Raise Ask Calculator

Because a "typical" 3% raise is the floor for someone whose situation has not changed since last year. If you have gone 18+ months without an increase, taken on more scope, or sit below the market median, the math says the gap to fair pay is larger than a single year of merit. The three-card output is built to surface that gap, not predict what your employer will say yes to. The walkaway figure is your inflation-only floor: everything above it reflects the additional levers the calculator found.

The most reliable free sources are Levels.fyi (especially strong for tech), Glassdoor, Payscale, and the BLS Occupational Employment Statistics dataset. Filter by your specific title, years of experience, and metro area: national medians can be misleading by 20%+ in either direction. If your role is rare, check what similar roles pay and triangulate. Even a rough number is far better than leaving the field blank.

Pivot the conversation to total compensation. A one-time bonus, accelerated review timeline (six months instead of twelve), title change, expanded equity grant, or additional PTO can all close part of the gap without touching base pay budget. Title and scope changes are particularly valuable because they reset the baseline for the next conversation. If none of that moves either, the walkaway number tells you when staying is costing you real money in inflation-adjusted terms.

Because the benchmarks overlap. The "typical progression" rate already contains some inflation, and the market median already prices in tenure and scope to some extent. Summing them would double-count the same dollars and produce a number you couldn't defend in a meeting. Taking the maximum stays conservative: the strongest single argument becomes the baseline, and your performance multiplier is the only thing that scales on top of it.

Use what your last formal review actually said, not what you wish it said. Walking into a raise conversation claiming "exceeds" when your file shows "meets" undermines every other argument you make. If you genuinely believe your performance has improved since your last review, the right move is to document it and get it formally recognized first: then come back for the raise conversation with the new rating in hand.

It does not model your employer's budget cycle, internal pay bands, your manager's discretion, or the broader hiring market for replacements. It does not weigh non-monetary factors like remote flexibility, project ownership, or career trajectory. And it cannot account for company-specific factors like a recent layoff, a hiring freeze, or a pending acquisition: all of which can override the math entirely. Use the output as your defensible opening, not as a prediction of what you will get.