Salary Raise Calculator — Take-home, Prices & 10 Years
The boxes are already filled with typical numbers for this language. Change them to your pay if you want. You will see how much extra you get each month, about how much lands in your account, and whether prices are eating the raise.
How this calculation works
Raise % = (new pay − old pay) ÷ old pay × 100. Extra per month / week / hour divides the yearly extra by 12, 52, and 2,080 hours (8 hours × 5 days × 52 weeks).
Take-home is an estimate, not a payslip. Simple mode uses one tax % (already filled for this country). Korea mode estimates pension, health, and income tax automatically.
“After prices” compares your raise with how much prices go up. Future pay assumes the same raise happens again for 3, 5, and 10 years.
Worked example
How the after-tax estimate is built
Simple mode is currency-agnostic: pick an effective rate that roughly matches your combined income tax and social charges. Because the same rate is applied to both salaries, a flat rate keeps the net raise percentage equal to the gross raise; the extra cash you keep is smaller than the gross increase.
Korea mode is a planning approximation: national pension (employee 4.5% with a monthly contribution cap), health insurance, long-term care, employment insurance, earned-income deduction, a basic personal exemption, progressive national income tax, and 10% local income tax. It ignores dependents, tax credits, bonuses, and year-end settlement quirks. Use it to sanity-check an offer, then confirm with payroll.
Nominal raise vs. real raise
The number this calculator produces is your nominal raise — the plain percentage bump to your pay before anything else is considered. What actually matters to your standard of living is your real raise: the nominal raise minus inflation. If your pay rises 4% while consumer prices rise 3% over the same period, your real, inflation-adjusted raise is only about 1%.
In years of high inflation, a raise that looks generous on paper can still leave you worse off in purchasing power. Always compare your raise percentage to the latest inflation rate for your country to know whether you're actually getting ahead.
Typical raise percentages by scenario
| Scenario | Typical range | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Standard annual merit increase | 2% – 4% | Common in stable, low-inflation years |
| Above-average performance review | 4% – 7% | Recognizes strong individual results |
| Promotion to a new role | 8% – 15% | Reflects added responsibility, not just tenure |
| Retention counter-offer | 10% – 20%+ | Used to match or beat a competing job offer |
| Cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) | Tracks inflation | Meant to preserve, not grow, real pay |
Negotiating your next raise
- Research market pay for your role, level, and location using multiple salary data sources before you ask.
- Bring a concrete list of recent wins, metrics, or added responsibilities — vague requests get vague answers.
- Ask for a specific percentage or number rather than an open-ended "can I get more," and be ready to justify it.
- Consider timing: after a strong performance review, a completed project, or when taking on new scope are strong moments to ask.
- If the raise itself is capped, ask about bonus, equity, extra vacation, or a defined path to the next review.
Small raises compound over a career
Because each year's raise is applied to an already-larger salary, consistent raises compound rather than simply add up. Someone who gets 4% every year for 10 years ends up earning about 48% more than their starting salary, not 40%, purely from compounding. This is also why an early, larger jump in pay (a strong first negotiation, a well-timed job change) tends to have an outsized effect on lifetime earnings compared with the same total raise spread thinly over many years.