Pay Raise Calculator

Got a raise — or negotiating one? Type in your pay and the raise, and see what actually changes in your paycheck after federal taxes. The headline raise is never the whole story.

Why you keep less than the headline raise

Every extra dollar you earn is taxed at your highest federal bracket — plus 7.65% for Social Security and Medicare on top. So a raise that crosses into the 22% bracket, for example, loses about 30 cents of each extra dollar to federal taxes before it reaches you. The good news: only the raise is taxed at that top rate, not your whole paycheck. A raise can never make your take-home pay go down just by pushing you into a higher bracket.

How this calculator works

We run your current pay and your post-raise pay through the same paycheck math — IRS Publication 15-T (2026) federal withholding plus Social Security and Medicare — and compare the two results, per paycheck and per year. State tax is not included: if your state has an income tax, your real extra take-home will be a little smaller than shown here. For a full picture in your state, use the state paycheck calculators (for example Texas).

Common questions

I'm hourly — how do I enter a raise like "$1.50 more an hour"?
Choose "Hourly" for how you're paid, then "A dollar amount" for the raise, and enter 1.50. The dollar raise is per hour in hourly mode, and per year in salary mode.

My raise is a percentage of my current pay — is that what this assumes?
Yes. A 5% raise on a $60,000 salary is a new salary of $63,000.

What about a bigger 401(k) contribution after the raise?
If you raise your contribution too, enter the new pre-tax amount — the calculator applies the same amount to both the "now" and "after" paychecks, so the comparison stays about the raise itself.

Estimate for general information only — not tax, legal, or financial advice. Federal method: IRS Publication 15-T (2026). Social Security wage base 2026: $184,500 (SSA). State income tax is not included in this comparison. See our methodology & sources.