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Pay Raise Calculator
See your new salary, what the raise adds to each paycheck after tax, and whether it beats inflation.
Example: a 5% raise on $60,000
Your salary rises by $3,000 to $63,000, or from $28.85 to $30.29 an hour on a 40-hour week. Before tax that is $250 more a month. After federal tax and FICA in a state with no income tax, a single filer keeps about $2,400 of the $3,000, roughly $92 more per biweekly paycheck.
Prices rose about 2.6% from 2024 to 2025 (CPI-U annual average), so the real raise is (1.05 ÷ 1.026) − 1 ≈ 2.3%.
Raise formulas
- New salary = Old salary × (1 + raise %)
- Raise % = (New − Old) ÷ Old × 100
- Real raise = (1 + raise %) ÷ (1 + inflation) − 1
Negotiating a raise
- Know your market rate from job listings and salary surveys for your role and city.
- List concrete results: revenue won, costs saved, projects delivered.
- Ask for a specific number a little above your target.
- If the salary budget is fixed, ask about a bonus, extra paid time off, a title change, or a review date in six months.
Frequently asked questions
How do I calculate a raise percentage?
Divide the raise by your old pay and multiply by 100. Going from $60,000 to $63,000 is a $3,000 raise, and 3,000 ÷ 60,000 = 5%.
What is a normal raise?
US employers have budgeted average merit raises of around 3% to 4% a year recently. Promotions and job changes often bring 10% to 20%.
What is a real raise?
Your raise after inflation. If prices rose 2.6% over the year, a 5% raise increases your buying power by only about 2.3%. A raise smaller than inflation is a pay cut in real terms.