How do you negotiate a raise, and when should you ask?

The first raise I negotiated, I asked in the wrong month. I had the results, I had the market data, and my manager agreed I had earned more. What he no longer had was budget: the raise pool had been set weeks earlier, and every dollar in it was spoken for. Nobody had told me raises are decided before the conversation about them happens. That is the kind of rule people from established professional families absorb at the dinner table, and first-generation professionals learn by losing money.

Here is how to negotiate a raise with the rules in view: when to ask, how much to ask for, what California law already gives you, and what to do if the answer is no.

When is the best time to ask for a raise?

Before the budget is set, not after. In Mercer’s July 2026 survey of 1,001 U.S. employers, 87% said their 2027 salary budgets were still preliminary. Most companies finalize the pool in the fall and divide it at review time. By your review, your manager is usually allocating a fixed amount, not deciding whether to find more. If you want to see how employers run these cycles, I review the tools in my performance management software guide.

So ask two to three months before your company’s budget cycle closes. For a calendar-year employer, that means September through November. Ask your manager directly: “When are next year’s raise budgets set, and what input do you have?” The answer tells you your deadline.

The annual cycle is not the only door. The same Mercer survey found 64% of employers give off-cycle increases. A promotion, a major new responsibility, a retention risk or a market adjustment can all justify a raise in the middle of the year, and they are easier to win when you name the trigger. Geography matters too, see the Bay Bridge pay gap for HR managers.

How much should you ask for?

Start from what your employer will do by default. Employers plan a 3.2% average merit increase for 2027 and 3.5% in total once promotions and adjustments are counted, according to Mercer, and WTW’s survey of 1,650 U.S. companies points to 3.4%. If you say nothing, expect a number near those. Rising premiums eat raises, see what to check at open enrollment.

Then measure what the market would pay you. The Atlanta Fed’s Wage Growth Tracker shows the gap clearly: in September 2026, people who changed jobs saw median pay growth of 4.7%, compared with 3.4% for people who stayed. That gap is roughly what loyalty costs, and it is the room your negotiation lives in.

Your ask is the distance between the default raise and your market rate. If your role pays 12% more elsewhere, asking for 4% leaves most of it on the table. Use the cost of the first offer math to see what a few points compound to over a decade, and bring one number, not a range. A range tells your manager to pick the bottom.

What does California law give you before you ask?

Two rights matter most for a raise: your employer must give you the pay scale for the position you hold now when you ask (Labor Code 432.3), and it cannot stop you from discussing pay with coworkers (Labor Code 232). The full set is in the California laws to know before you negotiate, and discussing salary with coworkers covers how to compare notes safely.

The raise-specific move: request your pay scale in writing a few weeks before the conversation. If you sit near the bottom of the range after strong reviews, the employer’s own numbers make your case.

How do you ask for a raise with your boss?

Put the case in writing first, then have the conversation. A one-page summary does three things a conversation cannot: it survives being forwarded to the person who approves budgets, it keeps you from talking yourself down, and it creates a record.

• Results since your last increase: revenue, savings, projects shipped, people trained, with a number on each where one exists.
• Scope growth: responsibilities you have taken on that were not in the role when your pay was set.
• Market evidence: pay data for your role and city, plus your position in the pay scale.
• One number: the salary you are asking for, stated as a figure, not a percentage.

In the meeting, keep it short: “Over the last year I took on vendor management and cut onboarding time by a third. Market pay for this role in the Bay Area is about $X, and I’m currently in the lower part of our range. I’m asking to move to $Y in this cycle. What would you need from me to support that?” Then stop talking. The question at the end turns your manager from a judge into a partner, and the silence after it is part of the negotiation.

Leave rent, childcare and family obligations out of the case. Those pressures are real, and if you carry them, the guide to negotiating while supporting family covers how they shape your number. But a raise is approved on the value of the work, so argue the work.

Does asking actually work?

Usually. In PayScale’s study of 160,000 workers, 70% of people who asked for a raise received one: 39% got what they asked for and 31% got less. Only 37% had ever asked.

The same 2018 study found the answer depends on who is asking. No racial or gender group asked more often than any other, but women of color were 19% less likely than white men to receive a raise, and men of color were 25% less likely (HR Executive). That is not a reason to skip the ask. It is a reason to make the case in writing, anchor on the employer’s own pay scale and keep a record, because documented requests are harder to wave off. The research on Black candidates and negotiation points the same way.

What if the answer is no?

The most common reason employers give is budget: 49% in the PayScale study, and only 22% of the workers who heard it believed it. Whether or not it is true, a no is the start of the next negotiation, not the end of this one.

• Ask what specifically would justify the raise, and get the criteria in an email.
• Ask for a date to revisit, ideally before the next budget cycle closes, not after.
• Ask whether anything else can move now: title, a one-time bonus, training budget, remote days.
• Keep testing the market. An outside offer is the clearest evidence of your value, and comparing offers side by side shows whether leaving beats staying.

If you want help building the case, setting the number or rehearsing the conversation, salary negotiation is the core of my career coaching work, and the salary negotiation script pack has the exact wording for the ask, the follow-up email and the response to a no.

McKinley holds a J.D. but is not a licensed attorney. Articles here are general information, not legal advice. For your specific situation, talk with an employment attorney.

Data current as of September 2026. Sources are linked where each figure appears.