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Salary Reality Check — rent vs savings left

Paste your CTC (as gross for tax), your rent, and a lifestyle tier — we estimate in-hand after tax/PF, stack a transparent month of non-rent spend, and show what’s left to save. Built for offers and city trade-offs; not a substitute for your bank statement or tax filing.

Content reviewed: March 2026FY 2025–26 (AY 2026–27) tax slabs in engineRules aligned: Union Budget 2025 — new regime slabs & Section 87A (≤₹12L taxable); cess 4%

How SalaryExit calculates estimates (methodology, FY scope, and limits).

This is a decision assistant: compare whether an offer leaves meaningful savings after a transparent spend model. Defaults are visible and editable so nothing feels like a black box.

Reality check

CTC is a headline; rent is usually the villain in Indian metros. This tool doesn’t judge your choices — it shows, under editable defaults, whether there’s any cushion left after tax/PF and a lifestyle-shaped month. If the verdict feels harsh, the fix is often ₹5–15k rent or one lifestyle tier, not a lecture.

It works best when you’re comparing two offers, two cities, or “can I afford this lease?” It does not replace a budget with your actual card statements — override every expense line until it feels like your life, not ours.

“Is this salary enough?” — real city scenarios

Same Salary Reality Check engine, fixed rent + lifestyle story per page — jump in and edit the numbers.

Required inputs

  • Annual CTC (₹) — treated as gross for tax/PF like CTC→in-hand
  • Metro vs non-metro (commute default band)
  • Monthly rent (₹)
  • Lifestyle level (initial values for non-rent spend — override per line if needed)

Interpreted as annual gross for tax — align with how you compare offers.

City

Your actual or expected rent; 0 if not paying rent.

Lifestyle level (default non-rent bands)

Moderate: Balanced mix: occasional dining out, reasonable commute, typical household utilities.

How default expenses are chosen

Defaults are rounded monthly bands for a single-earner household — not a budget app. They scale with lifestyle tier (how you eat, travel, and spend) and use a higher commute band in metro areas where distances and fares tend to run higher.

Metro vs non-metro: Metro uses the higher commute figure from our internal table; non-metro uses the lower one. Groceries, utilities, and discretionary still follow the tier you pick — city size mainly shifts the commute line.

Lifestyle tiers: Basic assumes lean essentials; moderate is a balanced mix; premium assumes higher food quality, comfort-first commute, and more dining/entertainment. Edit any line to match your reality.

Tax regime (in-hand)

New is the default for comparing recent offers (no 80C/HRA detail here). Old uses the same slab engine; this screen only includes employee PF in the 80C bucket — use the salary breakdown or CTC→in-hand tool for fuller old-regime inputs.

% of gross → PF base

Employee PF follows statutory rules on Basic+DA. When your payslip split is unknown, we assume Basic+DA = this share of annual gross (default 45%). Adjust to match your offer letter.

Monthly spend model (₹)

Values below default from your tier and city; edit any field — savings update instantly.

Food and household essentials.

Metro-area default band.

Power, internet, phone, subscriptions.

Dining out, entertainment, misc. discretionary.

Enter valid annual CTC and monthly rent to see estimated in-hand, modeled spend, savings, and a verdict. Change tax regime, Basic+DA %, or any expense line — numbers update as you type.

Assumptions used by this estimate

  • In-hand uses the same CTC→in-hand engine: tax regime you select, employee PF from Basic+DA (share of gross you set), default annual professional tax placeholder.
  • Rent is the only housing cost you enter — maintenance, society charges, or EMI are not modeled separately.
  • Groceries, commute, utilities, and discretionary default from the lifestyle tier table; you can override any line — totals update immediately.
  • Household size, dependents, debt, and insurance are not modeled — use this as a directional decision view.

Worked example (same engine as live calculator)

Example: CTC ₹18,00,000/year, metro, rent ₹28,000/month, moderate lifestyle, new regime, Basic+DA 45% of gross. The tool estimates in-hand via the same engine as CTC→in-hand, then adds non-rent spend (groceries, commute, utilities, discretionary). Edit any line to mirror your budget — the story updates immediately.

Next steps

Refine or compare offers with the same methodology.

Compare with another offerOpen CTC → in-hand detail

FAQ

Is this my actual bank balance?

No. In-hand is modeled from CTC; expenses are bands you can override. Use it to compare scenarios and city/rent trade-offs.

Why does my lifestyle change savings so much?

Non-rent defaults scale with the tier you pick — groceries, commute, utilities, and discretionary all move together in the table until you edit them.

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