Pay Rise Calculator
See how much more you take home from a pay rise or raise after tax, and whether it beats inflation. UK 2026/27 and US 2026 rules.
Reviewed by Dany, RightSums team · Updated
Runs in your browser. Free, no sign-up.
salary-tax · Daily life · UK & US
Enter your pay and the rise you have been offered, as a percentage, a new salary or a flat amount, and see what actually reaches your bank account. The calculator works out take-home before and after the rise with the same UK 2026/27 and US 2026 rules as our salary tools, then shows the extra a year, a month and a week and how much of each £1 or $1 you keep. It compares the rise with the latest official inflation figure, ONS CPI for the UK and BLS CPI-U for the US, and tells you the salary you would need just to stand still. It also flags the UK £100,000 allowance taper, the Child Benefit charge and the US Social Security wage base when your rise crosses them.
Accepted inputs
- Current pay: yearly salary, or hourly rate with hours a week
- The rise as a percentage, a new salary or rate, or a flat amount
- Inflation rate, prefilled with the latest ONS CPI or BLS CPI-U figure
- Country: UK or US
- UK: Scotland, student loan plan, pension percentage, Child Benefit claim and number of children
- US: filing status, state and pre-tax 401(k) percentage
Outputs
- Extra take-home a year, a month and a week
- Share of the rise you keep after tax and deductions
- Take-home before and after the rise
- Where the rise goes: tax, National Insurance or FICA, pension, student loan
- Rise after inflation in real terms
- Salary needed just to keep up with inflation
- Warnings for the £100,000 taper, the Child Benefit charge and the Social Security wage base
How to use the Pay Rise Calculator
- Enter your current pay before tax, either as a yearly salary or an hourly rate with your hours a week.
- Add the rise as a percentage, as your new salary or as a flat amount, and pick the UK or US along with any student loan, pension, filing status or state.
- The calculator works out your take-home at both salaries with the 2026/27 UK or 2026 US rules and shows the difference a year, a month and a week.
- It then adjusts the rise for the latest official inflation figure to show whether the rise is a real rise, and warns you when it crosses a threshold that takes more of it.
Frequently asked questions
How much of a pay rise do I actually keep?
Usually between half and four fifths of it. On £35,000 a 3% rise is £1,050, and you keep £756 a year, or £63 a month, because 20% Income Tax and 8% National Insurance come off. In the US a 4% raise on $60,000, filing single in a state with no income tax, keeps $1,928.40 of $2,400.
Is a 3% pay rise a real rise?
Not at the moment. UK CPI inflation was 3.1% in the 12 months to August 2026, so a 3% rise is a real cut of about 0.1%. On £35,000 you would need £36,085 just to keep pace. In the US, CPI-U was 3.4% over the same period, so a 3% raise also falls short.
What is a good pay rise?
One that beats inflation and average pay growth. The ONS says regular pay in Great Britain grew 3.5% a year in May to July 2026. In the US, the BLS Employment Cost Index shows wages and salaries up 3.2% in the 12 months to June 2026. A rise below those means you are falling behind.
How do I work out a percentage pay rise?
Take the new salary, subtract the old one, divide by the old one and multiply by 100. Going from £48,000 to £52,000 is £4,000 ÷ £48,000 × 100 = 8.3%. To go the other way, multiply your salary by 1 plus the rise, so £35,000 × 1.03 = £36,050.
Why did my take-home go up less than my rise?
Tax, National Insurance, student loan and pension all come off the extra pay at your top rates. From £95,000 to £105,000 you keep only £4,800 of £10,000, because above £100,000 you lose £1 of Personal Allowance for every £2, so that slice is taxed at an effective 60% plus 2% NI.
Sources
The rates and rules in this tool come from:
- ONS: Consumer price inflation, UK
- US Bureau of Labor Statistics: Cpi.nr0
- GOV.UK: Income Tax rates and Personal Allowances : Current rates and allowances
- GOV.UK: High Income Child Benefit Charge: Overview
- GOV.UK: Child Benefit: What you'll get
- GOV.UK: Personal Allowances: adjusted net income
- GOV.UK: Salary sacrifice for employers
- IRS: Topic no. 751, Social Security and Medicare withholding rates
- GOV.UK: Tax codes: What your tax code means
- GOV.UK: Tax codes: Emergency tax codes
- GOV.UK: Tax codes: If you have a K in your tax code
- GOV.UK: Tax codes: If you think your tax code is wrong
- GOV.UK: PAYE11015 - Coding: codes: how they are used and calculated: codes for special cases -…
Guides that use this tool
Terms explained
- Marginal tax rate: Your marginal tax rate is the share of your next pound or dollar of income that goes in tax and deductions.
Related tools
- UK Take-Home Pay Calculator
Work out your UK take-home pay after Income Tax, National Insurance, pension and student loan for 2026/27, per year, month and week.
- US Paycheck Calculator
Estimate US take-home pay per paycheck after 2026 federal tax, Social Security, Medicare, 401(k), state income tax and state payroll deductions such as SDI.
- Percentage Calculator
Work out X% of a number, what percentage one number is of another, percentage increase or decrease, and a discounted price.
- Salary to Hourly Calculator
Convert an annual salary, monthly pay or hourly wage into hourly, weekly, monthly and yearly figures, based on the hours you work each week.
- Pro Rata Salary Calculator
Work out your pro rata salary from a full-time figure by hours or days a week, with monthly and weekly pay and pay for part of a year.
- Bonus Tax Calculator
Work out how much of a UK bonus you keep after Income Tax, National Insurance and student loan in 2026/27, and what your payslip looks like the month it is paid.