Skip to content

Written Offer and Salary Comparison

Compare two written offers with guaranteed pay, sign-on cash, uncertain bonuses and costs kept separate, or model comparable cost indices.

Use this result well

Inputs that matter
Offer A annual base salary, Offer A guaranteed recurring cash, Offer A one-time sign-on cash, Offer A uncertain annual bonus, and 12 more
Output to expect
Compare written offers, Salary and entered cost index
  • Check the units and required inputs before comparing results.
  • Keep the assumptions with a copied result so you can reproduce the calculation later.
Was this tool helpful?

Related Tools

Tools you might need next

Living Budget and Cost Index Comparison

Compare two entered monthly living budgets by expense category, or scale a current expense basket with an explicitly entered cost-index ratio.

Recommended next stepCareer
Salary Raise Scenario Calculator

Calculate a proposed annual salary increase and apply an entered incremental tax assumption to the added pay, with clear annual and monthly amounts.

Recommended next stepCareer
Paycheck Calculator

Reconcile one pay statement exactly from its printed gross pay, tax withholding, pre-tax deductions, and after-tax deductions.

Recommended next stepFinance Extended

Reference & details

How it works

Guaranteed cash

Base and guaranteed recurring cash use the same annual period.

Recurring guaranteed cash = base + guaranteed recurring cash

One-time and uncertain amounts

Sign-on is counted once in the first year. Uncertain bonuses, benefits and costs remain visible separately.

First-year guaranteed gross cash = recurring guaranteed cash + sign-on

Index alternative

Use comparable indices. The scenario is not a city lookup or a full budget.

Index-equivalent destination salary = current salary × destination index ÷ current index

Updated: September 2026

Example Scenarios

A has $90,000 recurring gross and $5,000 sign-on. B has $96,000 recurring gross and no sign-on.

→ B − A is $6,000 recurring gross, but $1,000 for the first year.

Change A’s uncertain bonus from $8,000 to $20,000 while guaranteed amounts remain fixed.

→ Guaranteed recurring and first-year comparisons are unchanged.

A $90,000 current gross salary, current index 100 and destination index 120.

→ $108,000 index-equivalent gross salary; $18,000 difference, before any separate tax or household analysis.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Mixing benefits with spendable cash

Keep benefits, costs and uncertain compensation separate.

Comparing incompatible indices

Check the source, date, geography and index base before using the ratio.

FAQ

No. Tax, equity, partial-year pay, clawbacks and future raises are not calculated. Record those terms in Sources and assumptions and review them separately.

Only amounts you enter as guaranteed recurring cash are included there. The uncertain bonus field remains separate. Sign-on cash appears only in the first-year gross figure.

No. The ratio scales an entered salary using indices with the same source, date and base. Actual household spending and employer pay can differ.

Choose Save planning case for local history. Copy MD includes the current inputs and interpretation; Download CSV contains the result breakdown. Keep a portable copy separately.

About Written Offer and Salary Comparison

Use Compare written offers to inspect guaranteed recurring and first-year gross cash, uncertain bonus assumptions, employer benefit values and employee costs. Use Salary and entered cost index for a separate broad index scenario. All amounts and indices come from your entries.