A $150,000 offer in California and a $135,801 offer in Texas leave you with exactly the same amount of money.
Not roughly. The same — $104,086 of take-home, computed on a single filer taking the standard deduction.
Which means someone weighing those two offers and choosing the bigger number has not chosen the better offer. They have chosen the same offer with a longer commute to the beach, and they have given up $14,199 of negotiating room they never knew they had.
By the end of this guide you will convert any offer to take-home in under a minute, compare offers across state lines on equal terms, know what your bonus and match are actually worth, and have five scripts for the five conversations that actually happen — including the one where they say the budget is fixed.
A note before you start. This is general education, not personalised financial, tax or career advice. Every dollar figure is computed by this site's own tax engine for tax year 2026 on a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependents and no pre-tax deferrals unless stated — your filing status, dependents, deductions and local taxes will move the numbers, sometimes substantially, and twelve states permit a local income tax that none of these figures include. This guide contains no salary benchmark data and does not invent any; section 2 points you at the real public source. Nothing here routes you to a recruiter, a job board or a coaching service — this site takes no lead-generation and no affiliate money.
The number you are negotiating is not the number you get
Every offer is quoted in gross salary. Nothing you ever spend is gross.
Here is a $10,000 raise on an $85,000 base, in four states:
| State | You keep | As a share | Per month |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | $7,035 | 70.3% | $586 |
| Ohio | $6,760 | 67.6% | $563 |
| New York | $6,463 | 64.6% | $539 |
| California | $6,105 | 61.1% | $509 |
The same $10,000. A $930 spread, entirely from where you live.
And notice how much of it disappears everywhere. Even in a state with no income tax, a $10,000 raise is $7,035 — because federal tax and FICA take the rest. The best case in the country is keeping about seven dollars in ten.
The one rule that makes this usable in the room
Within a tax bracket, the fraction you keep does not change with the size of the raise.
On $85,000 in Ohio:
| Raise | You keep | Share |
|---|---|---|
| $2,000 | $1,352 | 67.6% |
| $5,000 | $3,380 | 67.6% |
| $10,000 | $6,760 | 67.6% |
| $15,000 | $10,140 | 67.6% |
| $25,000 | $16,900 | 67.6% |
Identical, to the tenth of a percent.
That is what makes this practical rather than academic. You do not need a calculator in a negotiation — you need one number, computed once, before you walk in. Work out what fraction of a marginal dollar you keep at your salary in your state, and every figure named in the room converts instantly.
Two-thirds is the working approximation for most people at most salaries. Run your own take-home to get the exact figure, and carry it.
Why this changes what you ask for
Once you can convert, three things follow that change how you negotiate.
A $5,000 gap between their offer and your number is a $3,380 gap. Smaller than it sounds, which should make you more willing to hold — and it should make them more willing to close, because the cost to the employer is the full $5,000 either way.
A signing bonus is worth less than base salary of the same size, because it happens once and base compounds through every future raise, match and pension calculation.
And a benefit paid before tax beats cash of the same face value. An employer contribution to your retirement account is not taxed as income now; a raise is. Section 5 puts numbers on that.
And why the employer sees a bigger number than you do
There is a wedge between what a raise costs the company and what it puts in your account, and knowing its size changes how you argue.
On a $10,000 raise the employer does not spend $10,000. They also owe the employer half of FICA — 7.65%, or $765 — and if they match retirement contributions, the match rises with your salary too. On a 50%-of-the-first-6% formula that is another $300.
So the raise costs them about $11,065 and leaves you with $6,105 in California.
A wedge of roughly $4,960 on a $10,000 raise. Nobody takes it; it is payroll tax on both sides plus your own income tax.
Two things follow, and they point in opposite directions.
Cash is expensive for them. Which is why section 9's non-cash asks — a signing bonus, a review date, PTO, remote terms — are so often easier yeses than base salary. They cost the employer less per unit of value delivered to you.
But do not use the wedge as an argument. "This only costs you $11,000" is not persuasive; the employer knows their costs better than you do. Use it for your own calibration — to understand why a $5,000 gap you consider small may be a real budget conversation on their side, and why the shape of the ask matters as much as the size.