This page is built for one job: telling you where a salary ranks without making you dig through raw percentile tables. Enter a gross annual income and PayPrecise will show the approximate percentile, the nearest major benchmark, and the matching take-home-pay estimate on the same page.
Use the calculator for ranking, then open the dedicated threshold page when you need a single-number answer.
Use this page to see what percentile your salary falls into in the UK, then compare it with the benchmark points people actually search for: median, top 25%, top 20%, top 10%, top 5% and top 1%.
If your result says 60th percentile, your income is above roughly 60 out of 100 comparable UK taxpayer incomes. If it says top 40%, that is the same idea from the other direction — you are inside the higher-paid 40% rather than above 60% of people.
Use this as a quick guide to the rounded HMRC-led benchmark points used on this page.
| Percentile point | Approx income | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Median / 50th percentile | £28,400 | Roughly halfway up the UK individual income range. |
| 75th percentile / top 25% | £45,000 | Higher than about three quarters of comparable incomes. |
| 80th percentile / top 20% | £52,000 | Into the top fifth of individual UK incomes. |
| 90th percentile / top 10% | £64,800 | A strong upper-income benchmark. |
| 95th percentile / top 5% | £85,000 | Well above most taxpayer incomes. |
| 99th percentile / top 1% | £201,000 | An unusually high income level. |
| Primary source | How PayPrecise uses it | Link |
|---|---|---|
| HMRC percentile points for total income before and after tax | Anchor source for median, top-decile and top-1% taxpayer-income benchmarks and the percentile ladder used on this page. | View source |
| Income Tax rates and allowances (2025 to 2026) | Used for current UK and Scottish tax bands shown in calculator outputs. | View source |
| National Insurance rates and categories | Used for employee NI calculations. | View source |
| ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings 2025 | Used for salary-context comparisons where employee-earnings medians or regional pay context are relevant. | View source |
Percentile estimates are rounded comparison outputs. Final payroll numbers still depend on tax codes, salary sacrifice, pension settings, benefits and individual circumstances.
| Page | Why it is relevant |
|---|---|
| Top 50% salary UK | Useful if you want the quickest benchmark for whether a salary is above the broad UK midpoint. |
| Top 25% salary UK | A stronger upper-income benchmark when you want to see whether a salary is comfortably above average. |
| Top 20% salary UK | Best when you want to compare with a higher-earning benchmark around £52,000. |