What is the average salary in the UK?
Here's the honest answer: it depends on who you're counting. The number you're most likely looking for — a benchmark for a typical full-time job — is the median salary of £39,039. That's the midpoint figure from the ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, which means exactly half of full-time employees earn more than that, and half earn less.
You'll also see figures like £32,890 (the all-employee median) and £48,500 (the full-time mean) quoted in headlines. The lower figure is because it pulls in part-time workers too. The higher one gets dragged up by a relatively small number of very high earners — which is why the mean rarely feels like "the average" when you compare it to your own payslip.
The most useful thing you can do with any of these numbers is use them as a starting point, not an answer. Your age, your region and what actually hits your bank account each month all matter a lot more than a single national figure.
Average salary UK: key figures for 2026
There isn't one single "average UK salary" — there are several, and they each measure something slightly different. The table below shows the main ones. Short version: use the full-time median (£39,039) if you're comparing a full-time salary; use the all-employee median (£32,890) if you want to include the whole workforce. And don't be thrown off by the mean — it always runs higher because a small number of people earn very large salaries, pulling the overall figure up.
| Measure | Latest figure | Best used for |
|---|---|---|
| Full-time median salary | £39,039 | The typical full-time worker benchmark |
| Full-time mean (average) salary | About £48,500 | Showing how high earners push the overall figure up |
| All-employee median salary | £32,890 | The whole employee market, including part-time roles |
| Part-time median salary | £14,713 | Part-time employee pay, not directly comparable with full-time annual pay |
| All-employee mean (average) salary | £40,269 | A broader average across all employees |
| Median hourly pay | £18.00 | Comparing hourly-paid work with salaried roles |
Bottom line: if you're asking "is my full-time salary above average?", £39,039 is your number. If you want to see where you sit across the whole workforce — part-time included — use £32,890 instead.
Average salary by age in the UK
Pay doesn't stand still — it tends to grow through your twenties and thirties as you gain experience, take on more responsibility and switch roles for better money. That's why comparing yourself to a single national figure can be misleading. Someone earning £28,000 at 24 is doing well relative to their peers; the same salary at 44 tells a very different story.
| Age group | Median annual salary | How to read it |
|---|---|---|
| 18–21 | £13,069 | Mostly entry-level, apprenticeships, part-time and early work |
| 22–29 | £29,855 | Early-career benchmark after education or first few roles |
| 30–39 | £36,000 | Established-career benchmark |
| 40–49 | £37,734 | Highest median age band in the latest data |
| 50–59 | £34,835 | Often flatter pay growth, role changes or fewer hours for some workers |
| 60+ | £26,750 | Includes more part-time, semi-retired and reduced-hours work |
To put it in real terms: a £40,000 salary at 25 isn't just above the national full-time median — it's well above the typical wage for your age group. The same salary at 45 is still solid, but it sits much closer to the peak-earning bands, so the comparison looks quite different. Age context matters.
Average salary by region
Location changes everything. The same salary can feel very comfortable in one part of the country and genuinely tight in another — especially once you factor in rent, commuting costs and general cost of living. London consistently tops the regional pay table, but it's worth remembering that £39,000 in London and £39,000 in the North East are quite different financial realities.
| Region | Median annual salary | Quick context |
|---|---|---|
| London | £39,778 | Highest regional median, but housing and commuting costs are also higher |
| South East | £35,215 | Above-average pay, especially around commuter towns |
| East | £34,104 | Above the UK all-employee median |
| Scotland | £33,061 | Sits above most regions outside southern England |
| South West | £31,432 | Close to the regional middle of the pack |
| West Midlands | £31,345 | Very close to the North West and Northern Ireland |
| North West | £31,330 | Near the UK regional middle |
| Northern Ireland | £31,252 | Similar to several English regions |
| Wales | £30,732 | Below the UK all-employee median |
| East Midlands | £30,690 | Below the UK all-employee median |
| Yorkshire and The Humber | £30,682 | Below the UK all-employee median |
| North East | £29,584 | Lowest regional median in this dataset |
The national figure is a useful starting point, but it smooths over some very real differences between regions. A better approach is to layer them: start with the national median, check the regional median for your area, then look at what actually lands in your account each month. That three-step check gives you a much clearer picture than a single headline number.
Average salary before and after tax
This is where the numbers get real. Every salary figure from the ONS is gross — meaning it's before Income Tax, National Insurance, pension contributions and student loan repayments come off. The number on your contract and the money that arrives in your account can look very different, and for most people the gap is significant.
The table below shows what some common salary benchmarks actually look like in your pocket, based on 2026/27 England, Wales and Northern Ireland PAYE rates. These examples don't include pension or student loan deductions, so your real take-home may be a bit lower. If you are benchmarking the lower end of the pay scale, compare these figures with the UK minimum wage 2026 annual salary and take-home pay.
| Gross salary | Approx. annual take-home | Approx. monthly take-home | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|---|
| £25,000 | £21,520 | £1,793 | Common early-career comparison point |
| £32,890 | £27,200 | £2,267 | All-employee median |
| £39,039 | £31,628 | £2,636 | Full-time median |
| £48,500 | £38,440 | £3,203 | Approximate full-time mean |
| £60,000 | £45,357 | £3,780 | Higher earner, partly in higher-rate tax |
Worth noting: a £5,000 difference in gross salary doesn't mean a £5,000 difference in take-home. Tax and NI eat into each additional pound you earn, which is why the calculator above is useful if you have pension contributions, a student loan, a Scottish tax code or a bonus to account for — those details shift your monthly number more than most people expect.
Mean (average) vs median: which salary figure should you use?
The median is the middle value — line up every employee from lowest paid to highest, and the median is the person sitting right in the centre. It's the figure most people intuitively expect when they hear "average salary", and for good reason: it doesn't get pulled around by outliers.
The mean (average) is the traditional maths-class average: add all salaries up, divide by the number of workers. The problem is that a relatively small number of very high earners — think City traders, senior executives, top-flight footballers — drag it upwards significantly. That's why the full-time mean is around £48,500 while the median sits at £39,039. Neither figure is wrong; they just measure different things.
For everyday questions — "am I being paid fairly?", "is this job offer competitive?", "where do I sit?" — start with the median. The mean is more useful when you're trying to understand the overall shape of pay distribution, rather than benchmarking your own salary.
Is £40,000 a good salary in the UK?
Yes, £40,000 is above the UK full-time median of £39,039, so you're ahead of the midpoint for full-time workers. But "good" is always relative to a few other things: your age, where you live, and what that salary actually looks like after tax.
If you're in your twenties, £40,000 is genuinely strong — it's well above the 22–29 median of £29,855, which means you're comfortably ahead of your peer group. In your forties, it's still a decent salary but sits much closer to the peak-earning age bands, so the comparison isn't as flattering. And in London, where the median itself is £39,778 and housing costs are significantly higher, £40,000 can feel surprisingly tight once rent and commuting are factored in.
A quick sense-check: does your salary beat the national median, the median for your age group, and the median for your region? If it clears all three, it's a genuinely strong salary by most measures. If it only clears one or two, the answer gets more nuanced — and take-home pay is usually the most honest place to start.
What salary puts you in the top 10% in the UK?
It's one of the most searched salary questions, and the answer — based on ONS employee earnings data — is around £69,381. Earn above that, and you're in the top tenth of employees by pay.
One thing worth knowing: ONS employee salary data and HMRC taxpayer-income data aren't the same thing and shouldn't be mixed. ONS covers employment earnings. HMRC captures a broader income picture — including dividends and rental income — which is why its percentile thresholds can look different. If you see conflicting figures quoted elsewhere, that's usually the reason.
We've kept this page focused on employee salary benchmarks. If you want to dig into exactly where you rank, the dedicated guides go into much more detail: top 10%, top 5% and top 1%.
What counts as a middle-class income in the UK?
"Middle class" isn't a salary band — it never has been. It's a label that tends to bundle together income, occupation, education, homeownership, family background and sometimes just the way you speak. Which makes it pretty useless as a financial benchmark.
If you're trying to get a sense of where you sit financially, the full-time median of £39,039 is a much cleaner anchor. Earning above it means your salary is above the middle of the full-time pay range — that's a concrete, measurable fact. It doesn't tell you anything definitive about wealth, security or lifestyle, but it's a real data point rather than a vague social category.
The other thing worth remembering: household income often matters more than individual salary. Two people each earning £32,000 can genuinely live better than one person on £40,000, depending on costs, dependants and where they live. The single number on your payslip only tells part of the story.
Where these salary figures come from
The salary data on this page comes from the ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) — the UK's most comprehensive survey of employee pay. It's based on PAYE records and covers millions of jobs, which makes it the standard source for salary benchmarks. The latest available data is from the April 2025 ASHE release. When this page refers to "2026", that refers to the tax-year assumptions used in the calculator — the underlying salary figures are from that 2025 ONS release.
A few things worth knowing about how we use the data:
- Salary figures: ONS ASHE 2025 provisional data for employee earnings.
- Tax examples: 2026/27 Income Tax and employee National Insurance rates for England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
- Gross vs net: all ONS figures are before-tax pay; our take-home estimates deduct Income Tax and employee NI only, unless you add pension or student loan via the calculator.
- Dataset note: ONS employee salary data and HMRC taxpayer-income percentiles aren't interchangeable — they cover different populations and income types, so we keep them separate.
Use this page for employee salary benchmarks and take-home estimates. For high-income percentile comparisons — top 10%, 5%, 1% — the dedicated guides go deeper on how the data works.