Add base salary, bonus at target, the equity grant divided by its vesting years, the retirement match as a percentage of base, the annual value of employer-paid insurance, and paid time off priced at your own daily rate. That gives one comparable annual figure per offer — and it usually reorders offers that looked clearly separated on base pay alone.
Build the number with consistent rules
Guaranteed cash at face value. Formula-driven variable pay at what the median person actually achieved, not at target. Anything discretionary at zero.
Then add the employer retirement contribution as a percentage of base, the annual employer health premium share, and paid leave converted to dollars — salary divided by about 260 working days.
Apply the same rules to both offers or the comparison is meaningless. Most bad decisions here come from valuing one offer optimistically and the other conservatively.
Then subtract what the job costs you
Commuting, in money and separately in hours. Childcare aligned to the schedule the job actually needs. Equipment or credentials you fund yourself. Any coverage gap before the new plan starts.
Finally apply state and local income tax using effective rather than headline rates. What remains is comparable, and it is frequently a smaller gap than the headline salaries suggested.
The lines that resist a single number
Private company equity, which has no market and may never convert. Put it at close to zero and note the upside separately as a bet you are choosing to take.
Flexibility and schedule control, which are genuinely valuable and genuinely personal. Decide privately what they are worth to you, name that figure, and apply it consistently — do not let it float upward for the offer you already prefer.
Why one number is still worth producing
Because it forces the questions. You cannot complete the calculation without asking what the employer contributes to retirement, what the premium share is, what the bonus actually paid last year, and when coverage begins.
Those questions are where the real differences live, and the arithmetic is mostly a device for making sure you ask them.
What the number should not decide alone
Whether the work is something you want to do for three years. Who you would learn from. Whether the employer is somewhere people progress.
Early-career pay differences are real and smaller than the difference between three years of good training and three years of none. That is not an argument for accepting less; it is an argument for weighting those heavily when two numbers are close.
The check that reveals the ceiling
Compare each offer against the published median and seventy-fifth percentile for the occupation in that metro. An offer at the seventy-fifth in a low-paying metro and one at the median in a high-paying one are different propositions about where you can go next.
Also check the employer’s own advertised ranges for the level above yours. That shows the shape of the structure you would be entering, which matters more over three years than the starting figure.
Where the single number misleads most
When one offer is heavily weighted toward variable pay. A package that is 70 per cent base and one that is 50 per cent base can total the same and behave completely differently in a bad year.
Run both at target and at a realistic downside. The downside comparison is the one that actually tells you which offer you can live on.
Write it down
Two columns, same line items, same rules, with the assumptions noted. It takes twenty minutes and it survives the emotional pull of whichever employer was warmer in the interview.
That is most of its value. The arithmetic rarely produces a surprise, but seeing it written stops a decision being made on how the last conversation felt.
Common questions
What should I include in a total compensation figure?
Base, bonus at target, equity divided by its vesting period, the retirement match, employer-paid insurance, and paid time off at your daily rate. Six lines.
How do I value paid time off?
Divide the base by about 260 working days and multiply by the number of days. Twenty days is roughly eight per cent of a working year.
Should I use bonus at target or maximum?
At target, or better, what was actually paid last year. A maximum nobody has reached is a plan rather than compensation.
Does the total tell me which offer is better?
It tells you which is worth more on paper. Risk, fit and what the role does to your next move sit outside it and frequently outweigh a few per cent.
What if one offer wins only on equity?
Then you are being paid in something conditional on a share price and on staying long enough to vest. That can be the right trade, but it should be a conscious one.
How do I turn an offer into one number?
Guaranteed cash at face value, formula pay at what the median person achieved, discretionary at zero, plus retirement contribution, premium share and leave converted to dollars.
What should I subtract?
Commuting, childcare aligned to the schedule, self-funded equipment or credentials, any coverage gap, and effective state and local tax.
Where does a single number mislead?
When one offer is heavily weighted toward variable pay. Run both at target and at a realistic downside — the downside tells you which you can live on.