Congrats to all the graduates (or soon to be graduates) in the class of 2026. I hope you are employed as heck and looking forward to starting out your career.

If you received multiple offers though, it can be daunting to choose the right one. Between locations, base pay, stock options and RSUs, insurance and more, there is a lot to consider.

The problem is that most of us don't do the math. We see a bigger number and assume it's the better deal. But that’s not always the case.

There are a lot of factors that go into determining which job is best, but comparing base pay between locations doesn’t have to be an uncertainty.

Offer Lab gives you a reasonable estimate of your take home pay after you provide your base pay and the city you live in.

Taxes, cost of living, and housing is all automatically calculated based on local medians, though you can edit those values to be more accurate if you wish.

The final result is an estimate of how much wiggle room with you will have in your budget, and you can even compare to another job offer after you see the result of the first one.

Every calculation has an explanation, and no data is stored. You can share your result with friends or family as well.

Keep in mind that while this tool helps with some of the financial picture, other considerations should go into the offer beyond pay. Quality of insurance, stock options offerings, and the city itself all are real factors. This tool is meant to answer the question of what will my regular budgeting actually look like.

Let me know what you think! As always, feedback is encouraged.

Thank you so much for being a part of this newsletter. I am grateful to write to you weekly and I hope this helps you feel more confident with your finances.

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