United Kingdom take-home pay calculator
On the UK average wage of £55,983 for the 2026 to 2027 tax year, beginning 6 April 2026, this calculator gives £9,825 of income tax and £3,130 of employee social security, leaving £43,028 a year, £3,586 a month. That is an effective rate of 23.1%, with 42.0% taken from the next unit earned.
Income tax and employee social security on employment income, band by band, computed from the published statutory schedules for a single person with no dependants. Employer contributions are excluded throughout, because they never appear in your gross pay.
Written by Usain Olivard, who is not a qualified tax adviser. The most recent rule behind this page was read from its source on 08 September 2026, which is the date this page reports as its last modification.
Work out your own United Kingdom salary
Enter a gross salary and the bands open up underneath it. Everything runs in your browser: no salary you type here is sent anywhere.
Runs in your browser. Nothing is sent anywhere. Rules read on 2026-09-06.
United Kingdom salary after tax, at every income
Take-home pay across the income range, from a quarter of the average wage to four times it. The effective rate is what you pay across the whole salary; the marginal rate is what is taken from the next unit you earn. In a progressive system the second is always higher, and it is the one that decides whether a rise or a move is worth taking.
| Gross salary | Income tax | Social security | Take-home | A month | Effective | Marginal | Of average wage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| £11,200 | £0 | £0 | £11,200 | £933 | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.20× |
| £14,000 | £286 | £113 | £13,601 | £1,133 | 2.9% | 28.0% | 0.25× |
| £18,500 | £1,186 | £473 | £16,841 | £1,403 | 9.0% | 28.0% | 0.33× |
| £22,400 | £1,966 | £785 | £19,649 | £1,637 | 12.3% | 28.0% | 0.40× |
| £28,000 | £3,086 | £1,233 | £23,681 | £1,973 | 15.4% | 28.0% | 0.50× |
| £33,600 | £4,206 | £1,681 | £27,713 | £2,309 | 17.5% | 28.0% | 0.60× |
| £37,500 | £4,986 | £1,993 | £30,521 | £2,543 | 18.6% | 28.0% | 0.67× |
| £42,000 | £5,886 | £2,353 | £33,761 | £2,813 | 19.6% | 28.0% | 0.75× |
| £47,600 | £7,006 | £2,801 | £37,793 | £3,149 | 20.6% | 28.0% | 0.85× |
| £53,200 | £8,712 | £3,074 | £41,414 | £3,451 | 22.2% | 42.0% | 0.95× |
| £56,000 | £9,832 | £3,130 | £43,038 | £3,586 | 23.1% | 42.0% | 1.00× |
| £61,600 | £12,072 | £3,242 | £46,286 | £3,857 | 24.9% | 42.0% | 1.10× |
| £67,200 | £14,312 | £3,354 | £49,534 | £4,128 | 26.3% | 42.0% | 1.20× |
| £74,500 | £17,232 | £3,500 | £53,768 | £4,481 | 27.8% | 42.0% | 1.33× |
| £84,000 | £21,032 | £3,690 | £59,278 | £4,940 | 29.4% | 42.0% | 1.50× |
| £93,500 | £24,832 | £3,880 | £64,788 | £5,399 | 30.7% | 42.0% | 1.67× |
| £104,000 | £29,832 | £4,090 | £70,078 | £5,840 | 32.6% | 62.0% | 1.86× |
| £112,000 | £34,632 | £4,250 | £73,118 | £6,093 | 34.7% | 62.0% | 2.00× |
| £140,000 | £49,203 | £4,810 | £85,987 | £7,166 | 38.6% | 47.0% | 2.50× |
| £168,000 | £61,803 | £5,370 | £100,827 | £8,402 | 40.0% | 47.0% | 3.00× |
| £196,000 | £74,403 | £5,930 | £115,667 | £9,639 | 41.0% | 47.0% | 3.50× |
| £224,000 | £87,003 | £6,490 | £130,507 | £10,876 | 41.7% | 47.0% | 4.00× |
| £280,000 | £112,203 | £7,610 | £160,187 | £13,349 | 42.8% | 47.0% | 5.00× |
Every whole-thousand salary between £10,000 and £500,000 also has its own page with the bands it crosses, the thresholds above it and what a £1,000 rise actually leaves: UK salary after tax, every amount.
How United Kingdom income tax is built
The order the pieces are applied in decides the answer, so it is stated rather than implied. Social security is assessed first, on gross, with thresholds of its own. Contributions do not reduce the income tax base here, so the two schedules are independent. The allowance comes off next. The ladder runs on what is left.
The bands, one at a time
- £0 to £3,967 at 19%. A salary that crosses the whole of this band pays £754 within it, on £3,967 of income. Only the part of your income inside the band is taxed at this rate, which is the point most rate tables leave the reader to work out.
- £3,967 to £16,956 at 20%. A salary that crosses the whole of this band pays £2,598 within it, on £12,989 of income. Only the part of your income inside the band is taxed at this rate, which is the point most rate tables leave the reader to work out.
- £16,956 to £31,092 at 21%. A salary that crosses the whole of this band pays £2,969 within it, on £14,136 of income. Only the part of your income inside the band is taxed at this rate, which is the point most rate tables leave the reader to work out.
- £31,092 to £62,430 at 42%. A salary that crosses the whole of this band pays £13,162 within it, on £31,338 of income. Only the part of your income inside the band is taxed at this rate, which is the point most rate tables leave the reader to work out.
- £62,430 to £125,140 at 45%. A salary that crosses the whole of this band pays £28,220 within it, on £62,710 of income. Only the part of your income inside the band is taxed at this rate, which is the point most rate tables leave the reader to work out.
- Above £125,140 at 48%. This is the open-ended top band: every unit above £125,140 is taxed at 48%, with no ceiling.
The allowance
£12,570 of income is outside the ladder for the 2026 to 2027 tax year, beginning 6 April 2026. The published figure is a single number with no income dependence, so it is applied at every income. Where a jurisdiction withdraws its allowance as income rises, that withdrawal is a separate rule and this page would say so: the United Kingdom is the example, and its withdrawal creates an effective 62% band that the published rates never mention.
A worked example, at the UK average wage
Following one salary through the whole calculation is the fastest way to see which base each schedule runs on, and it is the part most rate tables leave out.
- Start with gross earnings of £55,983, the average wage the OECD publishes for United Kingdom.
- Deduct the allowance of £12,570, which is outside the ladder entirely.
- Walk the 6 bands across what is left, each rate applying only to the income inside its own band. Income tax comes to £9,825.
- Subtract everything from gross. Take-home is £43,028 a year, £3,586 a month, an effective rate of 23.1%. The next unit earned is taxed at 42.0%, which is the number that matters when weighing a rise.
What changes as a United Kingdom salary rises
Each threshold below changes what the next unit of income costs. Nothing changes for income already earned: crossing a threshold never makes you worse off in a system built like this one.
- £3,967: the rate on further income becomes 20%, up to £16,956.
- £16,956: the rate on further income becomes 21%, up to £31,092.
- £31,092: the rate on further income becomes 42%, up to £62,430.
- £62,430: the rate on further income becomes 45%, up to £125,140.
- £125,140: the rate on further income becomes 48%, and stays there however far above it you earn.
- £280,000: at roughly 5.0 times the average wage, the effective rate has reached 42.8%, still well below the top band rate, because every unit below it was taxed on the way up.
What each band takes on the average wage
| Line | Income inside it | Rate | Amount | Share of everything taken |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Income tax: Band at 20% | £12,570 to £50,270 | 20% | £7,540 | 58.2% |
| Income tax: Band at 40% | £50,270 to £137,710 | 40% | £2,285 | 17.6% |
| National Insurance: Band at 8% | £12,584 to £50,284 | 8% | £3,016 | 23.3% |
| National Insurance: Above threshold at 2% | above £50,284 | 2% | £114 | 0.9% |
How we know these numbers are right
The rates on this page are built from the schedules the OECD publishes. They are checked against a different series the OECD publishes: the average tax rates a single person actually pays at 67%, 100% and 167% of the average wage. Those two are produced separately, so agreement between them is evidence and not a tautology. A jurisdiction that misses by more than half a percentage point at any of the three incomes is not published here at all.
| Income | Gross | Our income tax rate | OECD published | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 67% of average | £37,508 | 13.30% | 13.30% | 0.00pp |
| 100% of average | £55,983 | 17.55% | 17.55% | 0.00pp |
| 167% of average | £93,491 | 26.56% | 26.56% | 0.00pp |
Worst miss on income tax 0.00 percentage points. What this check cannot catch is a definitional gap inside the OECD's own view of a tax system: a source checking itself will not find one. That is why a national-authority ingest supersedes this wherever we have one, as it does for the United Kingdom.
United Kingdom compared with everywhere else we compute
Each jurisdiction is shown at its own average wage, which is the only way to compare tax systems without an exchange rate deciding the answer. The rate is what a single person on that country's average salary actually pays.
| Jurisdiction | Average wage | Average wage in EUR | Effective rate | Take-home in EUR | Includes social security |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australia | A$108,674 | €67,357 | 23.5% | €51,513 | Income tax only |
| Colombia | 31,542,293 COP | , | 0.0% | , | Income tax only |
| Costa Rica | 10,340,494 CRC | , | 0.0% | , | Income tax only |
| Czechia | 584,744 CZK | €24,174 | 21.3% | €19,019 | Yes |
| France | €45,964 | €45,964 | 28.0% | €33,104 | Income tax only |
| Germany | €66,700 | €66,700 | 38.6% | €40,938 | Yes |
| Hungary | 8,455,487 HUF | €23,275 | 33.5% | €15,478 | Yes |
| Israel | ₪209,735 | €60,003 | 21.4% | €47,143 | Yes |
| Latvia | €21,321 | €21,321 | 26.0% | €15,777 | Yes |
| Switzerland | 100,715 CHF | €107,086 | 18.1% | €87,756 | Yes |
Rows marked income tax only exclude employee social security, so they are not comparable with the rest as take-home. They are shown rather than hidden, and labelled rather than footnoted. The EUR columns use the European Central Bank reference rate for 2026-09-04, which is a rate for information rather than a rate any bank will give you. Every other figure on this page is in its own currency, because a comparison made at each country's own average wage does not need an exchange rate to be meaningful and does not inherit the error in one.
Questions people ask about United Kingdom tax
How much is take-home pay on an average salary in United Kingdom?
The OECD puts the average wage in United Kingdom at £55,983 for the 2026 to 2027 tax year, beginning 6 April 2026. On that salary this calculator gives £9,825 of income tax, leaving £43,028 a year, or £3,586 a month. That is an effective rate of 23.1% of gross.
What is the top rate of income tax in United Kingdom?
The highest central government rate is 48%, and it applies to taxable income above £125,140. There are 6 bands in total, starting at 19%.
How much can you earn in United Kingdom before paying income tax?
The published allowance is £12,570 for the 2026 to 2027 tax year, beginning 6 April 2026, so income tax starts above that. Social security, where it applies, has thresholds of its own and can start earlier.
Is social security included in these United Kingdom figures?
No. This page models income tax only, so it is not take-home pay: your net is lower than the figure shown. That is stated rather than hidden because a number labelled take-home that is not take-home is the single largest error a calculator of this kind can make.
What is the difference between the effective and marginal rate in United Kingdom?
The effective rate is what you actually pay across your whole salary: 23.1% at the average wage. The marginal rate is what is taken from the next unit you earn: 42.0% at the same salary. The second is always the higher of the two in a progressive system, and it is the one that decides whether a pay rise is worth taking.
How do you know these United Kingdom numbers are right?
They are checked against a series the OECD publishes separately from the rates they are built from. For a single person at 67%, 100% and 167% of the average wage, the OECD publishes the average income tax rate actually paid. This calculator reproduces it to within 0.00 of a percentage point at every one of those incomes. A jurisdiction that misses by more than half a percentage point is not published at all, which is why some jurisdictions this site once listed are no longer here.
Which tax year do these United Kingdom figures cover?
The 2026 to 2027 tax year, beginning 6 April 2026. Tax year is a first-class field on every rule here, never inferred from today's date, because the year a figure applies to and the year it is filed in are different years and conflating them is the most common error in this subject.
What does this United Kingdom calculator not model?
Employee National Insurance is included, assessed on gross earnings with its own thresholds, which are not the income tax thresholds. A single person on employment income, with no dependants, no other income and no reliefs beyond those above. Employer contributions are excluded throughout, because they never appear in your gross pay.
How much tax would I pay on a high salary in United Kingdom?
At £280,000, roughly 5.0 times the average wage, the effective rate is 42.8% and take-home is £160,187. At £11,200 it is 0.0% and £11,200. The gap between those two numbers is the progressivity of the UK system in one line.
What this does not model
- Employee National Insurance is included, assessed on gross earnings with its own thresholds, which are not the income tax thresholds.
- A single person on employment income, with no dependants, no other income and no reliefs beyond those above.
- Employer contributions are excluded throughout, because they never appear in your gross pay.
Moving to or from United Kingdom
Residence decides which system taxes you, not where your employer sits. This page assumes residence in United Kingdom for the whole of the 2026 to 2027 tax year, beginning 6 April 2026 and employment income taxed there. A move part way through that period is usually taxed in both places and is a different calculation.
Double taxation agreements, foreign tax credits and the treatment of income arising outside United Kingdom are not modelled anywhere on this site. What this page gives you is the domestic calculation done in full, which is the input any treaty question needs first.
Where every figure came from
Each rule below carries the document it was read from, the date it was read, and an archived copy of the exact text. Citations on this page are derived from the calculation rather than written beside it, so the page cannot cite a source the arithmetic did not use, nor use one it does not show.
gb-sct.income_tax.bands.ty2026: Scottish income tax bands, 2026 to 2027. Read 2026-09-08 from Income Tax in Scotland: How it works. Locator: How it works, 2026 to 2027 Scottish Income Tax rates table, all bands.gb.income_tax.bands.ty2026: UK income tax bands, 2026 to 2027, England Wales and Northern Ireland. Read 2026-09-06 from Income Tax rates and allowances for current and past years. Locator: Tax rates and bands, England Northern Ireland and Wales, income after allowances, 2026 to 2027 column.gb.income_tax.personal_allowance.ty2026: UK personal allowance, 2026 to 2027. Read 2026-09-06 from Income Tax rates and allowances for current and past years. Locator: Personal Allowances table, Personal Allowance, 2026 to 2027 column.
Ruleset sha256:fe993d9d072cbcac. Method on methodology, full provenance on sources, every change on the changelog, and anything we got wrong on corrections.
How a figure gets from a government document to this page, and what every term here means, is written once on methodology rather than repeated on every jurisdiction.
Keep going
Compare United Kingdom with another country
The same position in each country’s own wage distribution, side by side. 37 comparisons, each built from the same published series as the pages behind them.
- United Kingdom vs Australia
- United Kingdom vs Austria
- United Kingdom vs Belgium
- United Kingdom vs Canada
- United Kingdom vs Chile
- United Kingdom vs Colombia
- United Kingdom vs Costa Rica
- United Kingdom vs Czechia
- United Kingdom vs Denmark
- United Kingdom vs Estonia
- United Kingdom vs Finland
- United Kingdom vs France
- United Kingdom vs Germany
- United Kingdom vs Greece
- United Kingdom vs Hungary
- United Kingdom vs Iceland
- United Kingdom vs Ireland
- United Kingdom vs Israel
- United Kingdom vs Italy
- United Kingdom vs Japan
- United Kingdom vs Latvia
- United Kingdom vs Lithuania
- United Kingdom vs Luxembourg
- United Kingdom vs Mexico
- United Kingdom vs Netherlands
- United Kingdom vs New Zealand
- United Kingdom vs Norway
- United Kingdom vs Poland
- United Kingdom vs Portugal
- United Kingdom vs Slovakia
- United Kingdom vs Slovenia
- United Kingdom vs South Korea
- United Kingdom vs Spain
- United Kingdom vs Sweden
- United Kingdom vs Switzerland
- United Kingdom vs Türkiye
- United Kingdom vs United States