{"id":1389,"date":"2026-10-02T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-02T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thenesttools.com\/blog\/how-to-calculate-a-raise-percentage\/"},"modified":"2026-10-02T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T00:00:00","slug":"how-to-calculate-a-raise-percentage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thenesttools.com\/blog\/how-to-calculate-a-raise-percentage\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Calculate a Raise Percentage"},"content":{"rendered":"

To calculate a raise percentage, subtract your old salary from your new salary, divide by the old salary and multiply by 100: from $52,000 to $55,640 is $3,640 \u00f7 $52,000 \u00d7 100 = 7%.<\/strong> The same works for hourly pay: $20 to $21.50 is a 7.5% raise. To find your new salary from a raise percentage, multiply: $52,000 \u00d7 1.07 = $55,640.<\/p>\n

The Raise Formulas<\/h2>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
You know<\/th>\nYou want<\/th>\nFormula<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
Old and new pay<\/td>\nRaise %<\/td>\n(New \u2212 Old) \u00f7 Old \u00d7 100<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Old pay and raise %<\/td>\nNew pay<\/td>\nOld \u00d7 (1 + raise \u00f7 100)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
New pay and raise %<\/td>\nOld pay<\/td>\nNew \u00f7 (1 + raise \u00f7 100)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Old pay and raise %<\/td>\nRaise amount<\/td>\nOld \u00d7 raise \u00f7 100<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Enter any two salaries in the free Percentage Increase Calculator<\/a> to get the exact raise percentage.<\/p>\n

Examples<\/h2>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Old pay<\/th>\nNew pay<\/th>\nRaise<\/th>\n%<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
$45,000 a year<\/td>\n$46,800<\/td>\n$1,800<\/td>\n4.0%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
$60,000 a year<\/td>\n$63,000<\/td>\n$3,000<\/td>\n5.0%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
$75,000 a year<\/td>\n$82,500<\/td>\n$7,500<\/td>\n10.0%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
$18.00 an hour<\/td>\n$19.25<\/td>\n$1.25<\/td>\n6.9%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
$4,000 a month<\/td>\n$4,300<\/td>\n$300<\/td>\n7.5%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

What a Raise Means Per Paycheck<\/h2>\n

A 5% raise on $60,000 is $3,000 a year before tax, which is $250 a month, about $115 per biweekly paycheck, or roughly $1.44 an hour. After tax, the take-home increase is smaller. Convert any salary between yearly, monthly, weekly and hourly with the Salary to Hourly Converter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Is Your Raise Beating Inflation?<\/h2>\n

Your real<\/strong> raise is roughly your raise minus inflation. A 4% raise in a year with 3% inflation is only about a 1% gain in buying power; a 2% raise with 3% inflation is a pay cut in real terms. More precisely: real raise = (1 + raise) \u00f7 (1 + inflation) \u2212 1. See is your raise beating inflation.<\/p>\n

What Is a Typical Raise?<\/h2>\n

In the US, annual merit raises have typically averaged around 3% to 4% in recent years, with higher increases for promotions (often 10% or more) and job changes. A raise well above the average usually reflects a promotion, a market adjustment or strong performance. More in what is a good raise percentage.<\/p>\n

Common Mistakes<\/h2>\n
    \n
  • Dividing by the new salary:<\/strong> always divide by the old salary.<\/li>\n
  • Comparing gross with net:<\/strong> compare like with like, gross to gross or take-home to take-home.<\/li>\n
  • Adding raises together:<\/strong> two 5% raises in two years make 10.25%, not 10%.<\/li>\n
  • Ignoring hours:<\/strong> a higher salary with longer hours may be a smaller hourly raise.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Negotiating With the Numbers<\/h2>\n

    Before a salary review, work out three numbers: your current pay, the inflation rate for the past year, and what similar roles pay in your area. If inflation was 3% and the market rate is 8% above your pay, asking for 6\u20138% is reasonable and easy to justify. Show the calculation clearly: “A 7% raise takes me from $56,000 to $59,920, which brings me in line with the market rate for this role.” Specific numbers are more persuasive than a general request for “more”.<\/p>\n

    Frequently Asked Questions<\/h2>\n

    How do I calculate a raise percentage?<\/h3>\n

    (New pay \u2212 old pay) \u00f7 old pay \u00d7 100. From $50,000 to $53,000 is 6%.<\/p>\n

    How do I calculate a 3% raise?<\/h3>\n

    Multiply your salary by 1.03. $48,000 becomes $49,440, a raise of $1,440.<\/p>\n

    How much is a 10% raise per hour?<\/h3>\n

    Multiply your hourly rate by 1.10. At $22 an hour, a 10% raise brings it to $24.20.<\/p>\n

    Is a 5% raise good?<\/h3>\n

    Generally yes, if it beats inflation. It’s above a typical annual merit raise in many recent years.<\/p>\n

    How do I calculate a raise for hourly pay?<\/h3>\n

    Use the same formula with hourly rates: (new rate \u2212 old rate) \u00f7 old rate \u00d7 100. From $16.50 to $17.75 an hour is a 7.6% raise.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Raise % = (new pay – old pay) \/ old pay x 100. Formulas, examples, per-paycheck impact, inflation and typical raises.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1388,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-percentages-shopping-math"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenesttools.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenesttools.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenesttools.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenesttools.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenesttools.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1389"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thenesttools.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1389\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenesttools.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenesttools.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenesttools.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenesttools.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}