RSU Calculator

Meet Sofia. Her offer letter includes a $100,000 RSU grant, and the recruiter said it "vests over four years." In her head, that's an extra $25,000 a year, basically a fat bonus. Then she looked at how restricted stock units actually pay out, and the picture got more complicated, and more interesting.

First, the schedule. Most grants vest 25% per year over four years, often with a one-year cliff. So Sofia gets nothing for the first 12 months, then $25,000 worth of shares at each anniversary, assuming the stock price holds. If she leaves before year one, she walks away with zero. The grant isn't a signing bonus; it's a four-year retention deal paid in stock.

Second, taxes. RSUs are taxed as ordinary income the moment they vest, based on the share price that day. When Sofia's first $25,000 tranche vests, it's added to her wages. Her employer typically withholds around 22% federally for supplemental income, but if her marginal rate is higher, say 32% combined with state tax, she may owe more at filing. On that $25,000 vest, roughly $8,000 goes to taxes, leaving about $17,000 in actual shares she keeps.

Third, the price moves. RSUs are valued at whatever the stock is worth on the vesting date, not the grant date. If the share price doubles, Sofia's tranche is worth far more than $25,000. If it halves, it's worth far less. The $100,000 number on her offer is an estimate anchored to today's price, not a promise.

This calculator turns that fuzzy grant into concrete projections. Enter your grant value, vesting schedule, share price, and tax rate, and it shows what vests each year, the tax hit at each vesting event, and your real after-tax proceeds. Before you count RSUs as part of your compensation, this is the math that tells you what you'll actually keep.