How to Compare Two Job Offers in Real Dollars

Base pay is usually the cleanest number. Bonuses, commissions, overtime, and equity may depend on performance, company results, continued employment, or future value. Record the stated amount and a conservative expected amount rather than automatically treating the maximum as cash.

Benefits also have two values: what the employer spends and what the benefit is worth to your household. Excellent health coverage may be extremely valuable for one family and less decisive for someone covered elsewhere. The comparison should capture both the contract and your actual need.

Add employer retirement contributions, health savings contributions, paid leave, education assistance, disability coverage, life insurance, and other dependable benefits. Subtract employee premiums, commuting, parking, uniforms, licensing, childcare changes, and required home-office costs.

Then compare time. A salary divided by 2,080 hours assumes a standard 40-hour week and ignores commute. If one role regularly requires more hours, calculate pay per committed hour as a second lens. Flexibility, predictable scheduling, safety, advancement, and job stability deserve a written score even when they cannot be priced precisely.

Ask when coverage begins and ends, whether retirement contributions vest, how unused leave is treated, and what happens to equity or bonuses after separation. A benefit that disappears before it can be used should not receive full value in the comparison.

Keep the offer documents and benefit summaries. Before declining another option, confirm material terms in writing. A thoughtful comparison is not disloyal; it is how a worker understands the complete exchange of time, skill, risk, and compensation.