Your raise in every pay period
$55,000.00 a year with a 3.5% raise, at 40 hours a week.
| Pay period | Now | After | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Per year | $55,000.00 | $56,925.00 | +$1,925.00 |
| Per month | $4,583.33 | $4,743.75 | +$160.42 |
| Twice a month | $2,291.67 | $2,371.88 | +$80.21 |
| Every two weeks | $2,115.38 | $2,189.42 | +$74.04 |
| Per week | $1,057.69 | $1,094.71 | +$37.02 |
| Per hour | $26.44 | $27.37 | +$0.93 |
All figures are before taxes and deductions. A year is counted as 52 weeks, 26 two-week pay periods, 24 twice-monthly pay periods and 12 months.
Results are estimates of pay before taxes. They are not financial, tax or legal advice.
The pay raise formulas
The percent is always measured against the pay you had before. That is why a $2,000 raise is 4% for someone earning $50,000 and only 2% for someone earning $100,000.
Worked examples
A 3.5% raise on a $55,000 salary
55,000 × 0.035 = $1,925 more a year, so the new salary is $56,925. Spread over the year, that is $160.42 more a month or $74.04 more in each two-week paycheck, before taxes.
An hourly raise
$22.50 an hour with a 4% raise becomes 22.50 × 1.04 = $23.40, which is 90 cents more. At 40 hours a week, yearly pay goes from 22.50 × 2,080 = $46,800 to 23.40 × 2,080 = $48,672, an increase of $1,872.
Finding the percent from two salaries
An offer takes you from $62,000 to $65,500. The difference is $3,500, and 3,500 ÷ 62,000 = 0.05645, so the raise is 5.65%.
What a raise is worth on $60,000
How much more a raise adds to a $60,000 salary, by pay period:
| Raise | A year | A month | Two weeks |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2% | $1,200 | $100.00 | $46.15 |
| 3% | $1,800 | $150.00 | $69.23 |
| 4% | $2,400 | $200.00 | $92.31 |
| 5% | $3,000 | $250.00 | $115.38 |
| 10% | $6,000 | $500.00 | $230.77 |
These are amounts before tax. What reaches your bank account is smaller, because the extra pay is taxed at your highest rate.
A raise after inflation
A raise only makes you better off if it is bigger than the rise in prices over the same time. The exact comparison divides one growth factor by the other:
With a 4% raise and 3% inflation: 1.04 ÷ 1.03 − 1 = 0.97%. Your pay buys about 1% more than it did. With a 3% raise and 5% inflation: 1.03 ÷ 1.05 − 1 = −1.90%. Your pay went up, yet it buys less.
For the inflation figure, use the change in the Consumer Price Index since your pay last changed. The Bureau of Labor Statistics has a CPI inflation calculator that gives it for any two months.
Raises build on each other
Each raise is a percentage of pay that already includes the earlier ones. Three raises of 3% lift a $50,000 salary to 50,000 × 1.03³ = $54,636.35, a total rise of 9.27%, not 9%. Over a career that compounding is worth far more than it looks in any single year, which is why a raise missed early on is costly. The percentage increase calculator shows how changes in a row combine.
Questions people ask
How do I calculate a pay raise percentage?
Subtract your old pay from your new pay, divide by the old pay and multiply by 100. Going from $62,000 to $65,500 is 3,500 ÷ 62,000 × 100 = 5.65%.
What is a 3% raise on $20 an hour?
20 × 1.03 = $20.60 an hour, which is 60 cents more. At 40 hours a week for 52 weeks that is $1,248 more a year before taxes.
How much more will be in my paycheck?
Less than the raise itself, because the extra pay is taxed. This calculator shows pay before taxes and deductions. How much you keep depends on your tax bracket, your state and what comes out for benefits.
Is my raise keeping up with inflation?
Compare it with how much prices rose over the same period. A 4% raise when prices rose 3% leaves you about 0.97% better off; a 3% raise when prices rose 5% leaves you about 1.9% worse off. Enter the inflation figure to see this worked out. The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes the Consumer Price Index every month.
Why does the hourly figure use 2,080 hours?
Because 40 hours a week × 52 weeks is 2,080 hours, the usual way to turn a salary into an hourly rate. Change “Hours a week” if you work a different schedule. Some employers use a slightly different figure: US federal agencies divide yearly pay by 2,087 hours, as set by law (5 U.S.C. 5504) and explained in an OPM fact sheet.
How do I work out a raise for part-time hours?
Set “Paid” to Hourly, enter your hourly rate and change “Hours a week” to what you normally work. The yearly and monthly figures are then based on your own hours.