Job Offer Comparison Calculator
Compare two job offers by base pay, hours, overtime, bonus, and benefits to see total annual compensation, effective hourly rate, and which one pays more.
Job Offer Comparison Calculator
Pay Entry
Applies to both offers. Switch to compare a salaried offer; the tool normalizes everything to a yearly total.
Offer Details
Benefits = employer health premium, retirement match, and similar. Leave a field blank to treat it as 0.
Overtime (optional)
Overtime is for hourly offers. Salaried/exempt offers are treated as no overtime, so OT is set to 0.
Overtime multipliers are normally 1 or higher (1.5x is time-and-a-half). A value below 1 is ignored.
Fill in Offer A and Offer B to see which pays more.
Estimates only, not tax, legal, or financial advice. The math runs in any currency. Cost of living, commute, taxes, and PTO are not included; weigh those separately.
Once You Pick, Confirm the Paycheck
Timeclock44 tracks your real hours and overtime so the offer you accepted matches what actually lands in your account.
How to compare two job offers the right way
Base salary alone is misleading. Two offers can differ by tens of thousands of dollars on paper, then end up nearly even once benefits and weekly hours are counted (or the gap can flip the other way entirely).
This tool works off four numbers: base pay (hourly or annual), overtime potential, bonus or other cash, and the dollar value of benefits. Add them up and you get total annual compensation, which is the only figure worth lining up side by side.
Total compensation vs. base salary
Total compensation is your wages plus the dollar value of everything else the employer pays for you: the health premium they cover, the 401(k) match, your bonus, and other perks. Per the BLS Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, benefits run about 30% of total compensation for private-industry workers.
Here is how the lower base salary can still win. Offer A pays $80,000 with a $4,000 match and a $2,000 bonus, for $86,000 total. Offer B pays $84,000 but covers no premium and adds nothing, leaving $84,000. The smaller headline number is worth $2,000 more once benefits are in the math.
Effective hourly rate: what each hour is really worth
Effective hourly rate is total annual compensation divided by the hours you actually work in a year: (hours per week + overtime hours) times paid weeks. Including overtime hours in the denominator keeps the rate honest.
Watch what happens with hours. A $95,000 offer that demands 50-hour weeks works out to about $36.54 per hour (95,000 / 2,600). An $85,000 offer at a true 40-hour week is about $40.87 per hour (85,000 / 2,080). The higher salary loses on a per-hour basis, which is exactly the kind of gap a work-hours tool is built to catch.
Comparing hourly and salaried offers (and counting overtime)
To compare an hourly offer to a salaried one, annualize the hourly rate: rate times hours per week times paid weeks (40 times 52 = 2,080 hours for a standard full-time year). Then line up total annual compensation and effective hourly rate for both.
For hourly roles, overtime can change the answer. If one job regularly offers hours at time-and-a-half, turn on the overtime block and enter the weekly hours you expect; the tool values them at the FLSA regular rate times your multiplier. Once you pick an offer, track your real hours and overtime with Timeclock44 to confirm the paycheck matches what you signed up for. Estimates only, not tax, legal, or financial advice.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about job offer comparison calculator
How do you compare two job offers?
Convert both offers to total annual compensation (base pay plus overtime, bonus, and the dollar value of benefits), then compare the effective hourly rate so hours worked are reflected, not just headline pay. A higher number on the offer letter does not always win once benefits and weekly hours are counted.
What should total compensation include besides salary?
Employer-paid health premiums, 401(k) or retirement match, annual bonus, and other cash perks. According to the BLS Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, benefits average about 30% of total compensation for private-industry workers, so leaving them out can flip which offer pays more.
How do I calculate effective hourly rate from a salary?
Divide total annual compensation by the hours you actually work in a year (weekly hours times paid weeks, including overtime). The annual work hours calculator helps you nail down the yearly hours that go in the denominator.
Is a higher salary always the better offer?
No. A higher salary that requires 50-hour weeks or comes with weaker benefits can pay less per hour worked than a lower salary with better benefits and a true 40-hour week. The effective hourly rate is what surfaces that gap.
How do I compare an hourly job offer to a salaried one?
Annualize the hourly rate (rate times hours per week times paid weeks, for example times 2,080 for a full-time year), then compare total annual compensation and effective hourly rate side by side. The salary vs hourly calculator does this conversion for a single role if you want to check the math.
How much are benefits worth when comparing offers?
Ask each employer for the dollar value, or use the Summary of Benefits to estimate the employer-paid premium and retirement match. Private-industry benefits average roughly 30% of total compensation (BLS), so a strong benefits package can be worth thousands of dollars a year.
Should I factor overtime into a job offer comparison?
Yes for hourly roles. If one job offers regular overtime at time-and-a-half, that can meaningfully raise total pay. Turn on the overtime block to add expected weekly OT hours, or use the overtime calculator to value a single week. Overtime pay is built on the FLSA regular rate, which the regular rate of pay calculator breaks down.
Does this calculator account for taxes or cost of living?
No. It compares gross total compensation. Cost of living, commute costs, and taxes should be weighed separately. The math works in any currency. Estimates only, not tax or financial advice.