UK regional salary comparison: workplace earnings (2025)
Compare the same gross salary against 12 UK workplace earnings benchmarks. Regional medians and percentile thresholds differ; the size of your payslip is only one part of that comparison.
The UK median annual gross earnings benchmark is £39,039. The table below uses 2025 provisional ONS figures for full-time employee jobs and the tax year ending 5 April 2025. Source: ONS ASHE Table 7, place of work.
ONS ASHE 2025 provisional. Tax year ending 5 April 2025. Data checked 17 October 2026. Page checked 17 October 2026.
Median and top-10% earnings by workplace region
| Workplace region | Median | 90th percentile | Highest usable percentile |
|---|---|---|---|
| North East | £34,403 | £61,420 | 94th (£70,680) |
| North West | £37,361 | £70,142 | 97th (£98,523) |
| Yorkshire and The Humber | £35,682 | £65,286 | 96th (£84,844) |
| East Midlands | £35,600 | £63,883 | 96th (£84,675) |
| West Midlands | £37,064 | £68,285 | 96th (£90,000) |
| East of England | £38,597 | £74,962 | 96th (£101,231) |
| London | £49,692 | £115,775 | 97th (£207,988) |
| South East | £39,983 | £77,370 | 97th (£111,662) |
| South West | £37,195 | £68,482 | 96th (£93,155) |
| Scotland | £39,719 | £71,307 | 96th (£97,299) |
| Wales | £35,796 | £60,628 | 95th (£72,571) |
| Northern Ireland | £37,052 | £67,518 | 94th (£79,803) |
The last column describes the limit of usable published evidence after quality checks. It is not a maximum salary, a comparison of how rich regions are, or evidence that nobody earns more.
How to use this when comparing jobs
- Compare annual gross earnings on a consistent basis. The ONS annual measure can include overtime and bonuses, while an offer's headline salary may exclude them.
- Select the job's workplace region in the dashboard. Check the median, your salary band and the quality limit together.
- Compare take-home cash and employer pension using the tax and pension settings that actually apply. Regional selection does not change those settings.
- Consider your own costs separately. This table does not adjust for housing, travel, working hours or purchasing power.
Compare your salary across the UK
One salary, different comparison groups
A £50,000 annual salary lies in the 60th–70th percentile UK band and the 50th–60th percentile London band. These can both be correct because the underlying employee-job distributions differ. A workplace percentile is not a judgment of whether relocating would leave you better off.
Why there is no reliable top-1% figure for every region
We use an estimate only when its published coefficient of variation (CV) is available and at or below 20%. A higher CV means greater sampling uncertainty. The additional ONS release includes some figures normally suppressed for low precision; those above our CV limit, or without usable quality information, are excluded. Missing observations remain unavailable and can widen a band. No exact rank is calculated above the last usable threshold.
Showing a broader “Top 3%” or “Top 6%” band where finer estimates fail the checks is deliberate. The national top-1% threshold cannot be substituted for an unavailable regional value.
Who this comparison covers
These figures describe full-time employee jobs, all sexes, on adult pay rates and held for more than a year. They are not a ranking of every UK resident, unique individuals, self-employed workers, household income or wealth. Full-time means more than 30 paid hours per week, or at least 25 for teaching professions. Annual observed earnings can include bonuses and overtime; a current base-salary offer is an approximate comparison.
Regional data use workplace location, not home address. England as a whole is not included as an additional peer region, and Northern Ireland is distinct from the Republic of Ireland.
Sources and method
- ONS ASHE Table 1: all employees, 2025 provisional
- ONS ASHE Table 7: place of work, 2025 provisional
- ONS ASHE ad-hoc J76: 90th–99th annual earnings percentiles, 2025 provisional
- ONS guide to interpreting ASHE
The core tables were released 23 October 2025; the additional upper-tail tables were released 4 November 2025. These are 2025 survey benchmarks, not live 2026 earnings. The dashboard's 2026/27 tax calculation is a separate model. Benchmarks are not adjusted for inflation.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Read the licence. PayFigured is independent of ONS and is not endorsed by it.
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Publication and checks
Published by PayFigured, operated by ELENOVO HOLDINGS LTD. These pages are generated from the same versioned, source-checked earnings dataset used by the dashboard. Automated checks compare the displayed tables with those data. There is no claim of independent professional certification or expert review.
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