Educational only: Work and pay decision support, not tax, legal, financial or career advice.
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Update policy: Reviewed when formulas or official dependencies change.
Scope: Market-neutral work and pay planning using your own assumptions.
What this calculator helps you decide
Best for
Testing whether an entered relocation gain recovers unreimbursed moving costs.
Outputs
Horizon net gain, annual and monthly recurring gain, and unreimbursed cost.
Start here
Enter both compensation figures, recurring costs, moving costs and the horizon.
- Close-intent boundary
- Do not use this to estimate salary parity between locations; use Relocation Salary Equivalent Calculator.
Compare commute, remote work and relocation
Relocation Moving Cost Payback: horizon net gain
Horizon net gain, annual and monthly recurring gain, and unreimbursed cost.
Relocation payback assumptions
Enter both compensation figures, recurring cost change and unreimbursed moving costs.
Your numbers stay in this browser
Current annual cash compensation before entered recurring costs.
New annual cash compensation before entered recurring costs.
One-time moving costs paid for the relocation.
Whole months over which to measure the net relocation gain.
Cost reimbursement and comparison horizonOpen the assumptions you are less likely to change on every comparison.
Current annual recurring costs included in this comparison.
New annual recurring costs included in this comparison.
Other one-time relocation costs included in the scenario.
Employer reimbursement or contribution toward the entered one-time costs.
Calculated result
Recurring gain, unreimbursed cost and horizon outcome remain separate.
Use one currency consistently across all inputs.
PDF and CSV exports stay on this device. Clean page links contain no inputs.
Scenario comparison
Each row names the assumption axis changed from the baseline.
ScenarioResultDifference
Entered scenario12,000.00Baseline
New annual compensation: 75,600.00 currency units19,200.007,200.00
Save these results, change an input, then compare the updated figures with this baseline.
The baseline is temporary in this tab and is not added to shared scenario links or generated reports.
Calculation details
View calculation detailsView the formulas and inputs used for these results.
Net gain over horizon
Horizon net gain
horizonNetGain = monthlyGain × horizonMonths − unreimbursedCost12,000.00 currency unitsResult12,000.00 currency units
Monthly gain over the entered horizon less unreimbursed one-time costs. Displayed using the engine-rounded value.
Net gain over horizon formula →Annual recurring gain
Annual recurring gain
annualGain = newAnnualCompensation − currentAnnualCompensation − (newAnnualRecurringCosts − currentAnnualRecurringCosts)9,000.00 currency unitsResult9,000.00 currency units
New less current compensation, adjusted for the entered recurring-cost difference. Displayed using the engine-rounded value.
Annual recurring gain formula →Monthly recurring gain
Monthly recurring gain
monthlyGain = annualGain ÷ 12750.00 currency unitsResult750.00 currency units
Annual recurring gain divided by 12. Displayed using the engine-rounded value.
Monthly recurring gain formula →Unreimbursed one-time cost
Unreimbursed cost
unreimbursedCost = movingCosts + otherOneTimeCosts − employerContribution6,000.00 currency unitsResult6,000.00 currency units
Moving and other one-time costs less the entered employer contribution. Displayed using the engine-rounded value.
Unreimbursed one-time cost formula →Inputs used
- Current annual compensation
- 60,000.00 currency units
- New annual compensation
- 72,000.00 currency units
- Current recurring costs
- 0.00 currency units
- New recurring costs
- 3,000.00 currency units
- Moving costs
- 8,000.00 currency units
- Other one-time costs
- 0.00 currency units
- Employer contribution
- 2,000.00 currency units
- Comparison horizon
- 24
Open this calculator with preset values
This calculator supports documented, shareable scenario URLs. Compatible assistants and applications can construct links using the parameters below.
Scenario values are visible in the URL, calculations run in the browser, and optional saved state stays only on this device. Anyone you share the URL with can read those numbers, so do not include private or identifying data.
| Parameter | Meaning | Unit | Allowed values | Presence | Default |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| currentAnnualCompensation | Current annual cash compensation before entered recurring costs. | currency units/year | 0 to 100000000 | Required | 60000 |
| newAnnualCompensation | New annual cash compensation before entered recurring costs. | currency units/year | 0 to 100000000 | Required | 72000 |
| currentAnnualRecurringCosts | Current annual recurring costs included in this comparison. | currency units/year | 0 to 100000000 | Required | 0 |
| newAnnualRecurringCosts | New annual recurring costs included in this comparison. | currency units/year | 0 to 100000000 | Required | 3000 |
| movingCosts | One-time moving costs paid for the relocation. | currency units | 0 to 100000000 | Required | 8000 |
| otherOneTimeCosts | Other one-time relocation costs included in the scenario. | currency units | 0 to 100000000 | Required | 0 |
| employerContribution | Employer reimbursement or contribution toward the entered one-time costs. | currency units | 0 to 100000000 | Required | 2000 |
| horizonMonths | Whole months over which to measure the net relocation gain. | months | 1 to 600 | Required | 24 |
Relocation Moving Cost Payback: horizon net gain
Keep recurring gain and unreimbursed cost visible beside the horizon result.
Formula summary
- Primary formula
- horizonNetGain = monthlyGain × horizonMonths − unreimbursedCost
Data used here
- The estimate uses your inputs and the work-value formula documented in the methodology.
Decision checks
Act on the result
Verify moving-cost reimbursement and recurring costs independently.
Stress-test the decision
Retest new compensation and the comparison horizon.
When this estimate can be misleading
- No tax, inflation, cost-of-living dataset or local relocation rule is applied.
- A negative or zero recurring gain may never recover one-time costs.
- The numeric cards omit the engine payback status when no finite payback exists.
- Keep recurring gain and unreimbursed cost visible beside the horizon result.
Educational estimate, not advice. See all assumptions & limitations →
Related reading
Use these practical guides to interpret the decision and its assumptions.
- How to use the Relocation Moving Cost Payback calculator
Estimate relocation payback from user-entered compensation, recurring costs and moving costs without tax or cost-of-living data.
Read guide
Frequently asked questions
How long does the entered relocation gain take to recover my moving costs?
Verify moving-cost reimbursement and recurring costs independently.
Which official source and period does this use?
This market-neutral tool does not use an official local policy rule.
Can I share or save a scenario?
Tool inputs and results stay in this browser. Anonymous categorical usage analytics send only governed page, tool, cluster and action identifiers; tool inputs and results are never sent. Error monitoring is disabled. Optional saved state stays only on this device.
Which assumptions should I stress-test around break-even?
Test values just above and below break-even and verify the contribution and fixed-cost assumptions before relying on the threshold.