Do job hoppers earn more than people who stay?

On average, yes — switching jobs typically brings a 10–20% pay jump while staying brings 3–5% raises. Repeated over a few cycles, the cumulative earnings gap commonly reaches tens of thousands of dollars within five years.

How much of a pay increase should I ask for when changing jobs?

10–15% above your current salary is a normal ask for a lateral move; 20%+ for a step up in responsibility or a hot market. Below 10%, the risks and switching costs eat most of the benefit.

Should I accept a counter-offer from my current employer?

A counter fixes the salary gap this calculator measures, so mathematically it can close the case. But it does not fix the reasons you interviewed, and the raise budget spent on the counter sometimes replaces your next scheduled raise.

Raise or Job Hop Calculator — Stay or Switch, in Dollars

Where the gap comes from

The two paths, line by line

Salary paths, year by year

Solid: you hop now. Dashed: you stay for the raise. Both then grow normally. Hover any year to compare.

Playing it well

How we calculate

What is included

Two salary paths from today: staying takes your review raise now, hopping takes the jump now; both then grow at their yearly raise rates. The gap is the difference in cumulative earnings over your horizon — every year of salary added up — with unpaid switching weeks subtracted and the signing bonus added to the hop path.

What is estimated or left out

Money only. Career growth, learning, a manager you like, promotion odds — all real, all outside this page. Taxes are ignored because both paths face the same brackets (the gap itself is taxed at your marginal rate — roughly 25–35% smaller in take-home terms). Risk is real too: last-in can mean first-out in layoffs, and the numbers cannot price that.

The formula, in plain words

stay path = salary × (1 + raise) × (1 + later raise)^years
hop path  = salary × (1 + jump)  × (1 + later raise)^years
gap = sum of yearly differences − unpaid weeks + signing bonus

Common questions

Is job hopping really worth it?: Usually, in pure money: switchers historically out-earn stayers because a new employer prices you at the market, while your current one prices you at last year plus a percent. The gap compounds — that is why the chart diverges instead of staying parallel.
How often is too often?: A pattern of many sub-yearly stints starts costing offers. Every 2–4 years reads as normal in most US industries. The math here also assumes you stay at the new place long enough to collect the later raises.
Can I use this to get a counter-offer instead?: Yes — the honest way is to know the hop number first. If your employer matches it, the “stay” path jumps too and the gap closes. Beware though: counters fix pay, not the reasons you looked around.

Raise or Job Hop