Promotion Raise Calculator

Enter your salary and what the new title pays on the market — see the standard offer, the fair ask, and the gap they're hoping you won't mention.

Postings for the title, levels.fyi, or what external hires get.

The numbers on the table
Typical internal offer (8–15%)—
Market pays the new title—
Gap between those—
A defensible ask—
—

Company comp bands vary — the ask works best phrased against THEIR external-hire number, which HR has.

Promotion Raise Calculator — free from paycheckkit.com

</> Embed this calculator

Copy this code into your page. Free to use with the credit link.

advertisement

The promotion pay paradox

internal offer ≈ old salary × 1.08–1.15
market rate ≈ what the posting for your new title says

Both numbers are "the raise" depending on who's talking. The company prices your continuity; the market prices the role. The negotiation is simply making them price the role — which they already do, every time they hire the same title from outside.

A worked example

$95,000 promoted into a title the market pays $120,000: the standard internal offer lands at $103–109k, leaving an $11–17k gap. A defensible ask splits toward market — ~$114k — framed as: "external hires for this title come in around $120k; I'm asking to start at $114k given I skip the ramp-up." Concrete, checkable, and hard to refuse without admitting the two-door pricing.

If they can't move the base

Comp bands are real constraints; timing flexibility is the fallback: a written 6-month review to midpoint, a one-time bonus bridging the gap year one, or equity (price it properly). And run the long game through the job hopping calculator — a market-priced title is fuel either way.

Frequently asked questions

What's a typical promotion raise?

Internal promotions commonly come with 8–15% — meaningfully more than a merit raise, meaningfully less than what the open market pays for the same new title. That gap is the promotion pay paradox, and it's negotiable.

Why do internal promotions pay less than external hires?

Companies anchor your new pay to your old pay ('current salary + promo bump') while pricing outside hires against the market. Two people in identical roles can differ 15–25% purely by which door they came through.

How do I negotiate a promotion raise?

Anchor to the ROLE, not your history: 'what does this company pay externally hired [new title]s?' plus market postings for the title. Asking to be brought to the range's midpoint is reasonable and answerable — asking for 'more than 10%' is neither.

Should I take a promotion with a small raise?

Sometimes — the title itself has resale value: your NEXT move (internal or external) prices off it. A 6% bump today plus a market-priced title change in 18 months often beats holding out. Just take it knowingly, with the gap number in hand.

Related calculators

Pay Raise CalculatorSee your new salary after a percentage or dollar raise.PTO Payout CalculatorFind out what your unused vacation time is worth.Prorated Salary CalculatorPartial-month pay for a mid-month start or departure.Relocation Package CalculatorYour move itemized vs the package after taxes — and the gross-up ask.