Are YOU rich? Our calculator reveals how your salary stacks up against the UK – and your town and job

As the budget approaches and Rachel Reeves says she will tax the toughest on those with the broadest shoulders, the question of who feels rich in Britain has never been more relevant.

Wealth is the income gap, and the former is the key to true wealth, but when it comes to whether you feel better, it’s often the money coming in that matters.

With millions of households struggling and fearing the worst on taxes, are you better off or worse off than others like you?

Do you make more or less than the average person doing your job or the typical worker where you live? So how much of your income is consumed by taxes?

Here you can use our special calculator, which uses official ONS data, to see what your salary is like, where the UK’s top earners live and what the best and worst paying professions are.

Enter your salary, age, and zip code into the tool below and see how you compare.

We’ve also analyzed the data to tell you what you need to know about Britain’s earnings today.

> Best paying jobs… and careers with the biggest pay increases this year

How to use the salary calculator?

Our calculator uses figures from the Office for National Statistics, published each year, and gives a snapshot of average earnings in each occupation.

Figures based on 2024 salaries are median; This means you rank all the winners for that job from lowest to highest and then take the middle number for your average.

The ‘average’ figure, which means adding up all salaries for an occupation and dividing by the number of jobs to obtain an average figure, is not used.

The median figure gives a better picture of the average individual’s income and is less likely to be skewed by a few people with very high or very low incomes.

While the figures give a good picture of the average salary for occupations, they don’t fully represent what some workers earn. Some will be paid more, some will be paid less, and the length of time people work and where they do their work will greatly affect this.

Finally, the figures are based on payments made to both full-time and part-time employees using Pay As You Earn (PAYE) records.

Our calculator will also show you your after-tax income, National Insurance and student loan payments and your average monthly salary.

You can also see how your pre-tax salary compares to other salaries, regardless of your profession.

For example, if you earn £25,000 before tax you will find that you earn less than 67 per cent of the population, but if you earn £35,000 you will earn more than 56 per cent of all workers.

Which professions are paid big money?

The average salary for full- and part-time workers is £31,602, which then rises to around £25,512. income tax and National Insurance contributions.

Pilots and air traffic controllers top the list of highest earners in the UK, with an average salary of £96,415, or £66,478 after tax.

This puts them in the top 7 percent of winners. Next on the list are marketing, sales and advertising directors, who earn on average £82,962, or £58,675 after tax.

CEOs and senior officials are also among the top earners, with an average salary of £81,776.

While this headline figure may seem low, it includes senior executives from businesses large and small, not just the listed companies that bring home millions.

High earners in the public sector earn significantly less than those in the private sector.

For example, senior police officers earned an average of £63,986 in 2024, putting them in the top 15 per cent of earners, while sergeants and below were paid £46,436.

In the medical field, paramedics took home an average of £52,241, while specialist nurses and nurse practitioners were paid £40,759 and £39,292 respectively.

Specialist medical practitioners, including surgeons and anesthesiologists, ranked highest; took home an average of £70,192, placing them in the top 12 per cent of earners; GPs earned £45,506.

In the middle, scaffolders, scaffolders and riggers earned £38,077, while electricians and plumbers earned an average of £38,675 and £37,414 respectively.

While these figures are a good indicator of how much people in each profession earn, the amount they take home will vary depending on their age.

For example, a person under state pension age earning £25,000 would take home around £21,543 a year, or £1,795 a month.

However, someone who has reached state pension age on the same income will take home more money (£22,537 per year or £1,878 per month) as they no longer pay National Insurance.

Similarly, a 50-year-old CEO on an average salary of £81,776 would take home £57,987 after tax, but a 70-year-old would earn £61,634, or around £4,000 more per year.

Student loan repayments will also affect your take-home pay. The amount you’ll pay back depends on which plan you use and how much you earn.

For example, a chief executive earning an average salary but paying back a Plan 1 loan would earn £52,973 (almost 10 per cent less than no student loan), or £53,190 if on a Plan 2.

For those on lower incomes, an employee earning £30,000, or £25,120 after tax, will have to repay around £300 each year in a Plan 2 repayment plan, or around £500 in Plan 1.

Who are the least earners?

Exam invigilators earn the least money (just £2,393 per year), but this is often seasonal and part-time work, resulting in significantly below average pay.

Sales and retail assistants take home £13,701 each year, or £13,384 after tax, putting them in the bottom 3 per cent.

These are followed by beauticians (£14,883) and hairdressers and barbers (£14,944).

Teaching assistants earn £17,338; This is less than half what primary (£39,284) and secondary school teachers (£42,370) earn, while nursery teachers earn £28,703.

Our analysis shows that workers in many of the lowest-paid jobs, including customer service workers and receptionists, would not have to pay any income tax if tax thresholds increased accordingly. inflation.

The personal allowance, which has remained unchanged since 2021, would have to rise from £12,570 to £17,047 if it rose in line with the cost of living.

Jack Kennedy, senior economist at Indeed, says: ‘Real wages are only 3 per cent higher than they were at the beginning of 2008, just before the financial crisis.

‘While recent nominal wage growth has been relatively strong, it has mostly served to return real earnings to pre-pandemic levels.’

Which regions earn the most?

The average salary for full-time workers in the UK is £37,430.

The best-paid counties are concentrated in London and Surrey; Richmond upon Thames comes out on top with an average full-time salary of £47,588, closely followed by Westminster (£45,910).

Wandsworth (£45,394), Kensington and Chelsea (£44,355) and Islington (£43,126) are also among the ten highest-paid boroughs.

The county with the lowest average salary is West Devon (£23,941). This is followed by Gwynedd, Wales (£24,165). Salaries are 36 percent and 35 percent less than the UK average respectively.

The East of England saw the highest growth in full-time weekly earnings in 2024 (7.4 per cent), followed by the North West (6.7 per cent). Scotland and Northern Ireland recorded the weakest growth at 4.3 percent.

Which jobs had big wage increases?

Full-time earnings increased across all sectors between 2023 and 2024, but some sectors experienced greater wage growth than others.

While accommodation and food service activities ranked first with an increase of 9.8 percent, salaries in agriculture, forestry and fishing increased by 9.7 percent between 2023-2024.

Information and communications and finance and insurance workers both received average salary increases of 9.5 percent.

Full-time public sector positions received a 5.2 percent wage increase in 2024, while private sector wages rose 6.3 percent.

Weak pay growth in the public sector was largely due to 60 per cent of roles being in education, human health and social care activities, with earnings rising by 4.9 per cent. Mining and quarrying received the lowest wage increase at 1.6 percent.

How to get a wage increase

If our numbers reveal that you’re earning less than others like you, it may be time to ask for a pay rise.

This is easier said than done, especially at a time when wage growth remains weak and the unemployment rate is rising.

Pay growth slowed to 5 per cent in the three months to May, according to the ONS. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate has risen to 4.7 percent (the highest level in four years) and the number of job openings has fallen steadily for three years.

Jack Kennedy says: ‘The most effective approach to getting a pay rise is to clearly demonstrate your value to your employer.

‘Highlight how you have gone beyond your role by contributing to cost savings, increasing revenue, completing important projects or stepping into new responsibilities.

‘Pay attention to any new skills or qualifications you gain and don’t ignore ongoing positive feedback from clients or colleagues.’

He recommends researching what similar roles in your industry pay so you can compare demand safely and realistically.

Research by job board CV-Library shows that far fewer positions are advertised with salary information than 18 months ago.

Founder and CEO Lee Biggins says this is ‘perhaps a result of a tighter labor market with fewer vacancies and a higher rate of applications per job’.

He adds: ‘To boost earnings, target sectors with higher wages or strong growth, such as IT and healthcare; ‘The same job title can sometimes pay significantly more in a different industry.’

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