The median annual earnings for full-time employees in the United Kingdom was approximately 37,430 British pounds in 2024, compared with 34,963 pounds in the previous year. At the start of the provided time period, in 1999, the average full-time salary in the UK was 17,803 pounds per year, with median earnings exceeding 20,000 pounds per year in 2002, and 30,000 by 2019. Wages continue to grow faster than inflation in 2025 Between November 2021 and July 2023 inflation was higher than wage growth in the UK, with wages still outpacing inflation as of March 2025. At the peak of the recent wave of high inflation in October 2022, the CPI inflation rate reached a 41-year-high of 11.1 percent, wages were growing much slower at 6.1 percent. Since that peak, inflation remained persistently high for several months, only dropping below double figures in April 2023, when inflation was 8.7 percent, down from 10.1 percent in the previous month. For 2023 as a whole, the average annual rate of inflation was 7.3 percent but fell to 2.5 percent in 2024, but is forecast to increase to 3.2 percent in 2025. Highest and lowest-paid occupations As of 2023, the highest-paid occupation in the UK was that of Chief Executives and Senior Officials, who had an average weekly pay of approximately, 1,576 pounds. By contrast, the lowest-paid occupation that year was that of retail cashiers, and check-out operators, who earned approximately 383 pounds a week. For industry sectors as a whole, people who worked full-time in the electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply sector had the highest average earnings, at 955 pounds a week, compared with 505 pounds a week in the accommodation and food services sector, the lowest average earnings in 2023.
The median annual earnings in the United Kingdom was 37,430 British pounds per year in 2024. Annual earnings varied significantly by region, ranging from 47,455 pounds in London to 32,960 pounds in the North East. Along with London, two other areas of the UK had median annual earnings above the UK average; South East England, and Scotland, at 39,038 pounds and 38,315 pounds respectively. Regional Inequality in the UK Various other indicators highlight the degree of regional inequality in the UK, especially between London and the rest of the country. Productivity in London, as measured by output per hour, was 26.2 percent higher than the UK average. By comparison, every other UK region, except the South East, fell below the UK average for productivity. In gross domestic product per head, London was also an outlier. The average GDP per head in the UK was just over 37,000 pounds in 2023, but for London it was almost 64,000 pounds. Again, the South East's GDP per head was slightly above the UK average, with every other region below it. Within London itself, there is also a great degree of inequality. In 2023, for example, the average earnings in Kensington and Chelsea were 964 pounds per week, compared with 675 pounds in Barking and Dagenham. Wages continue to grow in 2025 In March 2025, weekly wages in the UK were growing by around 5.6 percent, or 1.8 percent when adjusted for inflation. For almost two years, wages have grown faster than inflation after a long period where prices were rising faster than wages between 2021 and 2023. This was due to a sustained period of high inflation in the UK, which peaked in October 2022 at 11.1 percent. Although inflation started to slow the following month, it wasn't until June 2023 that wages started to outpace inflation. By this point, the damage caused by high energy and food inflation had led to the the worst Cost of Living Crisis in the UK for a generation.
In 2023, full-time workers in their 40s had the highest average annual salary in the United Kingdom, earning on average around 39,491 British pounds a year, compared with 20,437 for people aged between 18 and 21.
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Average weekly earnings at industry level including manufacturing, construction and energy, Great Britain, monthly, non-seasonally adjusted. Monthly Wages and Salaries Survey.
Open Government Licence 3.0http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/
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Average weekly earnings at sector level including manufacturing, finance and services, Great Britain, monthly, non-seasonally adjusted. Monthly Wages and Salaries Survey.
Full-time workers in the electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning had the highest average annual salaries in the United Kingdom in 2023, at approximately 50,528 British pounds, with those working in accommodation and food service professions having the lowest average salary, at 25,522 pounds per year.
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Wages in the United Kingdom increased 5 percent in May of 2025 over the same month in the previous year. This dataset provides the latest reported value for - United Kingdom Average Weekly Earnings Growth - plus previous releases, historical high and low, short-term forecast and long-term prediction, economic calendar, survey consensus and news.
The median hourly earnings for full-time employees in the United Kingdom was 18.72 British pounds in 2024, compared with 17.48 pounds in the previous year. At the start of this provided time period, in 1997, the average hourly wage in the UK was 7.92 pounds per hour, rising to more than ten pounds per hour by 2003, and above 15 pounds per hour by 2020. Minimum and living wage in the UK In the United Kingdom, employers are expected to pay their employees a minimum wage that is determined by how old they are. Under 18s for example, had a minimum wage of 5.28 British pounds in 2023, with the figure increasing to 7.49 pounds those aged 18 to 20, 10.18 for 21 to 22 year old's, and 10.42 for those aged 23 and over. There is also a voluntarily paid living Wage that employers can choose to pay their workers. For the 2023/24 financial year this was twelve pounds an hour, rising to 13.15 pounds an hour for workers based in London. Icelandic the highest earners in Europe Iceland had the highest average annual wage in the Europe in 2022 at around 79,500 U.S dollars. This was followed by Luxembourg at 78,300 dollars, Switzerland at 72,990 and Belgium at 64,850 dollars. The United Kingdom’s average annual wage amounted to around 53,985 U.S dollars in the same year. In this year, the country with the lowest annual salary in Europe was Greece, at 25,980 pounds per year.
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Key information about United Kingdom Monthly Earnings
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New Earnings Survey (NES) and Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) percentile and median time series by full-time employees, full-time males and full-time females.
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Wages in the United Kingdom increased to 722 GBP/Week in May from 720 GBP/Week in April of 2025. This dataset provides - United Kingdom Average Weekly Wages - actual values, historical data, forecast, chart, statistics, economic calendar and news.
The table only covers individuals who have some liability to Income Tax. The percentile points have been independently calculated on total income before tax and total income after tax.
These statistics are classified as accredited official statistics.
You can find more information about these statistics and collated tables for the latest and previous tax years on the Statistics about personal incomes page.
Supporting documentation on the methodology used to produce these statistics is available in the release for each tax year.
Note: comparisons over time may be affected by changes in methodology. Notably, there was a revision to the grossing factors in the 2018 to 2019 publication, which is discussed in the commentary and supporting documentation for that tax year. Further details, including a summary of significant methodological changes over time, data suitability and coverage, are included in the Background Quality Report.
These tables only cover individuals with some liability to tax.
These statistics are classified as accredited official statistics.
You can find more information about these statistics and collated tables for the latest and previous tax years on the Statistics about personal incomes page.
Supporting documentation on the methodology used to produce these statistics is available in the release for each tax year.
Note: comparisons over time may be affected by changes in methodology. Notably, there was a revision to the grossing factors in the 2018 to 2019 publication, which is discussed in the commentary and supporting documentation for that tax year. Further details, including a summary of significant methodological changes over time, data suitability and coverage, are included in the Background Quality Report.
Wages for regular pay in the United Kingdom grew by approximately 5.2 percent in April 2025, although when adjusted for inflation, wages for regular pay only grew in real terms by 1.4 percent. Twenty months of inflation outpacing wages Between November 2021 and June 2023 inflation was higher than wage growth in the UK, resulting in falling real terms earnings throughout this 20-month period. While UK inflation peaked at 11.1 percent in October 2022, it was not until April 2023 that it fell below double figures, and not until May 2024 that it reached the Bank of England's target of two percent. Forecasts from the Autumn 2024 budget predict that the annual UK inflation will for 2024 will be 2.5 percent, down from 7.3 percent in 2023 and 9.1 percent in 2022. Due to high inflation, the UK's minimum wage also rose quite significantly during this period, with the "main" rate increasing from 8.91 pounds per hour in 2021 to 12.21 pounds per hour in 2025. Average earnings and gender pay gap For full-time workers in the United Kingdom, the median average annual earnings was 37,430 British pounds in 2024, compared with 34,663 pounds in 2023. In London, average earnings were significantly higher than the rest of the country, at 47,455 pounds. Just two other areas of the United Kingdom, the South East and Scotland, had annual salaries above the UK average. North East England had the lowest average salary, at 32,960 pounds. As of 2024, the gender pay gap for median gross hourly earnings in the UK was 13.1 percent for all workers, falling to seven percent for full-time workers and -3 percent for part-time workers. Compared with 1997, when the gender pay gap was 27.5 percent for all workers, there has been a degree of progress, although, at current trends, it will be some time before the gap is closed entirely.
Full-time workers in London earned an average weekly salary of 838.9 British pounds a week in 2023, which was by far the highest of any region of the United Kingdom. The region with the lowest average salary was North East England, at 608.4 pounds a week.
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Annual estimates of paid hours worked and earnings for UK employees by sex, and full-time and part-time, by work-based region to local and unitary authority level.
Open Government Licence 3.0http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/
License information was derived automatically
Average weekly earnings at sector level headline estimates, Great Britain, monthly, seasonally adjusted. Monthly Wages and Salaries Survey.
Open Government Licence 3.0http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/
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Annual estimates of paid hours worked, weekly, hourly and annual earnings for UK employees by sex, and full-time and part-time, by region and four-digit Standard Occupational Classification.
In 2025, it is predicted that average earnings in the United Kingdom will increase by *** percent, compared with a growth rate of *** percent in 2024, and *** percent in 2023, the fastest average earnings growth in this time period. By contrast, average earnings did not grow at all in 2020, in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. Earnings vs inflation Although earnings grew at their fastest pace between 2021 and 2023 in this provided time period, this was offset by the period of very high inflation that occurred alongside it. This reached a peak of **** percent in October 2022, with inflation only reaching the typical target rate of *** percent in May 2024. Despite strong wage growth, the average UK worker saw their earnings fall relative to inflation between November 2021 and May 2023. As of January 2024, weekly wages in the UK were still growing faster than inflation, at *** percent for regular pay and *** percent for pay including bonuses. Full-time earnings reach over ****** GBP in 2024 Full-time employees in the United Kingdom earned an average annual salary of ****** British pounds in 2024, compared with just over ****** in the previous year. As of this year, men reported higher earnings than women did, with the UK reporting a gender pay gap of **** percent for 2024, compared with **** percent in 1997. Workers in their 40s had the highest average earnings by age group, at approximately ****** for men, and ****** for women. Although men earned more than women in all age groups, this gap was smallest among workers aged 18 to 21.
This statistical release has been affected by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. We advise users to consult our technical report which provides further detail on how the statistics have been impacted and changes made to published material.
This Households Below Average Income (HBAI) report presents information on living standards in the United Kingdom year on year from financial year ending (FYE) 1995 to FYE 2021.
It provides estimates on the number and percentage of people living in low-income households based on disposable income. Figures are also provided for children, pensioners and working-age adults.
Use our infographic to find out how low income is measured in HBAI.
Most of the figures in this report come from the Family Resources Survey, a representative survey of around 10,000 households in the UK.
Summary data tables and publication charts are available on this page.
The directory of tables is a guide to the information in the summary data tables and publication charts file.
UK-level HBAI data is available from FYE 1995 to FYE 2020 on https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/jsf/login.xhtml" class="govuk-link">Stat-Xplore online tool. You can use Stat-Xplore to create your own HBAI analysis. Data for FYE 2021 is not available on Stat-Xplore.
HBAI information is available at:
Read the user guide to HBAI data on Stat-Xplore.
We are seeking feedback from users on this development release of HBAI data on Stat-Xplore: email team.hbai@dwp.gov.uk with your comments.
The median annual earnings for full-time employees in the United Kingdom was approximately 37,430 British pounds in 2024, compared with 34,963 pounds in the previous year. At the start of the provided time period, in 1999, the average full-time salary in the UK was 17,803 pounds per year, with median earnings exceeding 20,000 pounds per year in 2002, and 30,000 by 2019. Wages continue to grow faster than inflation in 2025 Between November 2021 and July 2023 inflation was higher than wage growth in the UK, with wages still outpacing inflation as of March 2025. At the peak of the recent wave of high inflation in October 2022, the CPI inflation rate reached a 41-year-high of 11.1 percent, wages were growing much slower at 6.1 percent. Since that peak, inflation remained persistently high for several months, only dropping below double figures in April 2023, when inflation was 8.7 percent, down from 10.1 percent in the previous month. For 2023 as a whole, the average annual rate of inflation was 7.3 percent but fell to 2.5 percent in 2024, but is forecast to increase to 3.2 percent in 2025. Highest and lowest-paid occupations As of 2023, the highest-paid occupation in the UK was that of Chief Executives and Senior Officials, who had an average weekly pay of approximately, 1,576 pounds. By contrast, the lowest-paid occupation that year was that of retail cashiers, and check-out operators, who earned approximately 383 pounds a week. For industry sectors as a whole, people who worked full-time in the electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply sector had the highest average earnings, at 955 pounds a week, compared with 505 pounds a week in the accommodation and food services sector, the lowest average earnings in 2023.