Solicitor salary UK 2026: average pay, take-home and career stage
The average solicitor salary is £73,424. Compare gross and estimated after-tax monthly pay, the published salary range, and careful context for trainee, newly qualified and London solicitor salaries.
How to read the official solicitor salary figure
Solicitor salary headlines are often dominated by a small number of firms and locations. The ONS middle figure gives a steadier national view, but the source group is called Solicitors and lawyers, so it is broader than solicitors alone. It also covers a wide mix of practice areas, seniority and employers. Typical full-time pay is well above the typical full-time UK pay, while the higher published point shows how far the upper end can stretch.
The mean is much higher than the middle, which is a sign that large salaries at the top pull the simple average upwards. Use the range as a national guide, then judge a real offer against qualification stage, location, billable expectations, practice area and any bonus. The ONS does not publish the top 10% point for this group.
Which legal jobs this salary page covers
The ONS group is called Solicitors and lawyers, so it is broader than a perfectly clean solicitor-only sample. It is still a useful national guide when that limitation is kept visible.
Good fit for this page
- Qualified solicitors and closely related lawyer roles in the ONS group
- Private practice, public-sector and in-house employee salaries
- Guaranteed employee pay before separately valuing bonus
Use a different comparison for
- Paralegals, legal secretaries and support staff
- A trainee salary compared directly with a senior qualified role
- A small set of City-firm headlines treated as the whole UK market
Lower, typical and higher solicitor pay
Only £6,667 separates the median from the published 60th percentile. A quick glance cannot show where your own pay sits inside that band or how close you are to the next salary point.
- Lower pay10th percentile£29,279
- Lower-middle pay25th percentile£42,015
- Typical payMedian£56,977
- Higher pay75th percentile£77,509
Moving from the median to the published 60th percentile is £6,667 gross a year, or about £322 more a month after standard tax and employee National Insurance.
Compare your confirmed solicitor salary with the wider ONS range, then see take-home pay and True Wage after the hours and costs attached to the role.
From the median to the published 60th percentile is £6,667 gross a year, worth about £322 more a month after standard tax and employee National Insurance.
Every published solicitor salary point
See every published salary point
| Pay point | Annual salary | How to read it |
|---|---|---|
| 10th percentile | £29,279 | Below the occupation midpoint |
| 20th percentile | £38,007 | Below the occupation midpoint |
| 25th percentile | £42,015 | Below the occupation midpoint |
| 30th percentile | £44,585 | Below the occupation midpoint |
| 40th percentile | £50,999 | Below the occupation midpoint |
| Median | £56,977 | The published midpoint |
| 60th percentile | £63,644 | Above the occupation midpoint |
| 70th percentile | £72,546 | Above the occupation midpoint |
| 75th percentile | £77,509 | Above the occupation midpoint |
| 80th percentile | £84,961 | Above the occupation midpoint |
The paid report estimates a position between two published points. It does not claim an exact ranking of every worker.
Solicitor salary per month and after tax
At the average solicitor salary of £73,424, gross pay is about £6,119 a month. A standard 2026/27 estimate gives solicitor take-home pay of about £4,429 a month after tax and employee National Insurance. The ONS median remains £56,977 and is shown in the detailed pay range below.
The estimate uses the standard Personal Allowance, Income Tax bands for England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and employee National Insurance. It does not include pension, student loan, salary sacrifice or a different tax code. Scottish Income Tax is different.
Average solicitor salary and the wider pay range
The lower published point is £29,279, the typical salary is £56,977, and the highest published point, the 80th percentile is £84,961. The simple average is £73,424, which is pulled upwards by higher salaries.
The simple average is lifted by high salaries at the top, so the middle figure is the safer starting point for most comparisons. Even then, the official group is broader than a single solicitor role. Location, firm size, practice area and post-qualification experience remain essential context.
Trainee, newly qualified and London solicitor salaries
Legal pay varies sharply by qualification stage, firm and location. The ONS distribution gives a national occupation benchmark; the selected published examples below show why one trainee or NQ headline cannot represent the whole market.
| Published comparison | Salary | What it shows |
|---|---|---|
| Law Society recommended trainee minimum | £24,916 outside London £28,090 in London | Voluntary guidance, not a statutory minimum.Checked 26 July 2026 |
| Dentons NQ examples | £65,000 Scotland £70,000 Milton Keynes £104,000 London | One national firm showing the location spread.Chambers Student table checked 26 July 2026 |
| Clifford Chance NQ | £150,000 London | A large City firm example, far above the national median.Checked 26 July 2026 |
| Quinn Emanuel NQ | £189,000 London | A record top-end US-firm example, not a typical NQ salary.Reported June 2026 |
These are selected public examples, not market averages. Firm salaries can change quickly and may exclude or include different bonus arrangements. Always check the current employer information before relying on a figure.
Why the ONS average is much higher than the median
The £56,977 median describes the middle full-time employee job in the wider “Solicitors and lawyers” occupation. The £73,424 average is pulled upwards by a smaller number of very high salaries. That £16,447 gap is useful evidence of a strongly skewed market, not a contradiction.
Law Society trainee guidanceLaw firm salaries comparedTop-end NQ example
Useful next step: compare the national figure with the wider London salary market, or check deductions on a nearby £60,000 salary.
What usually changes solicitor pay
Legal salary headlines tend to focus on the most competitive firms. The national occupation range is wider and includes different locations, practice areas, employers and levels of experience.
Qualification stage and experience
Trainees, newly qualified solicitors and experienced lawyers have different responsibility. Post-qualification experience is an essential part of any comparison.
Firm, sector and location
A regional practice, public body, in-house team and large commercial firm can offer very different pay, hours and promotion routes.
Practice area and client responsibility
Complex transactions, litigation, regulated work and responsibility for major clients can change both workload and market value.
Hours, targets and bonus
A higher salary may sit beside longer hours, on-call work, billable targets or variable bonus. Compare the whole bargain rather than the base figure alone.
Qualification, legal work and progression
The National Careers Service describes solicitors as advising clients, drafting documents, researching law and acting on a client’s behalf. Typical hours can be long, and some roles involve being on call at short notice.
The current qualification route normally includes passing SQE1 and SQE2, completing two years of qualifying work experience and meeting the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s character and suitability requirements. Degree apprenticeships and work-based routes are also available.
Career paths vary between private practice, in-house work, government and the wider public sector. Experienced solicitors may specialise, manage teams, become partners or move into senior in-house responsibility. These routes help explain why the mean can be pulled well above the middle salary.
What to check in a solicitor offer
The most useful comparison puts salary beside hours, qualification stage and the work you will actually own.
- Is the salary for a trainee, newly qualified solicitor or an experienced hire?
- What billing targets, working hours, on-call duties and travel are expected?
- How much of the package is guaranteed salary, bonus or other variable pay?
- What training, SQE support, pension, leave and progression route are included?
Where the salary and industry information comes from
The pay figures are from the Office for National Statistics Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, Table 14, 2025 provisional edition. They cover full-time employee jobs, and annual figures normally relate to people who have been in the same job for more than one year. They do not cover self-employed people.
| Official job group | Solicitors and lawyers. This is broader than solicitors alone. |
|---|---|
| Quality | ONS rates this estimate precise (CV of 5% or less). The published median CV is 4.5%. In plain English, this is one of the more dependable ONS estimates for the occupation. |
| Jobs in the estimate | About 106,000 employee jobs |
| Career and role source | National Careers Service: Solicitor Qualification route, duties, working pattern and career context. View source |
Where ONS leaves a salary point blank, this page leaves it blank too. A missing top 10% figure is never filled with an estimate.
View the ONS salary tableCheck the 2026/27 tax and NI figures
Solicitor salary questions
What is the average solicitor salary in the UK?
The simple average solicitor salary is £73,424. The ONS full-time median is £56,977 and is usually the safer starting point because the average is pulled upwards by high salaries.
How much is a solicitor salary per month after tax?
The £56,977 median is about £4,748 gross per month. A standard 2026/27 estimate gives take-home pay of about £3,634 a month after Income Tax and employee National Insurance, before pension or student loan deductions.
What is a trainee solicitor salary?
ONS does not publish a fixed trainee rate in this table. The 10th-percentile figure is £29,279, but trainee pay varies by employer, region, qualification route and contract.
What is a newly qualified solicitor salary?
There is no single national NQ rate in the ONS table. The wider occupation median is £56,977, but newly qualified pay can differ sharply by firm, location, practice area, hours and bonus.
What is a solicitor salary in London?
This page uses UK-wide ONS data and does not claim a London-specific figure. Compare the national range with the actual firm, practice area, hours, targets, bonus and benefits.
Is £56,977 a good salary for a solicitor?
It is the official middle salary for full-time solicitors and lawyers and is 46% higher than the UK full-time median of £39,039.
What do higher-paid solicitors earn?
ONS does not publish the 90th percentile for this occupation. The highest available point is the 80th percentile at £84,961, so no top-10% figure is claimed.