UK statistics
UK Salary by Age Group 2026
UK full-time median pay peaks between ages 40–49 at approximately £42,000, with earlier 20s-age workers earning around £28,000 and 60+ workers around £38,000 (ONS ASHE 2024).
Headline numbers
- 22–29 median
- £28,000
- 30–39 median
- £38,000
- 40–49 median (peak)
- £42,000
Full-time ONS ASHE 2024
The detail
The age-earnings profile for UK full-time employees rises sharply through one's 20s, continues to climb into the early 40s, and then flattens or declines slightly from the mid-50s onwards. This follows the classic "human capital curve" — experience and specialisation accumulate, before plateauing near retirement age.
Specifically (ONS ASHE 2024 median full-time annual pay, approximate): 22–29 → £28,000; 30–39 → £38,000; 40–49 → £42,000; 50–59 → £41,000; 60+ → £38,000.
The drop in later years partly reflects retirement-adjacent part-time or reduced-hours work even among those still classified "full-time". It also reflects cohort effects (today's 60+ workers started their careers under different pay structures than today's 30-somethings).
Gender pay gap widens with age — the gap is small in 20s (men earn ~3% more than women at same age) but reaches 15–20% by 40s. This is primarily attributed to childcare-driven career interruptions rather than pay discrimination at any single point in a career.
Sources
- ONS ASHE 2024 — Earnings and hours worked, age group (retrieved 2026-04-19)
- Our methodology & full source list →
Related statistics
- Average UK Salary
The median full-time UK salary is £37,430 in the ONS 2024 Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings — the most commonly cited "average" UK salary.
- Top 10%
Full-time UK employees need gross pay of roughly £73,000 per year to be in the top 10% of earners by salary (ONS ASHE, 2024 annual estimates).
- Gender Pay Gap
The median UK gender pay gap for full-time employees is 7.0% (ONS ASHE 2024) — down from 10.9% a decade earlier. The gap widens sharply with age, consistent with childcare-driven career interruptions.