UK Salary Guide 2026: Pay by Field and Role
Applying for jobs in the UK and not sure what to ask for? You are not alone. Many ads leave the pay out, and the ones that include it are hard to compare. This guide uses JobRise's live pay data to show what UK employers advertised as of November 5, 2026. The median is £39,000 a year, and the middle half of ads runs from £29,500 to £55,000. Your field and role decide most of where you land in that range.
What these UK salary numbers are#
The numbers come from open job ads that state a pay range. JobRise tracks those ads from employer career pages and public job boards. Repeat ads from the same employer count once.
Each number is the midpoint of the posted range, turned into yearly pay (hourly x 2,080 hours, monthly x 12). "Middle half" means half of the ads fall inside that range.
This is what employers advertise, not what people are paid after they negotiate. It is not a salary survey, so use it as a starting point for your own research.
The sample has 35,299 distinct ads with a clear pound amount and pay period, taken from 46,172 open UK jobs that show a salary field. The job sources in the sample are Reed (19,930), NHS Jobs (8,238), Teaching Vacancies (3,096), Adzuna (2,587) and Himalayas (662). That means you will see many NHS and school roles here. If you work somewhere else, check the field and role tables before you rely on the overall median.
JobRise's UK hiring report, dated November 2, 2026, is a separate count of open jobs, and it is a few days older than this salary file. Its totals do not match the 46,172 above, so do not mix the two.
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UK salary guide 2026: the overall numbers#
- Median: £39,000 a year
- Middle half: £29,500 to £55,000 a year
- Monthly median: £3,200
- Hourly median: £18.75
The middle half is the number to plan around. If an offer sits near the bottom of it, you have room to ask. If it sits near the top, you can still ask, but you will need a reason tied to your skills.
UK salary by field#
These are JobRise's field categories, which come from job titles and departments. Only fields with 50 or more jobs are shown. The top five by median are:
| Field | Jobs | Median yearly | Middle half yearly |
|---|---|---|---|
| Product | 66 | £72,600 | £60,000 to £126,200 |
| Data / AI | 286 | £72,200 | £52,500 to £95,000 |
| Software Dev | 250 | £69,400 | £50,000 to £93,300 |
| DevOps | 301 | £58,500 | £37,500 to £77,000 |
| Legal | 713 | £50,000 | £35,500 to £65,000 |
The bottom five are:
| Field | Jobs | Median yearly | Middle half yearly |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cleaning & Facilities | 365 | £26,900 | £25,300 to £30,800 |
| Hospitality | 913 | £28,100 | £26,400 to £33,700 |
| Admin | 2,283 | £28,400 | £26,500 to £32,500 |
| Internship | 666 | £28,500 | £25,000 to £34,000 |
| Customer Support | 545 | £28,800 | £26,500 to £33,600 |
Product has only 66 ads in the sample, so read that row as a rough signal. The bigger fields tell a steadier story:
- Healthcare: 8,050 jobs, median £44,000, middle half £29,800 to £55,000.
- Education: 3,648 jobs, median £42,000, middle half £28,400 to £82,800. The range is wide because it mixes support roles with senior ones.
- Sales: 1,804 jobs, median £40,000, middle half £30,500 to £55,000.
If your field is missing from the tables, either because it has fewer than 50 ads or because JobRise could not place it, use the role table instead. Roles are matched from job titles, so they can catch work that the field rules miss.
Software is well paid in this data, but a sample of 250 software ads is small for a field this broad. Treat it as a guide to the range, not a promise.
UK salary by role#
Roles are matched from job titles. Only roles with 30 or more ads are shown.
| Role | Jobs | Median yearly | Middle half yearly |
|---|---|---|---|
| Doctor / physician | 331 | £127,600 | £83,200 to £132,100 |
| Data scientist / ML engineer | 90 | £85,000 | £61,100 to £105,000 |
| Software engineer / developer | 289 | £72,500 | £50,000 to £98,200 |
| Product manager | 64 | £70,000 | £60,000 to £116,200 |
| Project manager | 219 | £52,500 | £40,000 to £62,500 |
| Teacher | 1,681 | £45,000 | £40,500 to £73,000 |
| Nurse | 1,650 | £44,000 | £35,600 to £50,100 |
| Accountant | 778 | £41,200 | £32,500 to £50,000 |
| Sales executive / representative | 558 | £37,500 | £30,000 to £50,000 |
| Technician | 777 | £33,700 | £28,000 to £41,500 |
| Driver | 853 | £33,500 | £30,300 to £38,500 |
| Warehouse / logistics | 391 | £30,000 | £27,000 to £34,000 |
| Healthcare assistant / care worker | 1,528 | £28,100 | £26,600 to £30,800 |
| Cleaner | 358 | £26,400 | £25,300 to £27,600 |
Which UK roles pay most and least
- Most: Doctor / physician, with a median of £127,600 a year across 331 ads.
- Next: Data scientist / ML engineer (£85,000) and Account executive (sales) (£84,000).
- Least: Cleaner, with a median of £26,400 a year (£12.71 an hour at the median).
Account executive (sales) looks high at £84,000, but its middle half runs from £37,800 to £151,600 across 97 ads. A spread that wide means the median can mislead you. Read the range on the ad you are looking at.
Teachers and nurses have large samples (1,681 and 1,650 ads). Their medians of £45,000 and £44,000 are useful anchors if you work in those jobs.
Employers with the most salaried ads#
These are the employers with 15 or more salaried ads in the sample.
| Employer | Salaried jobs | Median yearly |
|---|---|---|
| Reed | 1,155 | £37,500 |
| Home Instead | 840 | £28,500 |
| Hays Specialist Recruitment Limited | 632 | £47,500 |
| Academics | 403 | £202,800 |
| Adecco | 387 | £30,800 |
| Michael Page Finance | 277 | £50,000 |
| Tradewind Recruitment | 255 | £213,200 |
| Aspire People Limited | 246 | £221,300 |
Several of these are recruitment firms. Hays Specialist Recruitment Limited and Tradewind Recruitment show it in their names. Reed is also one of the job boards in this sample, so its ads may be posted for other companies. When an ad comes from a recruiter, ask who the employer is before you negotiate with them.
Academics, Tradewind Recruitment and Aspire People Limited have medians above £200,000, far higher than anything else in the table. The data does not say why. One possible reason is that an ad's pay line was a day rate or contract figure turned into a yearly number. Check the pay line on the actual ad before you quote it to anyone.
How to use these numbers in a salary talk#
- Anchor on the middle half, not the top. If you are applying for a software engineer role, the middle half in this data is £50,000 to £98,200. Start your thinking there.
- Ask for the range early. Ask the recruiter or hiring manager for the pay range before the first interview. It saves time for both of you.
- Check the ad's own range first. If the ad lists £45,000 to £52,000, that beats any median in this guide for that job.
- Use your own offer as the test. Say you are an accountant holding an offer. The role median is £41,200, and the middle half runs from £32,500 to £50,000. If the offer sits near the median, ask whether there is room to move toward the top of that range, especially if you bring skills the ad asks for.
- Name the gap, not the fear. Say something like, "Based on the range for this role and my experience with X, I was looking for something nearer the upper part of the range." Keep it short and specific.
The salary negotiation helper can help you word the ask for your own offer.
What to do this week#
- Find your rows. Write down the median and middle half for your field and your role. Use the closest role if yours is not listed.
- Check the pay line on every ad you apply to. Skip the ones with no pay and ask the recruiter for a range.
- Match the words on the posting. Put the exact terms from the ad into your resume where they are true. Run one ad through the free ATS check and read how to tailor your resume for each job.
- Look at the skills employers name. The UK skills page shows which skills UK ads ask for most.
- Browse live listings. Start with the UK job board, then check who the real employer is.
- Read the bigger picture. The UK job market 2026 post and the UK hiring report show where the openings are.
What this data cannot tell you#
The data does not show pay after negotiation, bonuses, tax, or visa and sponsorship rules. It is a snapshot as of November 5, 2026, and it only covers ads that state a pay range. Check each ad for the details that matter to you before you plan a move or turn down a job.
Want to see how your resume matches a UK job? Run the free ATS check and see your score. Free, no signup. You can also browse all free tools.
Send this to whoever has the interview this week.