Base salary alone misses 20–40% of an offer's real value: super, packaging, bonus likelihood, leave and commute.
Base salary, super %, bonus, salary packaging, leave, commute — all six variables that move the needle. 2026–27 tax rates applied.
Assumptions used: the difference in employer super, less 15% contributions tax, paid in every year for 30 years; 7% a year return before inflation, less 0.25% admin fees; today’s dollars at 3.7% a year (ASIC’s default). Rates fixed on this page.
Not a forecast: real returns rise and fall. This is general information, not financial advice. Don’t rely on it to make a decision about your super; consider advice from a licensed financial adviser first.
Three common job-comparison patterns where the "obvious" higher offer is not actually the better offer. Numbers calculated with the same engine used above.
| Scenario | Job A | Job B | Real-dollar verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| The super trap $100k base + 15% super vs $102k base + 12% super | $100k + 15% | $102k + 12% | Job A wins by $1,400/yr |
| The bonus mirage $130k flat vs $115k + $30k bonus at 50% likelihood | $130k flat | $115k + $30k×50% | Job A wins by $1,800/yr |
| The healthcare packaging edge $100k private + 12% super vs $97k public hospital + 12% super + packaging ($9,010 + $2,650 meals) | $100k private | $97k hospital | Job B wins by $1,331/yr |
Scenarios use 2026–27 tax rates and assume a single person with no dependants and a full year in the job. Run your own numbers above for an exact answer.
The job comparison engine deliberately leaves these out so the verdict stays clean. If either offer hits one of these thresholds, run that specific calculator with the bigger of the two salaries you just compared.
At a $100,000 base salary, 1% extra super is $1,000 a year. After the 15% contributions tax, $850 a year goes into super. Over 30 years at 7% a year before inflation, less 0.25% a year in admin fees, that grows to about $76,800. In today's dollars that is about $25,800, using 3.7% a year, ASIC's default for super calculators. A bigger base gap can still win: $105,000 with 12% super is worth about $3,000 a year more than $100,000 with 13% super, because the extra $5,000 of salary adds $3,400 after tax against $400 less super.
FBT (Fringe Benefits Tax) exemption lets certain employer categories pay part of your salary as non-taxable benefits. Public hospital, public ambulance, and not-for-profit hospital employees can package up to $9,010 of general benefits per FBT year, plus $2,650 of meal entertainment and venue hire. Registered public benevolent institution (PBI) and health promotion charity employees can package up to $15,900 + $2,650. The tax saving equals the packaged amount multiplied by your marginal tax rate — at the 37% bracket, a $9,010 healthcare packaging cap saves roughly $3,300 per year. Source: ATO Fringe Benefits Tax — exempt benefits. Verify your specific employer's status with your payroll team before signing.
Discount the bonus by the likelihood you will actually receive the full amount. Many bonus schemes pay less than the full target. The calculator above lets you set a likelihood percentage explicitly — if you think you have a 50% chance of hitting the full $20,000 bonus, the expected value is $10,000 and that is what should be compared to the higher base salary. Also factor in tax: bonuses are taxed at your marginal rate through PAYG withholding, so a $20,000 bonus to someone in the 37% bracket nets about $12,200 after the 2% Medicare levy, not $20,000.
The calculator values each annual leave day above the legislated 20-day minimum at your daily rate (base salary ÷ 260 working days per year). A job offering 25 days versus 20 days at $100,000 base is worth roughly $1,920 more per year. Leave loading (the extra 17.5% paid on top of base for leave taken, common in awards and EBAs) isn't included — if your award includes it, add roughly 1.4% to the base salary of the affected role manually before entering.
The calculator deliberately quantifies only the financial side. The qualitative side — manager quality, team culture, learning trajectory, work-from-home flexibility, commute time, career runway — usually decides whether a job change is right, not the dollar gap. Use the calculator output as one input into the decision: if the dollar gap is small in either direction (say under $5,000/year), the qualitative factors should dominate. If the gap is large in one direction (over $15,000/year), it usually outweighs all but the most extreme qualitative differences.