Average UK Salary 2026

The detail

Journalists typically cite £39,039 as the UK's "average" salary — technically it's the median for full-time pay (ONS ASHE 2025). The median (50th percentile) is a better "typical" measure than the mean because pay has a fat upper tail: a handful of six-figure earners pull the mean up without reflecting the typical person.

The full-time mean is £48,512 — roughly £9,500 higher than the median. The gap between mean and median is one simple measure of how unequal the distribution is: the further the mean sits above the median, the more the top of the distribution pulls the average up.

Including part-time workers, the all-employees median drops to £32,890. This lower figure covers all jobs regardless of hours — hence the apparent discrepancy between different "average UK salary" claims (HMRC total-income medians, which include non-employees, are different again).

Regional variation is wide: median full-time pay in London is £49,692; in the North East £34,403 (ONS ASHE 2025). The London premium of about 27% partly reflects higher cost of living but also a structural skew toward finance, tech and legal roles.