UK salary percentiles: top 10%, 5% and 1% (2025)
The UK top-1% annual earnings threshold in the 2025 provisional ONS benchmark is £186,840. The top-5% threshold is £99,387, and the top-10% threshold is £76,903.
These are gross annual earnings for full-time employee jobs, before tax, in the tax year ending 5 April 2025. They are historical survey estimates, not live thresholds for everyone in the UK. Source: ONS 2025 upper-tail earnings tables.
ONS ASHE 2025 provisional. Tax year ending 5 April 2025. Data checked 17 October 2026. Page checked 17 October 2026.
UK median and salary percentile thresholds
| Published point | Annual gross earnings | CV |
|---|---|---|
| Median (50th percentile) | £39,039 | 0.3% |
| 75th percentile | £54,009 | 0.4% |
| 90th percentile (top 10% threshold) | £76,903 | 0.8% |
| 95th percentile (top 5% threshold) | £99,387 | 1.4% |
| 99th percentile (top 1% threshold) | £186,840 | 9.1% |
The median is the middle of the distribution. A 90th-percentile threshold marks the boundary of the highest-earning tenth of this comparison population. These boundaries are estimates from a sample, not exact counts of people.
What does a £250,000 salary mean in this benchmark?
An annual gross salary of £250,000 is above the published UK 99th-percentile threshold of £186,840, so the supported label is Top 1%. The 99th-percentile estimate has a 9.1% CV. We cannot determine an exact rank such as the top 0.3% because this dataset stops at the 99th percentile.
How to read your own salary band
The calculator locates a salary between the nearest usable published thresholds. For example, £50,000 falls in the 60th–70th percentile band; £100,000 falls in the 95th–96th percentile (top 4–5%) band. Equality with a threshold starts the band at that point. Changes to tax or pension deductions do not change this gross-pay benchmark.
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Who is included, and what is missing?
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.
Occupation, experience, age, working hours above the full-time definition, household circumstances and living costs are not held constant. A band does not establish whether your pay is fair or what a job offer should be. For a pay decision, compare net cash and employer pension separately.
Why regional rankings can be broader
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.
The UK sample supports a 99th-percentile threshold under these checks. Some regions do not. London's highest usable point is the 97th percentile, so the dashboard does not invent a London top-1% threshold.
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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