Job Offer Comparison Calculator
Compare two job offers on more than salary: bonus, employer benefits, paid days off, weekly hours, commute cost and commute time, giving net annual value and true pay per hour worked for each offer.
How it works
total compensation = salary + bonus + benefits · days worked = 260 − paid days off · net value = compensation − commute cost per day × days worked · effective hourly pay = net value ÷ (work hours + commute hours) · value after commute time = net value − commute hours × hourly pay × your time-value %
A higher salary is not always the better offer. Bonus and employer-paid benefits add to the package; longer hours, fewer days off and a long or expensive commute take away from it. Dividing what you keep by every hour the job takes — including travel — gives a fair hourly figure to compare, and putting a price on commute time (often half your hourly pay, as in transport economics) shows the trade-off in money. Non-financial factors such as growth, stability and remote flexibility still matter; use this as the numbers half of the decision.
Worked example
Offer A pays $70,000 + 5% bonus + $6,000 of benefits ($79,500) with 15 days off, 40 hours a week and a 25-minute commute costing $8 a day: net $77,540 over 1,960 work hours and 204 commute hours, or $35.83/h. Offer B pays $76,000 + $4,000 ($80,000) with 20 days off but 45 hours a week and a 50-minute, $14 commute: net $76,640 over 2,560 hours, or $29.94/h. Offer A wins on both measures despite the lower salary.
Frequently asked questions
How do I compare two job offers?
Put each offer into total compensation (salary, bonus, benefits), subtract job costs such as commuting, and divide by all the hours the job takes, including travel. The higher effective hourly pay usually indicates the better deal, before non-money factors.
How much are benefits worth?
Count what you would otherwise pay yourself: the employer share of health insurance, retirement matching, meal or transport allowances, and so on. In many countries employer benefits are worth 10–30% of salary.
Why value commute time?
Commuting uses hours you are not paid for. Transport studies often value travel time at roughly half of the hourly wage; set 0% to ignore it or 100% if you value it like work time.
What about remote or hybrid work?
Lower the commute cost and time to reflect only the days you travel — for example, a 2-day office week has 40% of the commute of a 5-day week.
Related calculators
Estimates for planning only. Your employment contract, collective agreement and local labor law decide what you are actually owed; check with your employer, payroll team or a qualified adviser before relying on a figure.