Job Offer Comparison Calculator

Why Base Salary Is Not the Whole Story A higher base salary can easily be offset by higher health insurance premiums, a longer commute, or a weaker retirement match. True total compensation accounts for every dollar in and every dollar out.

Total Compensation Formula Total Comp = Base Salary + Annual Bonus + Employer 401k Match - Annual Health Premiums - Annual Commute Cost

This gives you an apples-to-apples comparison between any two offers.

Employer 401k Match If Job 1 offers a 4% match on a $85,000 salary, that is $3,400 per year of free retirement savings. A job that pays $3,000 less but offers a 4% match versus no match may actually be worth more.

Commute Cost Monthly commute includes gas, tolls, parking, wear on your vehicle, or public transit passes. A $200/month commute costs $2,400 a year, which is more than a $1/hour raise is worth to a full-time worker. And you pay it with after-tax money, so it really costs closer to $3,200 of salary.

Effective Hourly Rate Total compensation divided by 2,080 working hours gives you a true apples-to-apples hourly rate. This is useful when comparing full-time offers with different bonus structures.

What This Calculator Does Not Include

• Paid time off (each extra week of PTO is roughly 1.9% of salary, since a work year is 52 weeks)
• State income tax, which is the biggest omission here. The same $100,000 nets thousands more in Texas or Florida than in California or New York, and no amount of 401k match closes a gap that size.
• Remote work savings, which are larger than the commute line suggests once you count lunches, clothes and a second car
• Stock options or equity grants, which at some companies are most of the offer
• Career growth, job title, and whether the work leads anywhere
• Work-life balance and company culture, which nobody can quantify and everybody eventually decides on