Six questions. You get a percentage you can defend, your gap against the market, and what to say when you ask.
Pick the closest match. We map it to a market band.
One budget funds four different increases, and each has a different number and a different approver. Asking the wrong person for the wrong kind is how a good case stalls.
| Type | What triggers it | Typical 2026 range | Who approves it | How often |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cost-of-living adjustment | General price movement, applied across the board | Folded into the total budget, often 0% as a separate line | Finance and HR, set at company level | Annually, if at all |
| Merit increase | Your performance rating in the review cycle | 3.2% median budget, individual awards 0% to 12% | Your direct manager, from a fixed pool | Once a year, in the review cycle |
| Market adjustment | Benchmark data showing you are paid below market | Sized to close the measured gap, off-cycle | The compensation team, with finance sign-off | Ad hoc, when benchmark data refreshes |
| Promotion | A move to a higher level or wider scope | 8.7% average, for the few slated for promotion | Manager plus skip-level or HR, against an open level | When a role opens or headcount allows |
Most employers spread merit budgets fairly evenly rather than concentrating them on top performers, which is exactly why a specific evidenced ask stands out. Promotion runs on a separate track and usually needs a plan built months ahead. Figures from Mercer and SHRM.
Book one session with someone who approves raises for a living. Run your ask past them before you send the invite.
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Every step is shown, so you can argue with it.
Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Step 4
These are the same benchmarks as our salary guides: modelled by role, seniority and location rather than pulled from a live survey. Location factors are estimates of how far a market sits from the US average, and the broad regional options are rougher than the city ones. All figures in USD. Check the result against offers you have actually seen.
A raise is one multiplication. Step three is the one people skip, and it is the number that carries the conversation.
Run it backwards. In most real conversations the employer says a figure first, and $4,000 reads as generous until it turns into 4.8% against a 3% year.
Enter both figures to see the percentage.
The number is a third of the job. This is the rest of it.
Step 1
Ask your manager when compensation is decided, then start the conversation six to eight weeks before that date.
Step 2
Three to five things you have owned since your last raise, with a number attached to each one.
Step 3
A range invites your manager to pick the bottom of it.
Step 4
It is usually a holding answer rather than a decision, so ask what happens next instead of negotiating against yourself.
Step 5
Including a no, which then becomes the written criteria for the next conversation.
At or near the market midpoint, 3% to 5% is a normal merit ask. Below market for your role and level, 8% to 15% is common. Past roughly 20% you are asking for a promotion or a market adjustment, which takes a different approval path.
Yes. Whoever names a number sets the anchor, and if you leave it to your manager the anchor will be the smallest increase they think you will accept. Give one specific figure rather than a range, because a range invites them to pick the bottom of it.
Treat it as a constraint, not a rejection, and ask what is available instead: a title change, a written review date, a one-off payment, more equity. Then agree what would need to be true next cycle and put it in writing.
No, and using one as a threat can damage the relationship even when it works. Outside interest shows the market rates you above your band, but it is a clear record of scope and results that survives a calibration meeting.
Accurate enough to open with, not to sign on. The benchmarks are modelled by role, seniority and location, the same figures behind our salary guides. They know nothing about your budget cycle, your equity or your performance rating, so check the number against offers you have seen.
3% is the standard annual merit increase. It roughly keeps pace with inflation and does nothing to close a gap. Fine if you are already at market and your scope has not changed. Poor if you have taken on materially more since your last increase.
At least once a year, usually tied to a review or budget cycle. Past 18 months your real pay has gone backwards once inflation is accounted for.
Six to eight weeks before compensation decisions are made, which is usually well before they are announced. Ask your manager when the budget is set and work backwards from that. Asking the week after budgets are locked is the most common way a strong case gets a "not right now".
Asking once, with evidence, is a normal part of working life and rarely does harm. What creates friction is an ultimatum you are not willing to act on, or an argument built on your rent rather than your work.
If your gap is small, ask for the raise. It is a simpler decision with fewer approvers. If you are already paid above the band for your title, a raise will hit the ceiling of that band, so the real conversation is a promotion.
Do not renegotiate in the room. Ask what would need to change, who else decides, and agree a date to revisit it. Send a short summary the same day. A no with a documented path beats a vague yes you cannot refer back to.
No, it shows gross pay, the figure before income tax and payroll withholding come off. In the US, multiply the increase by about 0.70 for a rough take-home estimate: a 22% marginal federal rate plus 7.65% in Social Security and Medicare, with state tax and benefit deductions on top of that.
Multiply the current salary by 1.05. On $60,000 that gives $63,000, an increase of $3,000 a year or $250 a month before tax. The same multiplication covers every percentage, so 7% is a multiplier of 1.07.
The same way. Multiply the hourly rate by 1 plus the percentage, so 4% on $28 an hour gives $29.12, or $60,570 across 2,080 hours. One honest limit: the role benchmarks here are built for salaried work, so hourly workers should treat the market comparison as rough.
It depends on where your salary sits and how long you plan to stay. A flat $2,000 is worth 4% on a $50,000 salary and 2% on a $100,000 one. Percentage raises compound off the new base every cycle; flat raises restart from zero.
Yes, run the arithmetic backwards. A drop from $70,000 to $66,500 is a 5% cut, and the same maths covers reduced hours or a lower contract rate. A cut tied to a restructure is a different problem from one tied to performance, and worth talking through with someone.
Internal raises are capped by budget bands, so a gap over about a third rarely closes in one conversation however good your case is. Small gap, negotiate. Large gap, ask anyway because it costs little and sets the record, but start looking in parallel.
A career test, a raise number, a freelance rate, and a LinkedIn headline. Use the one that matches the conversation you are in.
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Take the testThe hourly and day rate that covers take-home, expenses, unbilled time and tax.
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The calculator gives you the figure and the words. A mentor helps you hold the number when it gets uncomfortable.
