Average salary UK in 2026: the median and after tax
Published 2026-09-23, checked against current rates 2026-08-28 by Hadi. How we check figures Corrections log
The average salary in the UK depends on which average you mean, and the one that can be checked to the pound is HMRC's. Its Survey of Personal Incomes (2023/24, published April 2026) puts the median UK taxpayer income at £29,700: half of all taxpayers earn less than that and half earn more. On 2026/27 rates it takes home £2,075 a month, 84% of the gross figure. Earning £67,400 puts you in the top 10% of taxpayers, and £207,000 in the top 1%. The mean is higher than the median, because a small number of very large incomes pull it up, and the figure the ONS publishes for full-time employees is higher again, because it counts only people in full-time work and only their pay, where HMRC's counts every taxpayer and every kind of income they have. Average income and average earnings are therefore not the same measure, and an average annual salary quoted without saying which one it came from can be out by ten thousand pounds in either direction. The percentile comparisons below use HMRC taxpayer income; the separate age table uses ONS employee earnings. Checked 2026-08-28.
Enter any salary and see which percentile it sits at among UK taxpayers, and what it takes home each month.
Rank your own salaryWhat is the average salary in the UK?
HMRC publishes the income at every percentile point from the 1st to the 99th. These are the points people ask about, with what each takes home on 2026/27 England rates, no pension contribution and no student loan.
| Point | Income before tax | Take-home a month | You keep |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10th percentile | £15,700 | £1,235 | 94% |
| 25th percentile | £20,800 | £1,541 | 89% |
| Median (50th) | £29,700 | £2,075 | 84% |
| 75th percentile | £45,000 | £2,993 | 80% |
| 90th (top 10%) | £67,400 | £4,137 | 74% |
| 95th (top 5%) | £93,600 | £5,404 | 69% |
| 99th (top 1%) | £207,000 | £10,125 | 59% |
The last column falls as you read down. At the median you keep 84% of your pay; at the top 1% you keep 59%. That is the personal allowance doing less and less of the work, then being withdrawn altogether above £100,000. The full curve, all 99 points, is on the statistics page.
Why is the median lower than the average people quote?
Three reasons, and they stack. First, HMRC's table covers taxpayers, which includes part-time workers, pensioners drawing a taxable pension, and people with a few weeks of work in the year, all of whom pull the median down against a full-time-only measure. Second, the mean and the median are different numbers: the 99th percentile is £207,000, more than 6 times the median, and incomes above it go far higher. A mean averages those in; a median ignores them. Third, most headline figures are for full-time employees only, which is a smaller and better-paid group than everyone who pays tax. The HMRC median is the lowest of the three you will see quoted, and it is the only one whose every point you can look up.
What is the average take-home pay in the UK?
The median earner on £29,700 pays £3,426 in income tax and £1,370 in National Insurance on 2026/27 rates, so £24,904 arrives across the year: £2,075 a month, or £479 a week. A workplace pension takes more, typically 5% of qualifying earnings under auto-enrolment, and a student loan takes 9% of everything above its threshold. The £30,000 page shows the nearest round salary with every one of those switched on and off.
Average UK salary by age
An average yearly salary by age is published as a median rather than a mean. These are median gross annual earnings for full-time employee jobs in the ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, 2025 provisional edition. They cover the year ending 5 April 2025, for employees in the same job for more than a year. They are observed 2025 earnings, not a forecast for 2026/27.
| Age group | Annual gross earnings |
|---|---|
| 16–17 | £14,429 |
| 18–21 | £23,596 |
| 22–29 | £32,347 |
| 30–39 | £40,668 |
| 40–49 | £44,244 |
| 50–59 | £41,866 |
| 60 and over | £36,467 |
Use the 22–29 group for a broad comparison at age 27; this survey does not provide an exact age-27 figure here. These are different groups of workers, so the differences do not predict your future pay rises. The figures exclude self-employment and part-time jobs. Employees are on adult rates except the 16–17 group, which also includes other rates. This population differs from the HMRC all-taxpayer distribution above.
Source: ONS ASHE table 6.7a, Full-Time sheet, median column, released 23 October 2025; checked 27 September 2026.
What is the average salary by profession?
For jobs on a published pay scale the honest answer is the scale, not a survey. These are the scales this site holds, from NHS Employers and the National Education Union, with the monthly take-home at the point each one starts.
| Profession | Scale starts | Scale tops out | Take-home at the start | Percentile at the start |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| nurse | £32,073 (Band 5 entry) | £56,515 (Band 7 top) | £2,218 a month | 55th |
| paramedic | £32,073 (Band 5 entry) | £48,117 (Band 6 top) | £2,218 a month | 55th |
| midwife | £32,073 (Band 5 entry) | £56,515 (Band 7 top) | £2,218 a month | 55th |
| physiotherapist | £32,073 (Band 5 entry) | £56,515 (Band 7 top) | £2,218 a month | 55th |
| healthcare assistant | £25,272 (Band 2 entry) | £27,476 (Band 3 top) | £1,810 a month | 38th |
| teacher | £34,069 (M1, first year) | £52,835 (U3, upper range) | £2,337 a month | 59th |
A newly qualified nurse, paramedic or teacher starts above the national median, and a healthcare assistant starts below it. What each one keeps after a student loan and the NHS or Teachers' pension is on the take-home pay by profession guide.
What salary is above average in the UK?
Anything over £29,700 is above the median by definition, but the phrase usually means comfortably above. £45,000 beats three taxpayers in four. £67,400 beats nine in ten, and takes home £4,137 a month, which is £2,062 more than the median earner rather than the £3,142 the gross gap suggests. Whether a given figure counts as good is a different question, and the good salary guide takes it salary by salary.
Questions people ask
Is the average salary before or after tax?
Before. Every published average, HMRC's and the ONS's alike, is gross pay. On 2026/27 rates the £29,700 median takes home £24,904 a year, which is £2,075 a month: £3,426 goes in income tax and £1,370 in National Insurance before a pension or student loan is counted.
Does the average UK salary include part-time workers?
HMRC's figure does: it counts everyone who paid income tax in the year, whatever their hours, and every kind of income they had. The full-time earnings figure the ONS publishes counts only employees in full-time work and only their pay, which is why it comes out higher. Neither is wrong. They measure different groups of people.
Is £30,000 an average salary in the UK?
Yes, near enough. £30,000 sits at the 50th percentile of UK taxpayers, so it is within a whisker of the median. It takes home £2,093 a month on 2026/27 rates with no pension or student loan deductions.
Sources
- HMRC Survey of Personal Incomes: percentile points, 2023/24
- HMRC: rates and thresholds for employers 2026 to 2027
- NHS Employers: Agenda for Change pay scales 2026/27
- National Education Union pay scales, England
Every figure on this page is computed from those tables at build time, checked 2026-08-28. If a number here ever disagrees with gov.uk, gov.uk is right and this is a bug worth telling us about. See our corrections policy.
Related guides
What is a good salary in the UK in 2026?
Answered with the HMRC income distribution instead of vibes. Where each salary ranks, and what it leaves per month.
What these jobs actually take home in 2026/27
Six jobs with a published pay scale rather than a survey average, each run through the same engine. What the scale says, and what reaches the bank.
All 17 guides are listed on the guides index, and every calculator on the home page.