Pay Raise Calculator
Enter your current pay and a percent or dollar raise to see your new gross, the per-paycheck increase, and an estimate of what you keep after tax.
Pay Raise Calculator
Your current pay
Your raise
Tax estimate settings
Enter your top state rate, for example about 5%, or leave 0 to ignore state tax.
Estimate only, not tax advice. This applies a marginal rate (top federal bracket plus FICA plus your state rate) to the raise, not a full paycheck calculation.
WorkLogs44
Payroll Calculator
Keep your payroll numbers in WorkLogs44
Enter the employee once in WorkLogs44. Each payday, update the hours to see their net pay and what the paycheck costs you.
Free · No sign-up needed
How to calculate your pay raise
You can enter a raise two ways, and both give the same new pay. If you know the percentage, new pay equals current pay times (1 + percent / 100): a $60,000 salary with a 4% raise becomes $60,000 times 1.04, or $62,400. If you know the flat dollar amount, you just add it: a $3,000 raise on $60,000 is $63,000. To find the percentage from two numbers, use (new minus old) divided by old, times 100.
For hourly work, set the basis to hourly and the tool annualizes for you: raise per hour times hours per week times 52 weeks. A $1.50 per hour raise at 40 hours a week is $3,120 a year. The per-paycheck increase then depends on how often you are paid: divide the annual raise by 52 (weekly), 26 (biweekly), 24 (semimonthly), 12 (monthly), or 1 (annual). Those pay periods match the ones in the WorkLogs44 Payroll Calculator app.
What your raise looks like after taxes
The sticker raise and the take-home raise are two different numbers. Your raise is taxed at your marginal rate, meaning the rate on your top dollars, not the lower average rate you pay across all your income. That marginal rate is your top federal bracket, plus FICA (6.2% Social Security while your pay is under the $184,500 wage base for 2026, plus 1.45% Medicare with no cap), plus any state income tax.
Say you get a $3,500 raise and your new salary sits in the 22% federal bracket, with no state tax. The marginal rate is roughly 22% plus 6.2% plus 1.45%, about 29.65%, so you keep around 70% of the raise, or about $2,462 a year. Above the Social Security wage base the 6.2% drops off, so raises for high earners keep a larger share. This is a marginal estimate on the raise only, not a full paycheck calculation, so treat it as a ballpark. For exact numbers, use the salary to paycheck calculator or the salary after tax by state tool.
Is your raise actually good? Benchmarks and inflation
Context helps you judge an offer. A 3% to 5% merit raise is typical in a normal year, a 2% to 3% bump roughly tracks cost of living, and a 10% to 20% or larger jump usually comes with a promotion or a new job. The other benchmark is inflation, around 2.8% heading into 2026. If your raise percentage clears inflation, your buying power grows; if it falls short, the bigger number still buys a little less than before.
Because US brackets are marginal, a raise never costs you money by moving you into a higher bracket: only the dollars above the threshold are taxed at the higher rate. If your extra pay is a one-time bonus rather than a permanent raise, the bonus tax calculator models supplemental withholding instead.
From a raise to real take-home pay
This page gives you a fast, honest marginal estimate. When you want exact take-home across all 50 states with full federal, state, and FICA math, the Payroll Calculator app runs a complete paycheck for one worker or a whole team. After a raise it is also worth checking your withholding with the W-4 withholding calculator so your per-check tax keeps pace with your new pay.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about pay raise calculator
How do I calculate a pay raise?
New pay equals your current pay times (1 + raise percent / 100). For a dollar raise, just add it to your current pay. To go the other way and find the percentage, use (new pay minus old pay) divided by old pay, times 100. So a $60,000 salary with a 4% raise becomes $60,000 times 1.04, or $62,400, a $2,400 increase.
How much of my raise will I actually keep after taxes?
Only the raise gets taxed at your marginal rate: your top federal bracket plus 6.2% Social Security (while your pay is under the $184,500 wage base for 2026) plus 1.45% Medicare plus any state rate. A raise taxed in the 22% federal bracket keeps roughly 70% before state tax. For an exact per-paycheck figure, run the numbers in the salary to paycheck calculator.
Is a raise taxed at a higher rate than the rest of my pay?
No. US federal brackets are marginal, so only the top dollars of the raise are taxed at your highest bracket, not your whole income. You never take home less by earning more. This tool applies that marginal rate to the raise alone rather than re-taxing your base pay.
What is a good annual raise percentage?
A 3% to 5% merit raise is typical in a normal year, a 2% to 3% bump roughly tracks cost of living, and a 10% to 20% or larger jump usually comes with a promotion or a job change. Compare your offer to those ranges, and to inflation, to judge whether it is a real raise.
Does my raise beat inflation?
Compare the raise percentage to current inflation, around 2.8% heading into 2026. If your raise percentage is higher than inflation, your buying power grows; if it is lower, you are effectively taking a small pay cut in real terms even though the number went up.
How much is a $3,000 raise per paycheck?
Divide the raise by your number of pay periods per year: 52 weekly, 26 biweekly, 24 semimonthly, 12 monthly. A $3,000 raise paid biweekly is about $115 gross per check before tax, or roughly $80 to $85 after a typical marginal rate. This calculator shows both the before-tax and after-tax per-paycheck figures.
Will my raise push me into a higher tax bracket and cost me money?
No. Because brackets are marginal, only the portion of income above a bracket threshold is taxed at the higher rate, never the dollars below it. Moving into a higher bracket only raises the tax on the new top-dollar income, so your take-home pay always goes up when your gross pay goes up.
How do I convert an hourly raise to an annual salary increase?
Multiply the raise per hour by your hours per week, then by 52 weeks. A $1.50 per hour raise at 40 hours a week is $1.50 times 40 times 52, or $3,120 per year. Set the calculator to the hourly basis and it does this conversion for you. Hourly workers can also check the hourly paycheck calculator.