Career growth & salary growth calculator
Project your pay 5 to 20 years out. Set yearly raises, promotion jumps and job switches for two paths, and see how far apart they end up, year by year and in lifetime earnings.
Gap over 15 years: $306,003 in favour of Switch.
Why small raise differences get big
Raises compound: each one is a percentage of a salary that already includes every earlier raise. At 3% a year, pay grows about 34% in 10 years; at 5%, about 63%. Starting at $80,000, that gap is worth roughly $100,000 in total pay over the decade, without a single promotion.
Promotions and job switches are the big steps. Data from the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta's Wage Growth Tracker has shown job switchers typically out-earning people who stay put on annual wage growth, which is why the second path defaults to switching every three years.
"Today's dollars" divides each year's pay by cumulative inflation, so you can see real buying-power growth. A 3% raise during 3% inflation is flat.
For one-off raise math, use the raise calculator. To value a job change with its full package, go to the offer comparison.
Year by year
| Year | Stay | Switch | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $80,000 | $80,000 | $0 |
| 2 | $82,400 | $82,400 | $0 |
| 3 | $84,872 | $84,872 | $0 |
| 4 | $87,418 | $97,908 | $10,490 |
| 5 | $90,041 | $100,846 | $10,805 |
| 6 | $100,161 | $103,871 | $3,710 |
| 7 | $103,166 | $119,826 | $16,659 |
| 8 | $106,261 | $123,420 | $17,159 |
| 9 | $109,449 | $127,123 | $17,674 |
| 10 | $112,732 | $146,649 | $33,917 |
| 11 | $125,404 | $151,048 | $25,645 |
| 12 | $129,166 | $155,580 | $26,414 |
| 13 | $133,041 | $179,477 | $46,436 |
| 14 | $137,032 | $184,861 | $47,829 |
| 15 | $141,143 | $190,407 | $49,264 |
Questions people ask
How do I calculate salary growth over time?
Multiply your salary by (1 + raise rate) once for each year. $70,000 growing 4% a year becomes $70,000 × 1.04^10 ≈ $103,600 after 10 years. Add promotion jumps as extra one-time percentages in the years they happen.
What is a normal yearly salary increase?
US employer surveys from WorldatWork and Mercer put average merit budgets around 3.5% for 2025. Promotions add roughly 10% or more on top.
Do job switchers earn more?
On average, yes. The Atlanta Fed Wage Growth Tracker has consistently shown higher median wage growth for job switchers than for job stayers, though the gap varies with the labor market.
What are lifetime earnings?
The sum of everything you earn over a working life. This calculator adds up pay over the years you choose; for a whole career, run 20 years twice with the second run starting from year 20's salary.
Why show today's dollars?
Because $120,000 in 15 years will buy less than $120,000 today. Dividing by cumulative inflation shows real growth in what your pay can buy.