Salary Negotiation Range Calculator
Build a recommended salary ask range from a researched market midpoint, your experience, and current pay — with an anchor and a walk-away floor. Runs in your browser.
Look this up first — BLS.gov, Levels.fyi, Glassdoor, or salary surveys for your title and city.
Recommended negotiation range
- Experience-adjusted target
- $92,700
- Recommended ask (anchor)
- $97,335 – $106,605
- Suggested walk-away floor
- $90,000
- Bump vs current
- 19%
This builds a range around the market midpoint you provide — it does not know real pay for your role and city, so research that figure first (BLS, Levels.fyi, Glassdoor, industry surveys). It adjusts modestly for experience and suggests anchoring slightly above target, since the first number often sets the range. Negotiate total compensation (bonus, equity, benefits), not just base. Guidance only, not financial or career advice.
About this tool
Good salary negotiation starts with a number grounded in market data, and this tool helps you turn that into a concrete ask. It deliberately does not invent a salary for your role and city — no calculator can know that reliably — so you provide the market midpoint you have researched (from sources like the US BLS, Levels.fyi, Glassdoor, or industry surveys), and it builds a strategy around it. It nudges the target modestly for your years of experience, suggests an ask range anchored slightly above the target (because the first number stated tends to anchor the whole negotiation), and proposes a walk-away floor based on a meaningful bump over your current pay. The result is a defensible range to bring to the table. Two reminders it makes explicit: the quality of the output depends entirely on the market figure you research, and you should negotiate total compensation — bonus, equity, benefits, PTO — not just base salary. It is informational guidance, not financial or career advice. Everything runs in your browser.
How to use it
- Research the market midpoint for your title and location, and enter it.
- Enter your current salary and years of relevant experience.
- Read the experience-adjusted target, the ask range, and a walk-away floor.
- Anchor at the high end and negotiate total compensation, not just base.
Frequently asked questions
- Why do I have to enter the market salary myself?
- Because accurate pay depends on your exact role, level, industry, company size, and city, and no formula can produce it reliably from scratch. Researching the midpoint from real data (BLS, Levels.fyi, Glassdoor, surveys) is the most important step; this tool builds the negotiation strategy around it.
- Why anchor above the target?
- In negotiation, the first concrete number tends to anchor where the conversation lands, so opening slightly above your true target leaves room to settle near it. The recommended ask range reflects that, while staying within a credible band of the market.
- How does experience adjust the number?
- It nudges the target up for more years of relevant experience (and slightly down for less), within a capped band, around an assumed mid-level anchor. It is a modest adjustment — the market midpoint you provide does most of the work.
- What is the walk-away floor?
- The minimum worth accepting — here, the larger of a meaningful raise over your current pay or the market figure. Knowing your floor in advance keeps you from accepting a lowball offer in the moment.
- Should I negotiate more than base salary?
- Yes. Total compensation includes bonus, equity/RSUs, signing bonus, retirement match, PTO, remote flexibility, and title. When base is capped, these levers often have room — factor them into what "the offer" really is.
- Is this career or financial advice?
- No. It is an informational planning aid. Combine it with researched market data and, for big decisions, advice from mentors or professionals in your field.