How to Compare Job Offers

A bonus you might not get isn't the same as salary you will

A target bonus is conditional; treating a $20,000 target bonus as if it's guaranteed compensation overstates an offer if there's meaningful risk of missing target. A more honest comparison weights the bonus by how likely you actually think it is to be paid, not by its best-case number.

A signing bonus is one-time, not permanent

A $15,000 signing bonus looks very different spread over a role you expect to hold for one year versus five — it's real money, but it's not equivalent to $15,000 of permanent annual compensation, and offers with a large signing bonus can look inflated if you don't mentally spread it over your realistic tenure.

Commute is a cost AND a cost — just not the same kind twice

A commute costs you money (fuel or transit fare, parking) and it costs you time (which doesn't show up on a compensation statement at all). Treating them as one thing under- or over-states the real burden — they should be weighed separately, since a expensive-but-short commute and a cheap-but-long one aren't the same tradeoff.

Retirement match is real, guaranteed money

A 6% 401(k) match on a $120,000 salary is $7,200/year in employer money you'd otherwise leave on the table — a real, near-certain dollar figure that deserves the same weight as a salary difference of the same size, not a footnote.

Compare offers on effective economic value, not just the base salary line.

Frequently asked questions