Career decisions

Job Offer Comparison Calculator

Compare two to four jobs across gross compensation, time, work costs and personal priorities. Then estimate the salary, signing bonus or annual cash needed for one offer to match another.

Gross, before-tax valuesRuns in your browserNo data saved
Comparison settings
Personal-priority weights
Compensation Needed to Match

Optional: find the compensation needed for one offer to reach another offer’s cumulative adjusted value.

Pay and schedule
Bonuses and fixed cash

Recurring guaranteed cash

Variable compensation

Variable compensation 1

One-time payments

Retirement and benefits
Equity

Equity is an estimated, non-guaranteed value and may become worth less or nothing.

Commute and work costs
Personal priorities

This calculator provides estimates based solely on the values and assumptions you enter. Bonuses, commissions, employer contributions, benefits and equity may change and may depend on eligibility, vesting, plan rules and employer policies. Adjusted job value is not take-home pay and does not account for taxes or every personal expense. Personal priority scores are subjective. Results do not constitute financial, tax, legal or employment advice.

Guide

How to compare job offers beyond salary

Expected vs target compensation

Target compensation uses each plan’s stated variable-pay target. Expected compensation applies the attainment percentage you enter. Neither should be presented as guaranteed.

Recurring compensation vs Year 1 compensation

Signing and relocation payments can create a temporary Year 1 lead. Recurring compensation removes one-time cash so the ongoing package is visible.

Benefits and retirement match

Employer-paid insurance, HSA funding, and retirement contributions can materially change package value. Employee retirement contributions are shown only as context and are not employer compensation.

How equity vesting changes multi-year value

Equity is allocated by the custom vesting schedule, not the headline grant amount. Value outside the selected horizon is not pulled forward, and actual equity value may fall or become zero.

Why commute time and work costs matter

Office days drive commute time and daily travel costs. Childcare and recurring work expenses are modeled separately from compensation so you can see both gross package value and estimated costs.

How to compare PTO and working hours

Paid leave is already included in salary, so it is not added twice. It reduces estimated worked hours; unpaid extra hours, commute, and other work time increase total job time.

What adjusted job value means

Adjusted job value subtracts estimated out-of-pocket work costs and applicable transition costs from gross compensation. It combines different kinds of estimates and is not take-home pay.

Financial value vs personal priorities

Personal priority scores use only your factor weights and offer scores. They stay separate from dollars because flexibility, growth, interest, stability, team confidence, and work-life fit are subjective.

What the calculator does not include

It does not calculate taxes, take-home pay, stock-price changes, option strike prices, exercise costs, or automatic estimates for forfeited bonus or equity. Verify plan rules and offer terms independently.

Salary needed to match another offer

Enable Compensation Needed to Match and choose Base Salary. The calculator reruns the selected offer until its cumulative adjusted monetary value reaches the target over the same horizon.

Why the answer differs from the value gap

Higher salary can also increase percentage bonuses, employer retirement contributions and future-year salary. Fixed bonuses and fixed benefits stay at their entered values.

Signing bonus versus recurring cash

The signing-bonus option adds a one-time payment in Year 1. The recurring option adds cash in every year of the selected horizon. Both use the same adjusted-value engine, including entered benefits, costs and equity vesting.

Worked examples

What salary would match?

Salary versus benefits

A lower-salary offer includes employer-paid health coverage; the other offer starts with higher salary but no modeled benefits.

Benefits-rich offer: $100,000 base salary. Higher-salary offer: $105,000 base salary.

Approximately $112,000 base salary would bring Higher-salary offer to Benefits-rich offer's cumulative adjusted value over three years under these inputs.

Remote versus office

The office offer starts with higher salary, while the remote offer avoids modeled commuting costs.

Remote offer: $100,000 base salary. Office offer: $105,000 base salary.

Approximately $112,760 base salary would bring Office offer to Remote offer's cumulative adjusted value over three years under these inputs.

Transparent math

Methodology

Annual compensation

Salary compounds by the entered increase. Active fixed cash, expected and target variable pay, one-time payments, employer retirement, benefits, and vested equity are calculated for each year.

Time and cost

Working weeks account for PTO and holidays. Office days determine commute time and daily costs. Recurring effective hourly metrics exclude one-time payments and transition costs.

Projection and baseline

Cumulative results sum annual values over one to five years. Differences and break-even status use the separately selected baseline offer.

Common questions

Job offer comparison FAQ

How much salary do I need to match another job offer?

Enable Compensation Needed to Match, select the offer to improve and the offer to match, then choose Base Salary. The calculator searches for a salary that makes their cumulative adjusted job values equal over your selected horizon.

How do benefits affect the salary needed to match an offer?

Employer-paid benefits enter each offer's adjusted value in the years they apply. Stronger benefits on the target offer can raise the salary needed by the offer you improve.

Does the calculator include bonuses?

Yes. Expected variable compensation uses your attainment assumption. A percentage-based bonus changes when base salary changes; a fixed-dollar bonus does not.

Does the calculator include equity?

Yes. Estimated equity value enters the years specified by the vesting schedule, within the selected comparison horizon.

Does employer retirement matching change the required salary?

Yes. The base salary search reruns employer match and nonelective contributions using the same eligibility cap and rates as the main comparison.

How does a signing bonus compare with higher salary?

The signing-bonus match adds a payment in Year 1. A base salary increase recurs and may also change percentage bonuses and employer retirement contributions.

How does the comparison period affect a signing bonus?

A Year 1 signing bonus is counted once. Salary and additional annual compensation repeat across the selected one-to-five-year horizon, so a longer horizon can require a larger one-time bonus for the same recurring gap.

Can I calculate the salary needed to offset commute costs?

Yes. Enter office days and commuting expenses for each offer, then use the base salary match. Modeled work costs reduce cumulative adjusted value.

Can I compare a remote job with an office job?

Yes. Set office days to zero for the remote offer and enter the office offer's commute and work costs. Commute time affects hourly metrics, while monetary commute costs affect the compensation match.

Why isn't required salary equal to the compensation gap?

A salary change can also change percentage bonuses, employer retirement contributions, and future-year salary increases. The solver reruns the full offer calculation for each candidate salary.

Does the calculator include working hours?

Yes. It displays adjusted effective hourly value using work and commute time. The compensation match itself uses cumulative adjusted monetary value, not the hourly metric.

Can I compare more than two offers?

Yes. Compare two to four offers, then select any two different offers for the optional compensation match.

What happens if the selected offer is already ahead?

The match reports that no additional compensation is required. It never recommends a negative salary or signing bonus.

Is the result pre-tax or after-tax?

It is a before-tax estimate. Adjusted value subtracts entered work and transition costs from gross compensation but does not calculate taxes or take-home pay.

Does the calculator predict future equity value?

No. It allocates your estimated grant value according to the entered vesting schedule. Actual stock or option value can change substantially.

How should I compare two job offers?

Compare recurring and one-time cash, employer-paid benefits, retirement contributions, equity vesting, paid leave, time commitment, work costs, transition costs, and the personal priorities that matter to you. Keep uncertain assumptions separate from guaranteed amounts.

Is a signing bonus recurring compensation?

No. A signing bonus is included only in its payment year and is excluded from recurring compensation and recurring effective hourly values.

How should I value employer benefits?

Enter only the amount paid by the employer. Use plan or offer documents when available, and do not include employee payroll deductions as employer-provided value.

How does a 401(k) match affect an offer?

The calculator applies up to two sequential match tiers to eligible compensation and the employee contribution percentage you enter. It adds employer contributions but does not add the employee's own contribution to compensation.

How should I compare equity compensation?

Enter an estimated grant value and annual vesting schedule. Compare the value that vests within the same horizon, while recognizing that equity is uncertain and may become worth less or nothing.

Why does commute time affect hourly value?

Commute and other work-related time increase the total time committed to a job. Recurring compensation divided by that larger time commitment produces a lower effective hourly value.

Does adjusted job value mean take-home pay?

No. Adjusted job value subtracts estimated work and transition costs from gross compensation before taxes. It is not net income and does not estimate payroll withholding or tax liability.

How are transition costs handled?

User-entered transition costs apply only in the selected year and are shown separately from employer reimbursements. They affect adjusted job value but not recurring effective hourly values.

Can the highest salary still be the lower-value offer?

Yes. Bonuses, retirement contributions, employer-paid benefits, equity vesting, work costs, and time commitment can make the offer with the highest base salary lower on another metric.

Does this calculator include taxes?

No. All compensation results are gross, before taxes. The calculator does not estimate take-home pay.