Salary comparison calculator
Comparing job offers on gross salary is how people leave money on the table. The honest comparison is take-home plus pension money: because the difference between a 3% and a 10% employer contribution is worth thousands a year and never appears on a payslip. This tool scores both offers on the total that actually accrues to you.
Calculator
Salary comparison calculator
Offer A
Offer B
Counting take-home AND pension money
Offer B wins by £5,256.00 a year
Monthly take-home: A £2,573.30 vs B £2,801.30. Annual pension money: A £3,200.00 vs B £5,720.00.
| Per year | Offer A | Offer B |
|---|---|---|
| Gross salary | £40,000.00 | £44,000.00 |
| Take-home | £30,879.60 | £33,615.60 |
| Pension (yours + employer's) | £3,200.00 | £5,720.00 |
| Total value to you | £34,079.60 | £39,335.60 |
| Kept per gross £1 | 85.2% | 89.4% |
A higher salary with a 3% pension often loses to a slightly lower one with 8-10%, the employer contribution is invisible on a payslip but real money. Holiday days, bonus and hybrid policy aren't in the table; price them before deciding.
Compare take-home pay across tax years
Keep salary and deduction choices the same to isolate the effect of different tax-year rates. Changes below are the second year minus the first.
Monthly take-home change: +£6.86
| Item | 2025/26 | 2026/27 | Annual change | Monthly change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Income tax | £7,486.00 | £7,486.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 |
| National Insurance | £2,994.40 | £2,994.40 | £0.00 | £0.00 |
| Student loan | £1,937.70 | £1,855.35 | -£82.35 | -£6.86 |
| Pension deducted from pay | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 |
| Take-home pay | £37,581.90 | £37,664.25 | +£82.35 | +£6.86 |
Assumes a full year of employment, standard personal allowance with income taper, standard employee NI and no benefits or other income. Monthly amounts are annual totals divided by 12, not a month-specific payslip. A positive deduction change means more is deducted. Pension percentage applies to full gross pay, not qualifying earnings. Relief-at-source contributions here are the amount deducted from pay; extra relief claimed later is not included. A loan plan with no repayments in the selected year contributes zero.
Why the lower salary sometimes wins
Every extra pound of salary is taxed at your marginal rate, 28% to 62% of it never reaches you, while every pound of employer pension arrives whole. So £2,000 more employer pension routinely beats £3,000 more salary, and the gap widens for higher-rate taxpayers and anyone near the £100k taper. Public-sector offers illustrate it best: a civil-service salary with a 20%+ employer contribution can out-value a private offer many thousands higher.
What the table can't price
Holiday days (each one ≈ 0.4% of salary), bonus schemes and their realism, private medical (a taxed benefit, check the tax code impact), commute cost and time, and how pay reviews actually behave. Put rough numbers on those, add them to the totals above, and the decision usually makes itself.
2026/27 rates, checked 28 August 2026 by Hadi. Method on the about page.
How to use the salary comparison calculator
- 1
Enter the first offer: salary, region, pension and any benefits.
- 2
Enter the second offer on the same basis.
- 3
Read both take-home figures side by side, monthly and yearly.
- 4
Check the difference line, which accounts for region, pension arrangement and thresholds.
When should you use the salary comparison calculator?
Use it when two offers are on the table, because region, pension arrangement and thresholds can reverse which one pays more.
You have two job offers
The higher salary does not always leave you with more.
One job is in Scotland
Scottish bands can reverse the ranking of two offers.
The pension arrangements differ
Salary sacrifice against relief at source changes take-home on the same contribution.
One offer crosses a threshold
A salary just over £50,270 or £100,000 keeps less of the difference than it appears.
Where to go next
- Cost of living calculatorTo add the location to the comparison.Open
- Scottish income tax calculatorTo if one offer is north of the border.Open
- Salary sacrifice calculatorTo price the difference in pension arrangements.Open
- Mortgage calculatorTo test each offer against a mortgage.Open
All 51 calculators share one tested engine, so a figure from the salary comparison calculator agrees with every other page here. See the full calculator index or the pay and tax guides.