What is a reasonable counter-offer percentage?

"How much more should I ask for?" is the single most common question in salary negotiation, and most answers you'll find online give you a flat number — "ask for 10-20% more" — without explaining when that's right and when it's wrong.

The honest answer: it depends on what kind of counter you're making. Here's the breakdown by situation.

Countering a new job offer

10–20% above the initial offer is the typical range, but where you land in that range depends on two things — how much leverage you have (competing offers, hard-to-fill skills, urgency on their end) and how far the offer sits from your actual walk-away number. If the offer already sits close to what you'd accept, stay toward the lower end. If there's real daylight between the offer and your minimum, and you have leverage, the higher end is reasonable.

Countering a raise at a performance review

This is a different animal. You're not negotiating against an external offer, you're asking your current employer to move an existing number. Typical successful asks here run 3–8% above whatever the standard review increase would be — asking for 20% more at a routine review, with no outside offer or major scope change behind it, usually reads as unrealistic and can undercut your credibility.

Countering after a promotion

Promotions are notorious for lowball increases (companies often default to the smallest bump that technically reflects the new title). A 10–15% increase from your pre-promotion salary is a reasonable opening ask if the role genuinely changed — more if the new role has a materially wider scope or you have market data showing the role's band sits meaningfully higher.

The variable that changes everything: leverage

All of the above assumes average leverage. If you have a competing offer in hand, or you're one of very few people who can do this specific job, you can reasonably push toward the top of every range above — sometimes past it. If you have no other options and need this specific role, staying conservative protects the relationship and your credibility more than it costs you in dollars.

Rather than memorising ranges, the fastest way to get a real number for your specific situation is to run it through our counter-offer calculator — it takes your offer, your walk-away number, and how much leverage you have on both sides, and gives you a target range in under a minute.

Once you have your number, the harder part is usually saying it out loud without flinching. Our posts on what to say when you're lowballed and scripts for every pushback cover exactly that.