Pay Raise Calculator and Salary Increase Calculator
Work out the new number, what it adds to each paycheck, and the part every other raise calculator skips: whether the increase is any good. The 2026 US average merit raise was 3.1 percent as actually delivered and inflation over the 12 months ending July 2026 was 3.4 percent, so the average raise this year is a small pay cut in real terms.
Coaching, not legal or financial advice.
What are you negotiating?
Your offer or current pay
Market-rate band
Talking points
Email template
Timing
Coaching, not legal or financial advice.
Direct answer
To calculate a pay raise, subtract your current annual pay from the new figure, divide the result by your current pay, then multiply by 100 to get the percentage. A 3 percent raise on a 65,000 dollar salary is 1,950 dollars a year, which is 75 dollars per biweekly paycheck before withholding. Whether that is a good raise depends on what you compare it to: US employers delivered an average merit increase of 3.1 percent and total salary increases of 3.4 percent in 2026, against budgets of 3.2 and 3.5 percent projected the previous autumn, according to Mercer, while consumer prices rose 3.4 percent over the 12 months ending July 2026, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. An increase below roughly 3.4 percent leaves you with less buying power than you had a year ago. This is career coaching, not tax or financial advice.
▲ run the numbers
A raise percentage calculator that also tells you whether the raise is any good.
Enter a percentage to get the new pay, or enter the new pay to get the percentage. It works for salary and hourly, breaks the increase down per paycheck, and scores the result against the 2026 US average merit budget and against inflation. Nothing you type is sent anywhere or stored.
pay raise calculator
New pay
An increase of a year, or .
- Per biweekly paycheck
- Per month
- Per hour
- Roughly, after withholding
Benchmarks: 2026 US average merit increase %, CPI inflation % for the 12 months ending July 2026. The after-withholding line is a rough 28% estimate, not a tax calculation.
The problem
Your manager says the increase is 3 percent and it sounds fine, because 3 percent sounds like something. Nobody tells you it is the number almost everyone in the country is getting, that it was budgeted a year before the prices you are paying now, or that it arrives as about 56 dollars a paycheck on a 65,000 dollar salary.
How Counteroffer handles it
Counteroffer turns the percentage into the numbers that matter: annual dollars, per paycheck, and what is left after inflation. Then it benchmarks the figure against the market range for your title, level, and metro area, so you can tell the difference between a raise that is genuinely competitive and one that is the default everyone got. If it is short, it writes the ask, including the specific number to request and how to answer the reply that says the budget is already set.
▲ the numbers
What a raise is worth in 2026, with the sources.
Most raise calculators return a number and stop. The number only means something next to a benchmark, so here are the current US figures for what employers are actually budgeting this year and what prices did over the same period. Every row is dated and sourced so you can quote it in a conversation with your manager.
| Benchmark | Current US figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Average 2026 merit increase budget | 3.2 percent, unchanged from what employers actually delivered in 2025 | Mercer, survey of 1,013 US organizations, collected October 2025 |
| Average 2026 total salary increase budget | 3.5 percent, covering merit, promotions, and market adjustments together | Mercer, 2026 compensation planning survey |
| Projected 2026 mean salary increase budget | 3.6 percent, slightly under 2025 projections and actuals | WorldatWork Salary Budget Survey |
| Consumer price inflation, 12 months ending July 2026 | 3.4 percent for all items | BLS Consumer Price Index, released August 12, 2026 |
| Core inflation, 12 months ending July 2026 | 2.5 percent, excluding food and energy | BLS Consumer Price Index, July 2026 |
| Average increase on promotion | 8.7 percent, roughly two and a half times a merit raise | Mercer, 2026 |
| Organizations funding promotions separately from merit | 73 percent, at an additional 8 to 12 percent | Mercer, 2026 |
| Share of the US workforce expected to be promoted in 2026 | About 9 percent, down from 10 percent in 2025 | Mercer, 2026 |
| Lowest 2026 merit budgets by industry | Healthcare services and retail at 2.9 percent merit | Mercer, 2026 |
| Highest 2026 total increase budgets by industry | Financial services, energy, and high tech at 3.7 percent | Mercer, 2026 |
Read the merit row and the total row as different things. Merit is the annual performance pool almost everyone draws from. The total figure is larger because it also contains promotion money and out of cycle market adjustments, which go to a minority of people. If you are being told 3 percent is the ceiling, the honest reply is that 3.2 percent is the ceiling of the merit pool specifically, and that market adjustments and promotional increases come from a different budget line.
the stat everyone quotes
"Three percent is a standard cost of living raise."
Not in 2026. It is a pay cut in real terms.
The phrase gets repeated in performance reviews every spring, and it contains two mistakes. The first is arithmetic. Consumer prices rose 3.4 percent over the 12 months ending July 2026, and the average merit increase budget for the year is 3.2 percent. Someone who receives the average raise ends the year able to buy slightly less than they could at the start of it.
The second mistake is bigger: a merit increase is not a cost of living adjustment and was never calculated as one. Mercer collected the 2026 budget numbers from 1,013 US employers between October 20 and 31, 2025. Those budgets were locked in months before anyone knew what prices would do. Inflation ran at 2.4 percent in January and February 2026, then 3.3 percent in March, 3.8 percent in April, and 4.2 percent in May. From March onward, prices rose faster than the average raise every single month. The budget did not move, because merit pools are set once a year against a forecast, not indexed to the CPI.
Here is the honest counterweight, because a page that only argues one side is not worth citing. Much of that headline number was energy: the energy index rose 14.7 percent over the year, with gasoline up 24.6 percent, while core inflation excluding food and energy ran at 2.5 percent. If you do not drive much, your personal inflation rate was probably closer to the core figure than the headline one, and even the 3.1 percent average merit increase did keep pace with that. Use the inflation number as one argument among several, not as proof. The stronger argument in almost every case is not what prices did, it is what your role pays elsewhere.
▲ how to do it
How to calculate a raise, step by step.
Get everything onto one annual number first
Mixing units is where most raise math goes wrong. If you are paid hourly, multiply your rate by your usual hours per week and then by 52. A 31.25 dollar hourly rate at 40 hours is 65,000 dollars a year. If your schedule varies, use your actual hours from last year rather than a full time assumption, because a raise on 34 hours a week is worth noticeably less than the same percentage on 40.
Do the percentage in one line
The formula is new pay minus old pay, divided by old pay, times 100. Going from 65,000 to 68,000 dollars is 3,000 divided by 65,000, which is 4.6 percent. Going the other way, to find the new pay from a percentage, multiply your current pay by 1 plus the percentage as a decimal: 65,000 times 1.032 is 67,080 dollars. Divide by your old pay, not your new one, which is the single most common error in these calculations.
Convert it to a paycheck number, because that is what you will feel
A 3.2 percent raise on 65,000 dollars is 2,080 dollars a year. Spread over 26 biweekly paychecks that is 80 dollars, and after federal, state, and payroll withholding it is often closer to 55 or 60 dollars. This is not an argument against taking the raise. It is an argument for knowing what you are agreeing to before you say the number sounds fine.
Subtract inflation to get the real raise
Your real increase is roughly the percentage you were given minus the inflation rate over the same period. At 3.4 percent inflation for the 12 months ending July 2026, a 3 percent raise is about half a percent behind, a 5 percent raise is about 1.5 percent ahead, and a 2 percent raise loses you 1.5 percent of purchasing power. Do this before you decide whether to accept quietly.
Compare to the market, not to your last raise
The most expensive habit in salary is measuring this year against last year. What matters is what your role pays elsewhere right now. If your pay has drifted 12 percent below the current range for your title and level, a 3 percent merit raise does not close that gap, it widens it in dollar terms, because everyone else is getting a percentage too. Benchmark the absolute number first, then argue about the increase. For the benchmarks themselves, the average raise percentage for 2026 sets out what employers actually delivered against what inflation took back.
Work out which budget your ask should come from
This is the step that changes outcomes. Merit money is capped and shared across the team, so a manager genuinely cannot give you 10 percent out of it. Market adjustments and promotional increases come from different budget lines, and 73 percent of organizations fund promotions separately at an additional 8 to 12 percent. If your ask is large, frame it as a market correction or a promotion rather than as merit, so your manager can say yes without taking it from a colleague.
Decide your number before the meeting, then say it out loud
Walk in with one specific figure and one sentence of reasoning behind it. A precise ask, such as 74,500 dollars, reads as researched in a way that "something more like 10 percent" does not. Write down the number you want, the number you would accept, and what you will ask for instead if base pay is genuinely frozen: a title change, a review date in six months with a written target, or a one time adjustment.
copy and paste
What to send when the raise came in below the market.
The moment to write this is after you have run the numbers and before the increase is finalized in the system, which usually means within a few days of the review conversation. Keep it short, name one figure, and give your manager a budget line they can actually use.
Subject: Following up on this year's increase Hi [Manager], Thank you for walking me through the review and the [3.2] percent increase. I wanted to follow up in writing while there is still time to look at it. I have spent some time on the market data for [role title] at [level] in [metro area], and the current range I am seeing for the work I am doing is [range]. My pay after the increase would be [new figure], which sits below that. Over the last year I [one or two specific results, with numbers: shipped X, reduced Y by Z percent, took on the W responsibility]. What I would like to ask for is [target figure]. I understand the merit pool is set and shared across the team, so I am not asking you to take it from anyone else. If this is better handled as a market adjustment or as part of a promotion case rather than out of merit, I am glad to put together whatever you need for that conversation. If the number genuinely cannot move this cycle, could we agree on a written target and a review date in six months? I would rather have a clear plan than leave it open. Thank you for going to bat on this. [Your name]
Swap the bracketed parts for your own numbers. Counteroffer writes this for your exact offer.
▲ frequently asked
Raise calculation questions people actually ask.
How do you calculate a raise?
Subtract your old annual pay from your new annual pay, divide that difference by your old pay, and multiply by 100. Going from 65,000 to 68,000 dollars gives you 3,000 divided by 65,000, or 4.6 percent. To go the other direction, multiply your current pay by 1 plus the percentage as a decimal. Always divide by the old figure, not the new one.
How much is a 3 percent raise?
A 3 percent raise adds 3 dollars for every 100 you currently earn. On a 50,000 dollar salary that is 1,500 dollars a year, on 65,000 it is 1,950 dollars, and on 100,000 it is 3,000 dollars. Spread across 26 biweekly paychecks, a 3 percent raise on 65,000 dollars is 75 dollars per check before withholding and closer to 54 dollars after it.
How do you calculate a raise percentage?
Divide the dollar increase by your original pay, then multiply by 100. If your salary went up by 2,600 dollars from a base of 65,000, that is 2,600 divided by 65,000, which equals 0.04, or 4 percent. The same formula works for hourly rates as long as both figures are hourly. Comparing an hourly rate to an annual salary without converting first is the usual source of a wrong answer.
What is a good raise in 2026?
Anything meaningfully above 3.4 percent, which is both what US employers actually delivered in total salary increases for 2026 and the inflation rate for the 12 months ending July 2026. The average merit raise as delivered was 3.1 percent, so a 3 percent increase is a shade below average and behind prices. A raise of 8 percent or more almost always means a promotion or an out of cycle market adjustment rather than merit money.
What is the average raise percentage?
For 2026, US employers delivered an average merit increase of 3.1 percent and average total salary increases of 3.4 percent, according to Mercer actuals collected from 756 employers in March 2026, against budgets of 3.2 and 3.5 percent projected the previous autumn. WorldatWork projects a mean of 3.6 percent. Healthcare services and retail sit lower at 2.9 percent merit, while financial services, energy, and high tech budget the highest total increases at 3.7 percent.
How much is a 2 percent raise?
A 2 percent raise is 2 dollars for every 100 you earn: 1,000 dollars on a 50,000 dollar salary, 1,300 dollars on 65,000, and 2,000 dollars on 100,000. With inflation at 3.4 percent over the 12 months ending July 2026, a 2 percent raise leaves you about 1.5 percent worse off in purchasing power than you were the year before.
How do you calculate a raise for an hourly employee?
Multiply the hourly rate by the percentage increase to get the new rate, then multiply the difference by your usual hours to see the annual effect. A 1 dollar raise on 22 dollars an hour is a 4.5 percent increase, and at 40 hours a week it is 2,080 dollars a year. If your hours vary, use last year actual hours rather than assuming full time, or the annual figure will overstate the raise.
How much does a raise actually increase your paycheck after taxes?
Expect to keep roughly 70 to 75 percent of the gross increase once federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare, and any state tax come out, though your own rate depends on your bracket, state, and deductions. On a 3,000 dollar raise that is usually somewhere around 2,100 to 2,250 dollars a year, or about 85 dollars per biweekly paycheck. Treat that as a planning estimate rather than a tax calculation.
How do you calculate a cost of living raise?
A true cost of living adjustment is tied to a published inflation measure, usually the Consumer Price Index, so you multiply your current pay by the CPI change over the period. For the 12 months ending July 2026 that was 3.4 percent. Very few private US employers actually index pay this way. What most companies call a cost of living raise is a merit increase, budgeted a year in advance against a forecast rather than against what prices did. Our guide to asking for a cost of living raise breaks down which of the 2026 figures applies to you.
Is a 3 percent raise good or should I negotiate?
A 3 percent raise is slightly below the 3.1 percent average merit increase employers actually delivered and behind inflation, so it is worth a conversation, especially if your pay sits under the current market range for your role. The productive framing is not to argue about the merit percentage, which is capped and shared, but to ask whether a market adjustment or a promotion case applies. Our guide to asking for a raise covers the timing and the wording.
▲ sources
- Mercer: most US employers plan to keep 2026 salary increases flat
- BLS: Consumer Price Index Summary, July 2026
- WorldatWork: Mercer forecasts 3.5 percent total salary increase budgets for 2026
- WorldatWork: 2026 salary increase budgets project US and global caution
- BLS: Consumer Price Index home
Last updated August 2026. Figures are estimates and market data changes; verify anything you plan to quote in a negotiation.
▲ what it uses
The features behind pay raise calculator.
▲ more use cases
Walk in knowing your number.
Counteroffer is educational career coaching, not legal, financial, or HR advice.