Salary data
The median salary for full-time employees in the UK was £40,911 a year in April 2026, up 4.5% on a year earlier, according to the Office for National Statistics. That is £811.20 a week, up 5.8%. The April 2025 mean was higher at £48,512 because a small number of high earners pull it up.
Last updated 17 October 2026 · ONS ASHE 2025 (provisional)
KEY FACTS
- Median full-time salary: £39,039 a year (+4.3% on 2024)
- Median full-time weekly pay: £766.60
- Mean full-time salary: £48,512
- Top 10% of full-time earners: more than £76,903 a year
- Take-home pay on the median salary: about £31,628 a year under 2026 to 2027 rates (outside Scotland)
- Median full-time hourly pay: £19.74
- Change since 2015: +41.4% in cash terms
Average salary in the UK
The Office for National Statistics measures pay through the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE), which takes earnings for a 1% sample of jobs from HMRC PAYE records each April. For full-time employees, median gross annual pay was £39,039 in April 2025. The median is the middle point: half of full-time employees earned more and half earned less. Across all employees, including part-time workers, the median was £32,890 a year and the mean £40,269.
Weekly pay is the measure the ONS uses for its headline: median full-time gross weekly pay was £766.60, +5.3% on the year. Multiplying that by 52 gives £39,863, which differs from the annual median because the two measures cover different groups: the weekly figure leaves out anyone whose April pay was cut by absence, while the annual figure covers employees in the same job for at least 12 months across the whole year, including any weeks of reduced pay. Median gross hourly pay was £19.74 for full-time employees and £17.96 across all employees. The typical full-time employee was paid for 37.5 hours a week.
How UK salaries have changed since 2015
Median full-time pay rose from £27,615 in April 2015 to £39,039 in April 2025, an increase of 41.4% in cash terms over 10 years. The largest one-year rise in the series was +7.0% in 2024; the weakest was -0.8% in 2021. Adjusted for consumer price inflation (CPI, April each year), the 2015 median is worth £38,202 in April 2025 prices, so real pay is 2.2% higher than in 2015. Prices measured by CPI rose 38.3% between April 2015 and April 2025.
| April | Median full-time salary | Change on previous year shown | In April 2025 prices (CPI) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | £27,615 | £38,202 | |
| 2016 | £28,195 | +2.1% | £38,888 |
| 2017 | £28,759 | +2.0% | £38,625 |
| 2018 | £29,559 | +2.8% | £38,758 |
| 2019 | £30,378 | +2.8% | £39,017 |
| 2020 | £31,487 | +3.7% | £40,106 |
| 2021 | £31,224 | -0.8% | £39,193 |
| 2022 | £33,061 | +5.9% | £38,075 |
| 2023 | £35,004 | +5.9% | £37,098 |
| 2024 | £37,439 | +7.0% | £38,757 |
| 2025 | £39,039 | +4.3% | £39,039 |
What salary puts you in the top 10%
The ONS also publishes the pay level at each point of the distribution for full-time employees. In April 2025, the top 10% earned more than £76,903 a year and the bottom 10% earned less than £23,990. The 90th percentile is 3.2 times the 10th percentile. The middle half of full-time employees, between the 25th and 75th percentiles, earned from £29,262 to £54,009. A salary of £59,083 placed someone in the top fifth, and £44,203 put them above six in ten full-time employees.
| Percentile (full-time) | Annual pay below this level | Gap to the median |
|---|---|---|
| 10th | £23,990 | -38.5% |
| 20th | £27,495 | -29.6% |
| 25th | £29,262 | -25.0% |
| 30th | £30,935 | -20.8% |
| 40th | £34,779 | -10.9% |
| 60th | £44,203 | +13.2% |
| 70th | £50,115 | +28.4% |
| 75th | £54,009 | +38.3% |
| 80th | £59,083 | +51.3% |
| 90th | £76,903 | +97.0% |
Take-home pay on these salaries
Applying the 2026 to 2027 Income Tax and employee National Insurance rates published by HMRC on GOV.UK to the ONS pay levels shows what each salary leaves after deductions. On the median £39,039, Income Tax is about £5,294 and National Insurance about £2,118, leaving £31,628 a year or £2,636 a month. At the 90th percentile, £76,903, the 40% higher rate applies above £50,270 and take-home pay is about £55,161, so deductions take 28.3% of gross pay against 19.0% on the median. The calculation uses the £12,570 Personal Allowance, 20% basic rate, 40% higher rate and 8% employee National Insurance between £12,570 and £50,270 (2% above). It ignores pension contributions, student loan repayments, salary sacrifice and tax codes other than 1257L, and Scottish taxpayers pay different Income Tax rates.
| Pay level (full-time, ONS) | Gross a year | Income Tax | National Insurance | Take-home a year | Take-home a month |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bottom 10% (10th percentile) | £23,990 | £2,284 | £914 | £20,792 | £1,733 |
| 25th percentile | £29,262 | £3,338 | £1,335 | £24,588 | £2,049 |
| Median | £39,039 | £5,294 | £2,118 | £31,628 | £2,636 |
| 75th percentile | £54,009 | £9,036 | £3,091 | £41,883 | £3,490 |
| Top 10% (90th percentile) | £76,903 | £18,193 | £3,549 | £55,161 | £4,597 |
Average salary for men and women
Median annual pay for full-time men was £41,832 and for full-time women £35,670 in April 2025, so women's median was 14.7% below men's on this measure. The ONS headline gender pay gap uses hourly pay excluding overtime instead, which removes the effect of men working more paid hours, so it differs from this annual comparison. By age, the gap between full-time men and women was smallest for those aged 22-29 (6.4%) and widest for those aged 60+ (19.7%).
| Age group | Men (full-time) | Women (full-time) | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18-21 | £24,107 | £22,464 | 6.8% |
| 22-29 | £33,400 | £31,261 | 6.4% |
| 30-39 | £42,899 | £37,745 | 12.0% |
| 40-49 | £47,313 | £39,737 | 16.0% |
| 50-59 | £45,608 | £37,024 | 18.8% |
| 60+ | £39,348 | £31,583 | 19.7% |
Average salary by region
London had the highest median full-time salary in April 2025 at £49,692, +27.3% against the UK figure, measured by where people work. North East had the lowest at £34,403, -11.9% against the UK. 3 of the 12 nations and English regions were above the UK median: London, South East, Scotland. Outside London, the highest was South East at £39,983. The fastest annual growth was in Northern Ireland, at +8.2%.
| Region (workplace) | Median full-time salary | Change on year | vs UK median | Men | Women |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| London | £49,692 | +4.7% | +27.3% | £53,220 | £45,530 |
| South East | £39,983 | +2.4% | +2.4% | £43,222 | £35,668 |
| Scotland | £39,719 | +3.7% | +1.7% | £41,982 | £36,797 |
| East | £38,597 | +4.4% | -1.1% | £41,827 | £34,141 |
| North West | £37,361 | +6.2% | -4.3% | £40,311 | £34,034 |
| South West | £37,195 | +4.6% | -4.7% | £39,870 | £33,464 |
| West Midlands | £37,064 | +6.1% | -5.1% | £40,187 | £32,695 |
| Northern Ireland | £37,052 | +8.2% | -5.1% | £38,053 | £35,533 |
| Wales | £35,796 | +4.5% | -8.3% | £37,757 | £33,387 |
| Yorkshire and The Humber | £35,682 | +3.7% | -8.6% | £38,244 | £32,436 |
| East Midlands | £35,600 | +5.0% | -8.8% | £38,612 | £31,826 |
| North East | £34,403 | +4.2% | -11.9% | £36,839 | £31,527 |
Average salary by age
Employees aged 40-49 had the highest median at £44,244 in April 2025, 1.9 times the £23,596 median for those aged 18-21. The 18-21 group saw the largest rise on the year, +7.3%.
| Age group | Median full-time salary | Change on year | vs UK median |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18-21 | £23,596 | +7.3% | -39.6% |
| 22-29 | £32,347 | +3.8% | -17.1% |
| 30-39 | £40,668 | +4.4% | +4.2% |
| 40-49 | £44,244 | +4.9% | +13.3% |
| 50-59 | £41,866 | +5.2% | +7.2% |
| 60+ | £36,467 | +4.1% | -6.6% |
Average salary by type of job
The ONS groups jobs into nine major occupation groups under the Standard Occupational Classification (SOC 2020). Managers, directors and senior officials had the highest full-time median at £56,653 in April 2025, and Sales and customer service occupations the lowest at £26,959. The top group's median was 2.1 times the bottom group's.
| Occupation group | Median full-time salary | Change on year | vs UK median |
|---|---|---|---|
| Managers, directors and senior officials | £56,653 | +6.3% | +45.1% |
| Professional occupations | £48,739 | +4.8% | +24.8% |
| Associate professional occupations | £37,960 | +4.4% | -2.8% |
| Skilled trades occupations | £36,093 | +4.4% | -7.5% |
| Process, plant and machine operatives | £33,835 | +5.6% | -13.3% |
| Administrative and secretarial occupations | £30,461 | +4.6% | -22.0% |
| Elementary occupations | £27,620 | +5.5% | -29.3% |
| Caring, leisure and other service occupations | £27,198 | +5.7% | -30.3% |
| Sales and customer service occupations | £26,959 | +5.9% | -30.9% |
Highest and lowest paid job areas
Splitting the major groups into 25 sub-major groups shows a wider spread. The three best paid were Corporate managers and directors (£63,350), Science, research, engineering and technology professionals (£52,297) and Business, media and public service professionals (£49,513). The three lowest were Sales occupations (£26,121), Caring personal service occupations (£26,859) and Elementary administration and service occupations (£27,486). 8 of the 25 groups had a median above the UK figure of £39,039.
| Job area (SOC 2020 sub-major group) | Median full-time salary | Change on year |
|---|---|---|
| Corporate managers and directors | £63,350 | +6.4% |
| Science, research, engineering and technology professionals | £52,297 | +5.1% |
| Business, media and public service professionals | £49,513 | +5.1% |
| Teaching and other educational professionals | £47,479 | +5.7% |
| Health professionals | £46,131 | +3.4% |
| Business and public service associate professionals | £41,404 | +6.6% |
| Other managers and proprietors | £40,799 | +4.5% |
| Skilled metal, electrical and electronic trades | £39,942 | +5.0% |
| Transport and mobile machine drivers and operatives | £36,869 | +5.3% |
| Culture, media and sports occupations | £36,510 | +8.0% |
| Science, engineering and technology associate professionals | £35,945 | +4.8% |
| Skilled construction and building trades | £35,764 | +3.1% |
| Community and civil enforcement occupations | £32,945 | +5.7% |
| Process, plant and machine operatives | £31,158 | +5.6% |
| Administrative occupations | £30,787 | +4.8% |
| Health and social care associate professionals | £29,652 | +4.7% |
| Textiles, printing and other skilled trades | £29,208 | +6.1% |
| Skilled agricultural and related trades | £28,980 | +6.2% |
| Customer service occupations | £28,485 | +5.2% |
| Secretarial and related occupations | £28,388 | +4.7% |
| Elementary trades and related occupations | £28,259 | +5.9% |
| Leisure, travel and related personal service occupations | £27,911 | +4.7% |
| Elementary administration and service occupations | £27,486 | +5.4% |
| Caring personal service occupations | £26,859 | +5.8% |
| Sales occupations | £26,121 | +6.6% |
Part-time pay
Part-time employees had median gross weekly pay of £280.00 in April 2025 and median annual pay of £14,713. Their median hourly rate was £14.11, 28.5% lower than the £19.74 full-time hourly median, so lower part-time earnings reflect lower hourly rates as well as fewer hours. The ONS counts anyone paid for 30 hours a week or less (under 25 in teaching jobs) as part-time.
How these figures are measured
ASHE figures cover employees on adult rates whose pay was not affected by absence in the April survey period, and the annual figures cover employees who have been in the same job for more than a year. They are gross pay before tax and National Insurance, they exclude the self-employed, and region figures are based on where people work, not where they live. The 2025 results are provisional and are revised a year later; the history table uses the revised figure for earlier years where one exists. The ONS publishes 2026 figures on 22 October 2026; this page updates when they are released.
Related guides
Disclaimer: These are official statistics on earnings, reported as published by the ONS, with take-home figures calculated from published HMRC rates. They are general information and not financial, tax or careers advice.
What is the average salary in the UK in 2025?
The median full-time salary was £39,039 a year in April 2025, according to the ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings. The mean was £48,512, and the median across all employees including part-time was £32,890.
What is a good salary in the UK?
In the ONS figures for April 2025, a full-time salary above £54,009 was higher than three quarters of full-time employees, and above £76,903 put someone in the top 10%.
What is the average take-home pay in the UK?
On the median full-time salary of £39,039, take-home pay is about £31,628 a year, or £2,636 a month, under 2026 to 2027 Income Tax and National Insurance rates outside Scotland, before pension or student loan deductions.
Why is the mean salary higher than the median?
A relatively small number of very high earners raise the mean. In April 2025 the full-time mean was £48,512 against a median of £39,039.
When are new UK salary figures published?
The ONS publishes provisional ASHE results each autumn for pay in April of the same year and revises them a year later. The 2026 results are due on 22 October 2026.
Sources
Update 22 October 2026: ONS 2026 figures The Office for National Statistics released its Employee earnings in the UK 2026 figures on 22 October 2026. Median full-time annual pay was 40,911 pounds in April 2026, up 4.5% from 39,157 pounds in April 2025, for employees in the same job for at least a year. Median full-time weekly pay was 811.20 pounds, up 5.8% from 766.60 pounds a year earlier, and median full-time hourly pay excluding overtime was 20.81 pounds, up 5.7% from 19.68 pounds. After adjusting for CPIH inflation, median full-time weekly pay rose 2.7% in real terms, while part-time real pay fell 0.1%. Median weekly pay rose 4.9% for all employees and 2.9% for part-time employees. London had the fastest full-time pay growth at 8.2%, with the East Midlands (4.0%) and North West (4.1%) the slowest. All 2026 figures are provisional and will be revised by the ONS in October 2027. The regional, age and occupation tables on this page still show April 2025 values until the full 2026 tables are processed. |
