Family health premiums average $28,303. Compare benefits before you chase the higher salary.

The average annual premium for employer-sponsored family health coverage is $28,303 in 2026, according to KFF's Employer Health Benefits Survey, released October 22.

That total includes what the employer pays. Covered workers chip in $7,471 on average toward those family premiums, up 9%, or $621, from 2025. Single coverage averages $9,804, with workers contributing $1,672. Over the same period, wages rose 3.7% and inflation ran 2.7%.

KFF, the nonpartisan health-policy research organization formerly known as the Kaiser Family Foundation, based the findings on interviews with 1,937 non-federal public and private employers that have at least ten workers. The survey is its 28th annual read of job-based coverage, which still insures about 157 million people under 65. Family coverage in the survey means a family of four.

The number that belongs next to a salary offer is usually the worker share, not the $28,303 headline. Drew Altman, KFF's president and CEO, put the 9% jump in what workers pay toward family premiums alongside other reasons households feel squeezed by health costs. Matthew Rae, an associate director on KFF's health-care marketplace team and one of the survey's authors, told Fierce Healthcare the overall 5% premium rise is milder than some actuarial forecasts. Employers are still shifting costs and shopping plans to keep even that increase from running higher.

Firm size changes the math fast. Covered workers at small firms, those with 10 to 199 employees, contribute $9,687 on average toward family coverage. At large firms with 200 or more workers, the average is $6,840. That is a $2,847 gap before anyone opens a deductible. Thirteen percent of covered workers, and 31% of those at small firms, are in a plan where the worker's family contribution is $12,000 or more.

Deductibles sit on top of premiums. Among workers in a plan with a general annual deductible for single coverage, the average is $1,955. At small firms it averages $2,624; at large firms, $1,772. Eighty-eight percent of workers with single coverage face a deductible, and 38% face one of $2,000 or more, including 55% of covered workers at small firms.

Worst-case years diverge too. Among single-coverage plans with an out-of-pocket maximum, 14% cap in-network cost sharing at $2,000 or less and 24% sit above $6,000. Ask for the family deductible and the family out-of-pocket max on the summary of benefits. Those lines are often higher than the single averages KFF publishes.

Salary is still the first number on most offer screenshots. Benefits are where two offers that look $7,000 apart can flip. Here is a labeled hypothetical built from those KFF averages, plus common retirement and leave benchmarks. It is not from any real employer's packet.

Offer A pays $145,000 at a small-firm-style plan: $9,687 in annual family premiums from the worker, and a $2,624 single deductible as a stand-in for a stingier design. The 401(k) match tops out at 3% of pay, the value of a common Vanguard formula of 50 cents on the dollar up to 6% of pay. Paid vacation after one year is 11 days, the March 2026 Bureau of Labor Statistics average for private-industry workers who have vacation.

Offer B pays $138,000 at a large-firm-style plan: $6,840 in family premiums from the worker, and a $1,772 single deductible. The match tops out at 6% of pay if the employee defers enough to collect it. Paid vacation is 20 days a year, the BLS private-industry average after two decades of service, borrowed here as a richer leave line rather than a claim that every large firm starts you there on day one.

Offer A wins on cash by $7,000. Offer B wins on family premiums by $2,847. If both households hit their single-coverage deductible averages, Offer B saves another $852 that year. On a base near $140,000, a 6% match versus a 3% match is roughly $4,000 more into retirement when the employee actually captures the full match. Nine extra vacation days on Offer B are not a deposit, but at about $530 a day on the $138,000 salary they are roughly $4,800 of paid time Offer A does not have. Stack premium, deductible, and match alone and Offer A's $7,000 raise is already gone. Fold in leave and the lower cash offer pulls ahead on household math.

These are illustrations. Real plan documents will show different family deductibles, HSA contributions, vesting schedules, and waiting periods. Vanguard's How America Saves 2026 puts the average promised employer match at 4.7% of pay and the median at 4.0%, so a 3% line and a 6% line sit inside what people actually see. Taxes, stock grants, and bonus targets can swing either way. Write the worker premium, the deductible, the match you can actually collect, and the leave days next to the base salary before anyone declares a winner in the family chat.

Diaspora households often price offers as cash plus RSUs, then treat health and match as fine print. Remittances and a parent's U.S. medical visit make that fine print the budget. A startup offer that looks richer on LinkedIn can still lose to a slower large-employer package once the family premium and the deductible land in the same year as a surgery or a new baby.

Among large firms, 44% told KFF they raised the share of the premium workers pay in response to projected cost increases, and 21% raised deductibles or other cost sharing. Rae noted that deductibles have been relatively flat compared with the jump in worker premium contributions. The squeeze is showing up more often as a higher line on the paycheck, not only as a bigger bill at the clinic.

When two offers are open, ask HR for the employee cost for family coverage, the family deductible, the out-of-pocket maximum, the 401(k) match formula and vesting, and the leave policy in writing. Employer Benefits Open Enrollment Basics for First-Gen Professionals is the checklist for reading a benefits guide. Insurance Premium Benchmarks for Diaspora Households keeps the premium number in context. 401(k) Contribution Rate Benchmarks with Family Support Caps is how to keep the match from colliding with the wire home.

The $28,303 figure is the full premium. The $7,471 is closer to what the household feels. Put that second number next to the salary before you celebrate the raise.