What is the average salary in the UK?

The main official source is the ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE), based on employer payroll records. It reports median earnings for full-time employees each year, broken down by region, occupation, age and sex.

The median (the middle earner) is lower than the mean because a small number of high earners pull the mean up, so check which one a claim uses. For month-by-month changes, the ONS Average Weekly Earnings series is the measure used in the labour market release.

Official sources: ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings · ONS Average weekly earnings

The latest figure

The newest value is at Office for National Statistics (ONS). More on it: UK average weekly earnings growth.

When is the next figure out?

Monthly, usually a Tuesday in the middle of the month, 7am (ONS labour market release); next release 20 October 2026

Every official release due in the next two weeks is on the release calendar.

Terms used in this answer

• Median
  The middle value when all values are ordered from lowest to highest. Half are above and half below, so a few very large values cannot pull it up.
• Mean
  The total of all values divided by how many there are. Often what people mean by 'average', it can be pulled up or down by a few extreme values.
• Great Britain and the United Kingdom
  Great Britain is England, Scotland and Wales. The United Kingdom is Great Britain plus Northern Ireland. Some statistics cover only one or the other.
• Average weekly earnings (AWE)
  The ONS monthly measure of what employees in Great Britain are paid each week on average, reported for regular pay and total pay including bonuses.
• Payrolled employees (PAYE RTI)
  The count of employees paid through HMRC's PAYE system, published monthly from Real Time Information. It covers employees only, not the self-employed.
• Cash terms
  A money figure stated at the prices of the time it refers to, with no adjustment for inflation. Also called nominal terms.

Where the figures come from

• UK labour market statistics (ONS, Nomis and the gender pay gap reporting service)
  How to find official UK figures on jobs, vacancies, zero-hours contracts, strikes, public sector jobs, sickness, inactivity and pay gaps, and check claims.

Related questions

• Are wages rising faster than inflation in the UK?
• What is the UK unemployment rate?
• How big is the UK economy (GDP)?

This answer says where the official figures are published and how they are defined. It gives no verdict on any claim. To report an error, send a correction request. More questions about economy, jobs and wages: all Economy, jobs and wages questions.