To calculate a pay raise, multiply your old salary by one plus the raise percentage written as a decimal. A 3% raise means multiplying by 1.03.
TL;DR: New pay = old pay × (1 + raise %). A 3% raise on $50,000 gives you $51,500. Check your own figures in the pay raise calculator.
Turning a percentage into new pay
Say you earn $50,000 and you are offered a 3% raise. Write 3% as 0.03 and add 1 to get 1.03. Then:
$50,000 × 1.03 = $51,500
That is an extra $1,500 a year. If you are paid every two weeks, you get 26 paychecks, so $1,500 ÷ 26 is about $57.69 more per check before taxes.
Finding the raise percentage from two salaries
If you know your old and new salary but not the percentage, use this:
raise % = (new − old) ÷ old
Going from $50,000 to $51,500 gives ($51,500 − $50,000) ÷ $50,000 = $1,500 ÷ $50,000 = 0.03. Multiply by 100 and you have a 3% raise. The pay raise calculator does this for you and shows the dollar gain.
Cost-of-living vs. a real raise
A raise that matches inflation keeps your buying power flat. It does not make you richer. If prices rose 4% last year and you got a 3% raise, your money actually buys a little less than before. Your real raise is roughly 3% minus 4%, or about −1%. To come out ahead, your raise needs to beat the inflation rate.
Every number here is gross, meaning before taxes and deductions. This is a pay estimate, not tax advice.