How the calculation works
Starting from the base figure you enter, the tool adds a small percentage for each year of relevant experience (capped at 15 years) and a small percentage for each in-demand skill you report having (capped at 5). It then builds a range roughly 7% below and 10% above that adjusted figure, since real offers rarely land on a single exact number.
Where to get the base number
The tool is only as good as the number you start with. Pull a base figure from the actual job posting when a range is listed, a recent, role-specific salary survey, or conversations with people currently working in similar roles in your region — not from your own last salary alone, which may not reflect current market rates.
Example
If postings for a role in your area cluster around $70,000, you have four years of relevant experience, and two skills the postings specifically call out, the tool adds roughly 6% for experience and 4% for skills — landing an anchor point near $77,000 and a range of about $71,500 to $84,500. You'd open a negotiation near the top of that range, not the middle.
Limitations
The formula doesn't know your specific employer's pay bands, your location's true cost of labor, or how competitive the specific hiring process is. Treat the output as a starting anchor to sanity-check against real data, not as a number to quote as if it were independently verified.
Related guides
See our guides on negotiating salary after a job offer and how to ask for a raise without threatening to quit.