs in your browser and nothing is saved. Below, you will find the formulas, a benchmark for typical raises, and how to think about raises after inflation and taxes.
How to use it
- 1
Enter your current annual salary
Use your base salary before taxes and deductions. If you are paid hourly, multiply your rate by 2,080 for a full-time year, or use the salary calculator first.
- 2
Choose percentage or dollar amount
Pick whichever way the raise was described to you. Enter 4 for a 4% raise, or 2500 for a $2,500 raise. The calculator fills in the other number.
- 3
Select how often you are paid
Choose weekly, biweekly, semimonthly, or monthly. This sets how the yearly increase is split across your paychecks, so you know what to expect on your next pay stub.
- 4
Add inflation to see real value
Optionally enter the latest 12-month inflation rate. The calculator shows what your raise is worth in buying power and flags a raise that does not keep up.
How to calculate a raise
Raise math has only a few formulas, and each is worth knowing so you can check any number you are given. A percentage raise is your current salary times the percentage. A dollar raise as a percentage is the raise divided by your current salary. Everything else, including per-paycheck and per-month figures, comes from dividing the yearly increase.
For example, a 4% raise on $68,000 is $2,720 a year, so your new salary is $70,720. Paid biweekly, that is $2,720 ÷ 26, or $104.62 more per paycheck before taxes. Spread across 12 months, it is $226.67 a month.
- Raise in dollars: current salary × raise percentage ÷ 100.
- Raise as a percentage: raise in dollars ÷ current salary × 100.
- New salary: current salary + raise in dollars.
- Per paycheck: raise in dollars ÷ paychecks per year (52, 26, 24, or 12).
- Hourly raise: new hourly rate − old hourly rate, times hours worked per year.
What counts as a good raise
A useful benchmark is what employers budget for raises overall. In WorldatWork's 2026-2027 Salary Budget Survey, U.S. salary increase budgets averaged 3.6% in 2026, and employers projected 3.6% again for 2027, as reported in WorldatWork's summary of the results. That figure is a budget average that combines merit, cost-of-living, and other increases, so individual raises vary widely around it.
Use the benchmark as a starting point, not a ceiling. If your annual raise is close to the average budget, you are probably being treated as a solid performer. A raise well below it, especially after a strong year, is worth asking about. A promotion is different: it changes the scope of your job, and it usually comes with a larger increase than a standard annual raise. If your title and responsibilities are growing, compare the new pay to market data for the new role, not to last year's salary.
Your raise after inflation
A raise only increases your buying power if it is larger than inflation. The calculator uses the precise formula: real raise = (1 + raise) ÷ (1 + inflation) − 1. For small numbers, that is close to simply subtracting inflation from your raise. A 4% raise with 3% inflation is worth about 0.97% in real terms. A 3% raise with 3.5% inflation is a real pay cut of about 0.48%, even though your paycheck goes up.
For the inflation rate, use the latest 12-month change in the Consumer Price Index, published monthly by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Your personal inflation can differ. If your rent or child care costs rose faster than the index, your raise buys even less than the calculator shows.
Raise per paycheck vs. take-home pay
The per-paycheck number is a gross figure. Your take-home increase will be smaller because income taxes, Social Security, Medicare, and any percentage-based deductions such as 401(k) contributions scale with your pay. As a rough check, expect your net increase to be noticeably less than the gross figure shown, depending on your tax bracket, state, and how much you save for retirement.
Two more things affect what you see on your pay stub. First, timing: many raises take effect at the start of a pay period, so your first paycheck after a mid-period effective date may be partly at the old rate. Second, contributions: if you save a fixed percentage for retirement, that contribution grows with your raise. That is a good thing, but it means the extra cash in your account is smaller at first.
Examples
New annual salary: $70,720
Raise per year: $2,720
Raise percentage: 4.00%
Per paycheck: $104.62
Per month: $226.67
New annual salary: $55,500
Raise per year: $3,500
Raise percentage: 6.73%
Per paycheck: $145.83
Per month: $291.67
New annual salary: $82,880
Raise per year: $8,880
Raise percentage: 12.00%
Per paycheck: $740.00
Per month: $740.00
New annual salary: $61,800
Raise per year: $1,800
Raise percentage: 3.00%
Per paycheck: $69.23
Per month: $150.00
After 3.5% inflation, your raise is worth -0.48% in buying power: a pay cut in real terms.
Tips for better results
- Run the numbers before your review so you can name a specific target instead of reacting to the first offer.
- Ask for raises in dollars and percentages together, since the dollar figure often sounds more concrete to a manager.
- Check the latest CPI change before you negotiate, and treat a raise below inflation as a pay cut in real terms.
- Confirm the effective date of any raise in writing so you can check that it shows up on the right paycheck.
- If the raise is smaller than you hoped, ask what specific results would earn a larger increase at the next review.