New ONS-based calculator shows how UK salaries compare by town and job

A new online calculator built from Office for National Statistics data lets workers across the UK compare their pay with others in the same occupation and area, and shows how income is affected by tax, National Insurance and student loan repayments.

The tool and accompanying analysis use the ONS’s 2024 median pay estimates, based on Pay As You Earn records for full- and part-time employees, to offer a town- and job-level snapshot of earnings. The median measures the middle hourly or annual pay in a job and is intended to reduce distortion by very high or very low salaries.

The report finds the median annual pay for all full- and part-time employees at £31,602, equal to roughly £25,512 after income tax and National Insurance contributions for a typical worker. For full-time employees only, the average salary is higher, at £37,430.

High-paid occupations are concentrated at the top of the distribution. Pilots and air traffic controllers sit at the top with a median pay of £96,415, which equates to about £66,478 after tax. Marketing, sales and advertising directors had median pay of £82,962; chief executives and senior officials had median pay of £81,776. The analysis notes that the chief executive figure covers bosses of businesses of all sizes and therefore does not reflect pay at the very top of large listed firms.

Public-sector senior roles are generally paid less than their private-sector counterparts but remain well above the national median. Senior police officers earned £63,986 on average in 2024, putting them among the top roughly 15 percent of earners. Sergeants and below averaged £46,436. In health care, paramedics earned £52,241; specialist medical practitioners, including surgeons and anaesthetists, earned £70,192 on average; general practitioners averaged £45,506.

At the middle of the distribution are skilled trades such as scaffolders, stagers and riggers (£38,077), electricians (£38,675) and plumbers (£37,414). The lowest median annual figures were recorded for roles that are commonly part-time or seasonal: exam invigilators earned £2,393, sales and retail assistants £13,701 (about £13,384 after tax), beauticians £14,883 and hairdressers and barbers £14,944. Teaching assistants had a median of £17,338 compared with £39,284 for primary school teachers and £42,370 for secondary teachers.

The calculator also translates pre-tax salaries into how they compare with the rest of the workforce. For example, a pre-tax salary of £25,000 places someone below about 67 percent of the population; £35,000 places them above about 56 percent. A £100,000 salary places a worker above about 94 percent of full-time employees.

Age and student loans materially affect take-home pay. The analysis shows a worker under state pension age on £25,000 would take home about £21,543 a year, while someone at state pension age with the same income would keep about £22,537 because they no longer pay National Insurance. A 50-year-old chief executive on the median chief executive pay would take home about £57,987 after deductions; a 70-year-old on the same pay would take home about £61,634. Student loan repayments cut net pay further: a chief executive on the median salary repaying under Plan 1 would take home about £52,973, and under Plan 2 about £53,190. At lower incomes, someone on £30,000 a year would pay around £300 annually on Plan 2 and roughly £500 on Plan 1.

Regional disparities are stark. The highest median full-time salaries are concentrated in London and parts of Surrey. Richmond upon Thames had the top median full-time salary at £47,588, followed by Westminster (£45,910), Wandsworth (£45,394), Kensington and Chelsea (£44,355) and Islington (£43,126). The lowest median full-time pay was in West Devon at £23,941 and Gwynedd in Wales at £24,165, about 36 and 35 percent below the UK average, respectively.

Earnings growth between 2023 and 2024 varied by industry and region. The East of England recorded the strongest full-time weekly earnings growth at 7.4 percent, followed by the North West at 6.7 percent. Scotland and Northern Ireland had the weakest growth at 4.3 percent. By industry, accommodation and food services posted the largest rise at 9.8 percent, with agriculture, forestry and fishing up 9.7 percent. Information and communication and financial and insurance activities each saw average pay increases of 9.5 percent. Mining and quarrying experienced the smallest increase at 1.6 percent. Full-time private sector wages rose 6.3 percent, compared with 5.2 percent in the public sector; slower public-sector growth was partly attributed to the sector’s concentration in education and health where pay rises were smaller.

The analysis points out that the personal allowance for income tax has been unchanged since 2021 and, had it kept pace with inflation, would be about £17,047 instead of the current £12,570. That freeze means many of the lowest-paid workers continue to pay income tax they might not face under an inflation-indexed threshold.

Economists and recruiters quoted in the analysis urged workers seeking higher pay to benchmark local market rates and demonstrate value. Jack Kennedy, a senior economist at Indeed, noted that real wages are only slightly higher than before the 2008 financial crisis, and recommended that employees highlight measurable contributions and new skills when asking for raises. Lee Biggins, founder and chief executive of CV-Library, said fewer job adverts now include pay details and advised job seekers to target sectors with stronger pay growth such as IT and healthcare.

The calculator and the data behind it are intended to give individuals a clearer view of how their pay compares with local and occupational peers and to illustrate how taxation, age and student loans change take-home pay. The data come from the ONS’s annual publication of median pay by occupation and location and reflect the distribution of pay across the workforce in 2024.