Is Your Teacher Salary Above Average?
Enter your salary to see where it sits against UK teacher pay scales, London pay bands and the wider UK income distribution. Includes 2026/27 take-home after tax, NI and an optional pension estimate.
What this uses: your selected UK teacher pay scale, HMRC UK income data and 2026/27 take-home rules.
Add allowance▼
Where does a teacher salary actually sit?
A teacher salary needs two views: where it sits on your pay scale, and where it sits against all UK earners. That is why the calculator asks for only three things: salary, contract and pay scale.
The England median is £49,084 FTE. London has separate teacher pay bands, so choose London fringe, Outer London or Inner London if that applies.
Teacher pay benchmarks used on this page
A quick reference table for the main figures used on the page.
| Benchmark | Salary | Use in calculator |
|---|---|---|
| Qualified teacher minimum, England outside London | £32,916 | Early-career lower anchor |
| Experienced classroom teacher | £45,352 | Mid-to-upper classroom pay point |
| Median teacher FTE salary, England | £49,084 | Core teacher midpoint |
| Median secondary teacher salary | £52,475 | Phase-specific midpoint |
| Median Inner London teacher salary | £58,806 | London benchmark |
| Median leadership teacher salary | £66,919 | Senior-role benchmark |
| Median headteacher salary | £83,464 | Headteacher benchmark |
UK classroom teacher pay ranges used here
Choose the scale that matches your contract. These are the classroom ranges used by the calculator.
| Area | Minimum | Maximum | How to read it |
|---|---|---|---|
| England outside London | £32,916 | £51,048 | Main and upper pay range, 2025/26 |
| London fringe | £34,398 | £52,490 | Main and upper pay range, 2025/26 |
| Outer London | £37,870 | £56,154 | Main and upper pay range, 2025/26 |
| Inner London | £40,317 | £62,496 | Main and upper pay range, 2025/26 |
| Scotland | £36,159 | £54,453 | Probationer to main grade max, 2026 |
| Wales | £33,731 | £51,942 | Main and upper pay scale, 2025/26 |
| Northern Ireland | £32,916 | £50,876 | Main and upper pay scale, 2025/26 |
Why a general percentile calculator gives teachers the wrong answer
A generic UK percentile can make teacher pay look better or worse than it feels in the profession. Teachers are paid through set scales, so the useful question is usually: where am I on my scale?
The calculator still shows the wider UK rank, but keeps it separate from the teacher pay-scale result.
How teacher pay maps to UK income tiers
This is the wider-UK view. It compares individual income before tax, not household income.
| UK tier | Approx threshold | Where teachers typically land | Page |
|---|---|---|---|
| Top 1% | £207,000+ | Above standard teacher pay | Top 1% UK |
| Top 5% | £87,000+ | Senior leadership, headteachers | Top 5% UK |
| Top 10% | £67,400+ | Leadership group, large-school heads | Top 10% UK |
| Top 20% | £50,000+ | Inner London median, upper main range | Top 20% UK |
| Top 25% | £45,000+ | Around the England teacher median | Top 25% UK |
| Top 50% | £29,700+ | Most qualified classroom teachers | Top 50% UK |
For any salary not in the table, the UK salary percentile calculator gives a full individual-income comparison.
Teacher take-home pay at key salary points
Rounded examples using 2026/27 take-home rules and an optional teacher pension estimate.
| Gross salary | Approx monthly net | Pension band | Typical context |
|---|
Sources, methodology and limitations
This is a quick pay guide, not an official ranking. It compares your FTE salary with the pay scale you choose, then compares your actual annual pay with HMRC UK income data.
Leadership pay: leadership salaries vary by role and school size. The page uses published scale points and DfE medians where available.
| Source | How it is used | Link |
|---|---|---|
| Department for Education: School workforce in England | Teacher FTE salary medians by grade, phase and region. | DfE release |
| GOV.UK Get Into Teaching: teacher pay | Latest confirmed England qualified teacher, leading practitioner, headteacher and unqualified teacher pay ranges. | Teacher pay |
| EIS current salary scales | Scotland teacher salary scale points for 2025/26 and 2026. | Scotland scales |
| Welsh Government STPC(W)D | Wales main, upper, leading practitioner and unqualified teacher scales from September 2025. | Wales document |
| NASUWT Northern Ireland pay scales | Northern Ireland classroom teacher and leadership scale points from September 2025. | NI scales |
| HMRC percentile points for total income | Latest UK taxpayer-income comparison used for the secondary UK rank. | HMRC percentiles |
| GOV.UK Income Tax rates and HMRC employer thresholds | 2026/27 Personal Allowance, tax bands and employee National Insurance assumptions. | Income Tax |
| Teacher pension contribution bands | Optional member pension contribution estimate. | TPS contributions |
FAQs
What is the average teacher salary in England?▼
The DfE reported a median full-time equivalent teacher salary of £49,084 for 2024/25. By phase: primary £49,037, secondary £52,475, special schools £51,763. These are median FTE figures from the School Workforce census, not averages or mode salaries.
Is £50,000 a good teacher salary?▼
Context-dependent. Outside London, £50,000 sits near the top of the main qualified teacher range (ceiling £51,048) and just above the England teacher median — so it represents a reasonably advanced position on the main scale. In Inner London, where the classroom median is £58,806 and the range extends to £62,496, or in any leadership role, the same figure is middling.
Does this page include TLR or SEN payments?▼
Yes — open "Add allowance" and enter your annual TLR or SEN allowance. It is added to your actual salary before tax, pension and rank are calculated. The FTE rank comparison uses an FTE-scaled version of the allowance so part-time teachers aren't overstated against the full-time benchmark ladder.
Should I use my FTE salary or my actual part-time salary?▼
Enter your full-time equivalent salary and set your contract fraction separately. The calculator derives your actual annual salary from those two inputs, uses it for take-home and UK rank, and uses the FTE figure for your position on the teacher pay ladder — giving a fair like-for-like comparison against full-time benchmarks.
Why does my teacher percentile differ from the UK salary percentile result?▼
Your teacher result compares your FTE salary with the pay scale you selected. The UK rank compares your actual annual salary against the full HMRC taxpayer distribution, which includes part-time, low-income and very high-income earners across all sectors. The two scales measure different things and will rarely align exactly.