Hearing "you're getting a 5% raise" in a review meeting is a strange kind of good news — it's a real number, but it doesn't mean much until you translate it into your actual paycheck. This calculator does that translation instantly: enter your current salary and the percentage from your review, and see your new salary, the extra amount per year, per month, and per paycheck.
Raise percentages cluster into a few recognizable bands. Cost-of-living adjustments tend to sit around 2–3%, tracking (loosely) with inflation. Standard annual merit raises for solid performance typically run 3–5%. Raises above 5% usually signal either an exceptional review, a market-rate correction, or a title change — and a true promotion, which layers an extra step-change on top of the regular raise cycle, often lands in the 8–20% range for that specific year.
The annual figure is the one that gets said out loud, but it's the least useful one for day-to-day budgeting. $3,000 more a year sounds abstract; $250 more a month is something you can actually plan around — an extra debt payment, a bump in retirement contributions, or just breathing room. This calculator always shows both, plus the per-paycheck number for people paid biweekly.
The number that matters most, though, is the one most raise conversations skip entirely: how does this compare to inflation? A 5% raise against 3% inflation genuinely gets you ahead — about 1.9% in real terms. But the same 5% against 6% inflation would be a real pay cut, even though the number on your offer letter looks identical. Check your own raise against your own inflation assumption before deciding how to feel about it.
Once you know what the raise is actually worth, the more useful question is what to do with it. A common approach is to direct at least part of a raise toward something that compounds — bumping a retirement contribution percentage, paying down higher-interest debt faster, or building an emergency fund — before it quietly gets absorbed into everyday spending. Because most 401(k) and similar contributions are set as a percentage of salary, a raise often increases retirement savings automatically even without touching the contribution rate; see the Compound Interest Calculator to model what redirecting even a portion of a raise could grow into over time.
Frequently asked questions
Is a 5% raise good?
On a $60,000 salary, a 5% raise is $63,000 — $3,000 more a year, or $250 a month. That's above the typical 3–4% range most employees see in a given year, and against 3% inflation it leaves you about 1.9% ahead in real purchasing power, not just on paper.
How much is a 5% raise on $75,000?
A 5% raise on $75,000 is $78,750 — $3,750 more a year, or $312.50 a month. Enter your own salary in the calculator above for an exact figure.
What's a typical annual raise percentage?
Cost-of-living or standard-performance raises commonly run 3–4% in the US, tightening in high-inflation years and loosening when unemployment is low. Promotions or exceptional performance can push well past that — see the Promotion Raise Calculator for step-change increases layered on top of a regular raise.
How do I calculate a percentage raise?
New salary = current salary × (1 + raise% ÷ 100). A 5% raise on $60,000 is $60,000 × 1.05 = $63,000. The calculator above does this instantly and also breaks it down to a monthly and per-paycheck figure.
How much is a 5% raise per paycheck, biweekly?
On a $60,000 salary paid biweekly (26 paychecks a year), a 5% raise adds about $115.38 to each paycheck — the $3,000 annual raise amount divided across 26 pay periods rather than 12 months.
Worked examples
Worked example 1
The $60k standard-review scenario
$60,000 salary, 5% raise — a strong-performance annual review outcome.
New pay
$63,000
More per year
$3,000
A 5% raise on $60,000 lands at $63,000 — $3,000 more a year, $250 more a month.
Worked example 2
The same 5% at a higher starting salary
$75,000 salary, 5% raise — the same percentage, a bigger base.
New pay
$78,750
More per year
$3,750
The same 5% raise on $75,000 is worth $3,750 a year — proportionally identical to the $60k case, but a larger dollar amount since the base is larger.
What affects the result
The raise percentage itself
The single biggest lever — 3–4% is typical for cost-of-living or standard performance, 5%+ signals a stronger review or market adjustment.
Your starting salary
The same percentage is worth proportionally more in dollars at a higher base salary — a 5% raise means more on $100k than on $50k.
Inflation at the time of the raise
A raise that looks identical in percentage terms can be a real gain or a real pay cut entirely depending on what inflation is doing that year.
More questions answered
Should I negotiate a raise as a percentage or a dollar amount?
Either works, but percentages are easier to compare against typical bands (3–4% standard, 5%+ strong) and against inflation. If you negotiate a dollar figure instead, convert it to a percentage afterward using the Pay Raise Percentage Calculator to see how it stacks up.
Model assumptions & disclosures
Gross pay only — not take-home pay. Every figure on this page is gross (pre-tax) salary or wage. This calculator never computes net pay, withholding, or take-home amounts — those depend on your tax bracket, filing status, benefits elections, and location, none of which are modeled here.
Inflation is your estimate, not live data. This calculator never fetches a current or official inflation figure. The inflation rate is a user-editable input with a dated, static default — enter your own assumption, informed by your own situation or a published figure you trust, for the most relevant result.
Multi-year projections are a planning baseline, not a guarantee. Projections assume a perfectly steady annual raise rate (plus any promotion you explicitly model). Real careers rarely move in a straight line — raises can pause, accelerate, or be interrupted by a job change. Treat projected figures as a reference point for planning, not a prediction of your actual future pay.
Employer cost-of-living adjustments are not the Social Security COLA. The Cost of Living Raise Calculator models an employer-granted percentage you enter yourself. It is unrelated to, and does not use, the separate federally published Social Security cost-of-living adjustment, which applies to benefit payments under a different program entirely.
Not financial or career advice. This calculator provides illustrative estimates based on the inputs you enter. It does not account for your complete financial picture, your specific employer's policies, or your individual circumstances. Consult your employer's HR team, a financial advisor, or a tax professional before making decisions based on these figures.