Pay raise calculator
Enter your pay and a raise as a percentage, a dollar amount or a new salary. See the increase per year, month and paycheck, what reaches your bank account after tax, and whether it beats inflation.
Your raise
After tax and inflation
| Take-home before | $51,808 |
| Take-home after | $53,683 |
| You keep of the raise | $1,875 (72%) |
| Real raise after 2.9% inflation | 1.07% |
This raise beats inflation, so your buying power grows. 2026 federal brackets, standard deduction, Social Security and Medicare included.
Pay raise calculator over time
The same yearly raise, repeated. See where $65,000 ends up, and what it buys after 2.9% inflation each year.
| Year | Salary | Raise that year | Total growth | In today's dollars |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $66,950 | +$1,950 | 3% | $65,063 |
| 2 | $68,959 | +$2,009 | 6.1% | $65,126 |
| 3 | $71,027 | +$2,069 | 9.3% | $65,190 |
| 4 | $73,158 | +$2,131 | 12.6% | $65,253 |
| 5 | $75,353 | +$2,195 | 15.9% | $65,316 |
| 6 | $77,613 | +$2,261 | 19.4% | $65,380 |
| 7 | $79,942 | +$2,328 | 23% | $65,443 |
| 8 | $82,340 | +$2,398 | 26.7% | $65,507 |
| 9 | $84,810 | +$2,470 | 30.5% | $65,571 |
| 10 | $87,355 | +$2,544 | 34.4% | $65,634 |
Total earned over 10 years: $767,507. Raises compound, so 3% a year adds up to 34% over 10 years, not 30%.
Will a raise push me into a higher tax bracket?
Only the dollars above a bracket line are taxed at the higher rate. Drag your salary across a line and watch: the earlier steps stay exactly as they were.
| $12,400 taxed at 10% | $1,240 |
| $38,000 taxed at 12% | $4,560 |
| $28,500 taxed at 22% | $6,270 |
| Federal income tax · effective 12.7% | $12,070 |
After the $16,100 standard deduction, $78,900 is taxable. Top bracket reached: 22%.
How much of a raise should I ask for?
Employer surveys give a baseline: WorldatWork and Mercer both reported US salary-increase budgets averaging roughly 3.5% for 2025. A standard merit raise sits near that; strong performers often get 4–6%; promotions typically bring 10% or more.
- Keeping pace: at least the latest 12-month CPI inflation figure from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, so you don't lose buying power.
- Solid year: 4–6%, backed by two or three results with numbers attached.
- Below market or bigger role: 10–20%, backed by a posted pay range or salary survey for your title and city.
A raise is also taxed at your top rate only, never on your whole salary, which is why the take-home table above keeps most of the increase. Worried a bump will "put you in a higher bracket"? a staircase-style bracket explainer builds the staircase step by step, so you can see that fear dissolve.
Planning the conversation? The salary negotiation guide covers scripts, and the career growth calculator shows what a 3% versus 5% habit adds up to over 20 years.
Questions people ask
How do I calculate a percentage raise?
Subtract your old pay from your new pay, divide by the old pay and multiply by 100. Going from $60,000 to $63,000 is a $3,000 raise, and $3,000 ÷ $60,000 = 5%.
How do I calculate my new salary after a raise?
Multiply your current salary by 1 plus the raise as a decimal. A 4% raise on $75,000 is $75,000 × 1.04 = $78,000.
Is a 3% raise good?
A 3% raise is roughly the average US merit increase in recent employer surveys. Whether it is good depends on inflation: if prices rose 3% over the same year, your real pay stayed flat.
Can a raise lower my take-home pay?
Not through federal income tax brackets: only the part of income above a bracket threshold is taxed at the higher rate. In rare cases a raise can reduce means-tested benefits or credits, which is a separate effect.
How do I calculate a raise over several years?
Multiply your salary by (1 + raise rate) once per year. Five years of 3% raises on $60,000 is $60,000 × 1.03^5 ≈ $69,556, a 15.9% increase rather than 15%, because each raise builds on the last.
What is a 3% raise on $50,000?
$1,500 a year, taking pay to $51,500. That is $125 more a month or about $57.69 more per biweekly paycheck before tax.
How much of my raise will I actually keep?
Roughly 1 minus your marginal rates: federal bracket (10–37%), 7.65% Social Security and Medicare below the wage base, plus state tax. Many middle-income earners keep about 60–70% of a raise.