The letter vs. take-home

Keep is what you take home.

Tax, cost of living, and equity you cannot spend come off the letter. What remains is Keep — the money you actually live on. Run one offer to see it clearly, or put two side by side.

Free to compare. $6 is the report: which offer to take, leftover after a 1-bedroom, the salary that would tie the other city, the ask, and a note you can send tonight. Unlimited offers.

Run an offer See a brief · $6 unlimited

Decoder

Type one letter. Or two.

Base, bonus, equity, city. Keep subtracts tax, cost of living, and equity you cannot spend. Turn off compare if you only have one offer.

Filing status

Compare a second offer

Pike

CompanyLocation

Base salaryTarget bonus % of base

Signing bonusSpread signing over (years)

Equity typeEquity grant (face value over the vest)

Company stageYears until fully vested

Employer 401(k) matchEmployer health contribution / yearHours / week

Northline

CompanyLocation

Base salaryTarget bonus % of base

Signing bonusSpread signing over (years)

Equity typeEquity grant (face value over the vest)

Company stageYears until fully vested

Employer 401(k) matchEmployer health contribution / yearHours / week

What you keep

Pike · New York City

True Keep / year

$114k

Left after a typical 1-bedroom / month

$4,993

After-tax cash / year: $128,575
Typical rent / month: $4,500
Equity you can count: $0
Rent as share of take-home: 42%

Typical 1-bedroom is a market estimate, not your lease. Full grocery and transit split is in the $6 report.

Northline · Austin

True Keep / year

$127k

Left after a typical 1-bedroom / month

$7,270

After-tax cash / year: $123,360
Typical rent / month: $1,750
Equity you can count: $0
Rent as share of take-home: 17%

Typical 1-bedroom is a market estimate, not your lease. Full grocery and transit split is in the $6 report.

Northline keeps $13,558 more per year after tax and local prices.

After a typical 1-bedroom and basics: Pike has $4,993 / month left in New York City. Northline has $7,270 / month left in Austin.

Pike$113,574

Northline$127,132

Brief · $6

The decision, the ask, the note.

City budget

In New York City, a typical 1-bedroom, groceries, transit, and utilities leave $4,993 a month from after-tax cash.

Rent is 42% of take-home. A common rule of thumb is 30%. Rent is a mid-city 1-bedroom (not the cheap suburban median). Car cities include gas and insurance, not a car payment.

A month in New York City

Take-home (after tax)$10,715
Typical 1-bedroom (mid-city)$4,500
Groceries$640
Transit pass$132
Utilities$200
Phone and internet$250
Left after those$4,993

A month in Austin

Take-home (after tax)$10,280
Typical 1-bedroom (mid-city)$1,750
Groceries$520
Car (gas, insurance, parking)$320
Utilities$200
Phone and internet$220
Left after those$7,270

Where take-home goes

One month of after-tax cash in New York City. Same idea as a paycheck pie — rent first.

Dark = spoken for. Green = leftover.

The letter, cut down

Annual dollars. Last bar is after a typical apartment and basics.

Four years, cash vs equity

After tax, before the city index. Equity only in vest years.

Decision

Take Northline unless Pike puts $27,000 more base in the letter. A verbal “we’ll review in six months” is a no.

Northline leaves about $7,270 a month after a typical 1-bedroom and basics. Pike leaves $4,993. That is $27,329 a year of rent-level money, not a vibe. Show this paragraph to anyone who has to live on the choice with you.

If they meet you halfway

Half the base ask is $194,000. Keep becomes $121,698 — still $5,434 short of Northline. Do not stop at halfway unless the work is worth the hole.

Now: $113,574
Halfway: $121,698
Full ask: $128,534

To live like the other city

Pike would need a base of $223,000 in New York City to match Northline’s leftover after a 1-bedroom ($7,270 / mo). That is $43,000 more base than the letter.

Biweekly take-home $4,945 · monthly $10,715. Same tax engine as the decoder.

Year one, in cash

After-tax dollars, before the city index. Signing is the slice counted this year.

Monthly take-home$10,715
Signing counted this year$0
Left after a 1-bedroom / mo$4,993
That leftover, year one$59,911

Verdict

To take Pike over Northline, close a $13,558 / year Keep gap. One lever. Not three.

Northline keeps $127,132 a year. Pike keeps $113,574. New York City prices sit at 128 against Austin at 106. That is most of the gap. Do not ask Pike to match Northline’s headline total compensation. Ask them to close the after-tax gap.

Tax stack

Pike — where the letter goes before it reaches you.

Federal income tax$36,254
State income tax$11,312
Social Security$11,439
Medicare$2,871
New York City income tax$7,550
Effective rate35%

Northline effective rate 25% · marginal federal 24%.

Four-year vest

Pike. Cash and equity are separate. Keep is those plus benefits, then local prices.

Year	Cash keep	Equity	Keep
1	$128,575	$0	$113,574
2	$128,575	$0	$113,574
3	$128,575	$0	$113,574
4	$128,575	$0	$113,574
4-year	$514,298	$0	$454,296

The ask

Any one of these puts Pike on even Keep with Northline.

Base$207,000
A $27,000 lift. Preferred. It compounds and is hard to claw back.
Added grant$69,000
Face value over the 4-year vest. Weaker than cash, useful if band is frozen.
Target bonus25%
From 10% to 25%. Variable. Use only if base and grant are closed.

If they say yes

A base of $207,000 lifts Pike to $128,534 True Keep — even with or ahead of Northline.

Keep now: $113,574
Keep if they move base: $128,534

If they say no

Do not accept a verbal refresh. Take Northline unless they put cash or grant in the letter. Walking from $13,558 a year of Keep is the expensive choice.

This month, after tax and city: $9,464
Cash this month (no equity): $10,715

How to say it

Negotiate after-tax dollars, not headline total compensation. You are $13,558 a year behind after tax and local prices.
Lead with base of $207,000. If they say the band is closed, move to $69,000 more grant or a signing mix that equals the same after-tax number.
Do not send this page. Send the short note. If they ask how you got the number, say after-tax, cost of living, and a conservative read on equity.
Pike’s public restricted stock units (RSUs) are real income. They still do not cover a $13,558 hole after tax and local prices.
Nothing counts unless it is in the written offer. “We’ll look at refresh in year two” is how this gap survives.

Do not say

Naming Northline unless they ask. “A competing package” is enough.
Sending a spreadsheet or a tax lecture.
Apologizing for asking.
Trading the gap for a title, a level, or a future refresh promise.

Send this

Short. No apology. The number is the argument.

Subject

Offer from Pike

Thank you for the offer from Pike. I want to take it.

I have another offer that comes out about $13,558 a year ahead after tax and cost of living. I’m not asking you to match a headline number. I’m asking to close that gap.

Any one of these does it:
• Base of $207,000
• Additional equity of $69,000 over the vest
• A mix of signing and refresh that lands in the same place after tax

I can sign this week once that’s in the written offer.

True Keep is adjusted for local prices (New York City = 128 vs. 100 US average).
New York City personal income tax is included for New York City offers.