Salary increase calculator: your raise after inflation and tax

Enter your current pay and your raise as a percentage, a dollar amount or a new salary. The salary increase calculator shows your new pay per hour, paycheck, month and year, and two numbers most raise calculators leave out: what the raise is worth after inflation, and what you keep after tax.

Nothing you type is stored or sent anywhere. The calculator runs in your browser.

How to use the salary increase calculator

1. Type your current pay and pick how it is quoted: per year, per month, per paycheck or per hour.
2. Choose how the raise was given to you. Offers usually come as a percentage, a dollar amount or a new salary figure. All three work.
3. Set your hours per week if you are paid hourly or want an accurate hourly rate.
4. Leave inflation at 3.4% or change it to the figure you want to compare against.
5. Enter your tax rate on the extra pay to see the take-home change. Not sure? See the method below.
6. Press Copy summary to paste the result into a note or an email.

How the raise calculation works

Everything is converted to annual pay first, then split back out.

• Annual pay: hourly rate × hours per week × 52, or monthly × 12, twice-monthly × 24, every two weeks × 26, weekly × 52.
• New salary from a percentage: old salary × (1 + raise % ÷ 100).
• Raise percentage: (new salary − old salary) ÷ old salary × 100.
• Real raise after inflation: ((new ÷ old) ÷ (1 + inflation % ÷ 100) − 1) × 100. This is more accurate than subtracting inflation from the raise, especially when either number is large.
• Raise needed to match inflation: old salary × inflation % ÷ 100.
• Extra take-home: raise × (1 − tax rate ÷ 100). Per paycheck is that figure ÷ 26.
• Over several years: extra take-home × years, assuming your pay stays at the new level with no further raises.

The inflation default is the US Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), which rose 3.4% in the 12 months to August 2026 according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI release. BLS publishes a new figure each month, so update it if a newer number is out.

For the tax rate, add three parts. First, your top federal bracket from the IRS federal income tax rates and brackets. Second, your state income tax rate, if any. Third, 7.65% for Social Security and Medicare: the Social Security Administration sets the employee rates at 6.2% and 1.45% for 2026, and the 6.2% part stops at $184,500 of earnings. The result is an estimate. Your payroll department or a tax professional can give you the exact figure.

Worked example: a 4% raise on $60,000

This is the example the calculator loads with. Your numbers will differ.

• New salary: $60,000 × 1.04 = $62,400. The raise is $2,400 a year, or $200 a month.
• Hourly rate at 40 hours a week: $60,000 ÷ 2,080 = $28.85, rising to $62,400 ÷ 2,080 = $30.00.
• Real raise: 1.04 ÷ 1.034 = 1.0058, so about 0.58% more buying power than last year.
• Matching inflation alone would have taken $60,000 × 0.034 = $2,040. This raise beats that by $360.
• Take-home at a 30% rate: $2,400 × 0.70 = $1,680 a year, or $1,680 ÷ 26 = $64.62 more per two-week paycheck.
• Over 5 years at the new level: $1,680 × 5 = $8,400 more take-home.

The headline is a 4% raise. The part you will notice is $64.62 a paycheck and a real gain of well under 1%. That is worth knowing before you say thank you, or before you ask for more.

What a good raise looks like, and what to do next

Start with the real raise. If it is negative, your pay buys less than it did a year ago, even if the dollar figure went up. If it is positive, it is a real increase. Whether it is a good one depends on your market, your role and your results, so compare it with pay data for your job and location as well.

If the number is lower than you expected, you have three practical moves:

• Ask what it would take to reach a specific figure, and by when. Use the calculator to pick that figure in dollars, not just a percentage.
• Build the case from your own record. Our guide on how to ask for a raise covers the case, the number and the email.
• Put the counter in writing. These salary negotiation email templates include a reply to a low offer.

If your raise is tied to a review, write your side of it first. These self-evaluation examples for work show how to put results in numbers your manager can repeat.

Salary increase questions

How do I calculate a salary increase percentage?

Subtract your old salary from your new salary, divide the result by your old salary, then multiply by 100. Going from $60,000 to $62,400 is $2,400 ÷ $60,000 × 100 = 4%. If you are paid hourly, convert both rates to annual pay first, or simply use the hourly rates, because the percentage comes out the same either way.

How much is a 3% raise on $60,000?

A 3% raise on $60,000 is $1,800 a year, so your new salary is $61,800. That is $150 more a month before tax. At 40 hours a week and 52 weeks a year, it adds about $0.87 an hour. What you actually take home depends on your tax rate, which you can enter in the calculator above.

Is a 4% raise good?

Compare it with inflation first. US consumer prices rose 3.4% in the 12 months to August 2026, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A 4% raise at that inflation rate is a real increase of about 0.58%, so your buying power goes up a little. A raise below the inflation rate means you can buy less than last year, even though the number went up.

How much more will I take home from a raise?

Multiply the raise by one minus your tax rate on the extra pay. That rate is your top federal bracket plus any state income tax plus 7.65% for Social Security and Medicare, if you are under the Social Security wage base. A $2,400 raise at a 30% combined rate leaves about $1,680 a year, or $64.62 per two-week paycheck.

How do I turn an hourly raise into an annual salary?

Multiply the hourly rate by your hours per week, then by 52. A raise from $25 to $26.50 an hour at 40 hours a week is $52,000 to $55,120 a year, an increase of $3,120 or 6%. If your hours change during the year, the annual figure is an estimate, so use your typical week.