Raise calculator
Enter your pay and the raise, get your new pay.
How do I calculate a raise?
Multiply your pay by 1 plus the raise: a 3% raise on $50,000 is $50,000 × 1.03 = $51,500 — $1,500 more a year, or $125 a month.
How do I work out my raise percentage?
Divide the increase by the old pay: going from $50,000 to $55,000 is $5,000 ÷ $50,000 = 10%.
Does a raise keep up with inflation?
Only if it is larger than the rise in prices over the same year. Compare your raise with the inflation rate for the period. For example, the annual-average CPI-U rose 2.95% from 2023 to 2024, so a 3% raise that year added only about 0.05% to your purchasing power.
Is a raise on hourly pay the same?
Yes — the percentage works the same on any pay: 3% on $20.00 an hour is $20.60.
Is this before taxes?
Yes. Your take-home increase is smaller after taxes and deductions.
What happens if I get two raises in a row?
Multiply the factors, do not add the percentages. A 3% raise followed by a 2% raise is 1.03 × 1.02 = 1.0506, a total of 5.06%, not 5%. Three percent a year for five years takes $50,000 to $57,964.
How much more per year is a raise of a dollar an hour?
For a full-time year of 2,080 hours (40 hours × 52 weeks), each extra dollar an hour is $2,080 a year before tax. On $20.00 an hour, $1 is a 5% raise. Fewer hours or unpaid weeks change the total.
How the raise is calculated
New pay = old pay × (1 + raise ÷ 100), and raise % = (new pay − old pay) ÷ old pay × 100. The percentage is always measured against the old pay, which is why the two directions are not symmetric. The calculator also shows the extra pay per year, per month and per biweekly paycheck (26 a year); for an hourly wage, the yearly figure assumes 2,080 hours. All amounts are before taxes and deductions.
Worked example: 3% on $50,000
$50,000 × 1.03 = $51,500. The increase is $1,500 a year, $125 a month and $57.69 per biweekly paycheck. On an hourly wage of $20.00, the same 3% gives $20.60, which is $1,248 more over 2,080 hours. To compare with prices, divide by the inflation factor: with the 2023 to 2024 CPI-U change of 2.95%, (1.03 ÷ 1.0295) − 1 = 0.05%, so almost all of the raise went to higher prices. The BLS reminds readers that the CPI describes an average household, so your own price changes can be higher or lower.
Common mistakes
Adding percentages when raises come in a row gives the wrong total, as in the 3% and 2% question above. Reversing a raise is another trap: a 10% raise from $50,000 gives $55,000, but cutting that back by 10% leaves $49,500, not $50,000, because the second percentage applies to a larger base. Mixing periods (a monthly pay entered as annual, or hourly pay treated as a salary) changes every result, so choose the right period before you enter the figures.
Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Price Index questions and answers (modified September 25, 2025) on what the CPI measures and why a household’s own inflation can differ, and the annual-average CPI-U for all items, U.S. city average (series CUUR0000SA0), the same data used in the inflation calculator. The raise arithmetic is percentage change, and the hourly conversion uses 2,080 hours, which is 40 hours × 52 weeks. For the take-home change, use the paycheck calculator; to convert pay between periods, the salary calculator; to take out inflation, the real return calculator.
Estimates for planning only — not financial, tax or legal advice. Your lender's or employer's figures decide. How we check our calculators.