Salary Calculators for Pay, Tax and Negotiation Decisions

The standard hourly-to-annual conversion uses 2,080 hours per year (40 hours × 52 weeks). Multiply your hourly rate by 2,080 to get annualized gross pay; divide annual salary by 2,080 to get an hourly equivalent. The 2,080 figure assumes paid time off — if you take 2 weeks unpaid, use 2,000; if you work 35-hour weeks (common in the UK and some EU contracts), use 1,820. For freelancers, divide your target annual income by billable hours only (typically 1,200–1,500 of the 2,080) to get a sustainable hourly rate. A freelancer wanting $100,000 in revenue at 1,400 billable hours needs $71/hour — not $48/hour as a naive 2,080-hour calculation suggests.

Effective tax rate is your total tax divided by total income — the average. Marginal tax rate is the bracket your next dollar falls into. The two diverge sharply at higher incomes. A US single filer earning $90,000 has an effective federal rate around 16% but a marginal rate of 24% (the 2024 bracket). Every dollar of a raise loses 24% to federal income tax, 7.65% to FICA, and (often) 4–9% to state tax — for a combined marginal hit of 35–40%. This is why a $10,000 raise feels like $6,500 after taxes, and why pre-tax retirement contributions (401(k), traditional IRA) are so valuable: a dollar deferred saves the full marginal rate now, not the lower effective rate.

Base salary is usually 60–80% of true total compensation. The rest hides in employer-paid items: 401(k) match (typically 3–6% of salary, ~$3,000–$6,000/year on a $100,000 job), health insurance ($8,000–$18,000/year employer-side for family coverage), HSA contributions, life and disability insurance, paid time off (worth 5–8% of base), bonus and equity. A $110,000 base with no match and minimal benefits can total $115,000; a $95,000 base with 6% match, premium health coverage and 15% bonus target can total $130,000. Always evaluate offers on a Total Compensation basis using a structured calculator, not on base salary alone.

Cost-of-living indices express the relative price of a standard basket of goods (housing, food, transport, healthcare). Indexed to US average = 100, San Francisco runs around 244, NYC 187, Boston 162, Austin 119, Boise 98, and rural Mississippi ~85. Equivalent salary scales linearly with the index ratio: $80,000 in a 100 city = $80,000 × (244/100) = $195,200 in San Francisco for the same lifestyle. The same math applies internationally — but currency conversion plus tax-system differences mean you need an international salary comparison tool to do it correctly. Housing is the single biggest variable; some calculators allow you to weight the index to reflect remote work (no commute) or family size (different housing needs).