Gross to net salary calculator. No sign-up, no ads.

🇬🇧 UK Net Salary Calculator 2026/27

The personal allowance is £12,570, the amount you can earn before paying any income tax, frozen until at least 2028/29. Above that, you pay 20% up to £50,270, 40% up to £125,140, and 45% on anything higher. Employees also pay Class 1 National Insurance: 8% on earnings between £12,570 and £50,270, then 2% above. One thing worth knowing if you earn above £100,000: the personal allowance tapers by £1 for every £2 over that threshold, disappearing entirely at £125,140. That creates an effective 60% marginal rate in that band, which is why pension contributions into that range are particularly tax-efficient. At £50,000 gross, a UK employee pays around £7,500 in income tax and £3,000 in National Insurance, taking home roughly £39,500. At £70,000, take-home is approximately £51,000 once the 40% higher-rate band applies.

United Kingdom Income Tax Brackets

Brackets apply to taxable income after the £12,570 tax-free allowance.

Income bandRate
£0 – £37,70020.00%
£37,700 – £112,57040.00%
£112,570 and above45.00%

Take-home pay examples

Gross / yearNet / yearNet / month
£30,000£25,120£2,093
£50,000£39,520£3,293
£70,000£51,157£4,263
£100,000£68,557£5,713

Employee figures only, standard deductions applied. Pension contributions, benefits in kind, and other personal factors are not included.

Data & assumptions

Tax year
2026
Last updated
2026-07-17
Employment assumption
Full-time employee, single filer

Figures are estimates based on standard deductions and do not account for pension contributions, benefits in kind, or individual circumstances. See our methodology for how these numbers are calculated.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is National Insurance?

NI is a separate deduction from income tax. Class 1 employee contributions fund the NHS, the state pension, and other social benefits. You pay 8% on earnings between £12,570 and £50,270, and 2% on anything above that. Your employer also pays their own NI (13.8% above the secondary threshold), but that doesn't come out of your pay.

Does the personal allowance taper above £100,000?

Yes. Your £12,570 personal allowance shrinks by £1 for every £2 you earn above £100,000, hitting zero at £125,140. In that band you're effectively paying 60% on marginal income. Most people deal with this through pension contributions, which pull taxable income back below the threshold.

Is student loan repayment included?

No. Repayments are collected through payroll but the rate and threshold depend on which plan you're on. Plan 2 (the most common for post-2012 graduates) charges 9% of income above £27,295. Student loan repayments vary a lot by situation, so they're not included here.

What is pension salary sacrifice and how much does it save?

With salary sacrifice, your employer pays your pension contributions directly from your gross salary before income tax and National Insurance are calculated. Every pound going into pension this way avoids income tax at your marginal rate plus 8% employee NI. At the 40% rate, a £10,000 pension contribution effectively costs you around £5,200 in take-home. For earners between £100,000 and £125,140 where the personal allowance tapers, pension contributions are particularly powerful: they restore the allowance and cut the effective 60% marginal rate back down to 40%.

What is a good salary in the UK?

London's cost of living makes it a different market from the rest of the UK. Outside London, £35,000–45,000 gross supports a comfortable single lifestyle. In London, most people need £50,000–65,000 gross to cover rent, transport, and reasonable savings. The UK median full-time gross salary is around £37,000. Software engineering roles in London typically range from £60,000 to £130,000; salaries outside London are often 15–25% lower for equivalent roles.

How does the Scottish income tax rate differ from England and Wales?

Scotland sets its own income tax rates, which diverge from England and Wales above the basic threshold. Scotland has five bands (19%, 20%, 21%, 42%, 45%) rather than three, and the 42% higher rate applies above £43,662 of income rather than £50,270. At most income levels above £50,000, Scottish employees pay more income tax than equivalent earners in England. National Insurance is the same across the whole UK; the difference is purely in income tax.

From the blog

Gross vs Net Salary: What the Numbers Actually MeanGross and net salary can differ by more than half, depending where you live. Here is what each number actually represents and why the gap varies so much by country.The Highest Take-Home Pay Countries in Europe (and a Few Surprises)Everyone assumes the highest-paying countries also let you keep the most. Run the actual brackets and the ranking flips in some genuinely surprising ways.How Much of a Raise Actually Reaches Your Bank AccountYour effective tax rate and your marginal tax rate are not the same number, and the gap between them decides how much of your next raise you actually get to keep.Eight Mistakes People Make When Comparing Job Offers in Different CountriesA bigger gross figure on a competing offer feels like an easy win. Run the actual numbers and it often isn't one, for eight specific and very avoidable reasons.Software Engineer Salary: Netherlands vs Germany vs UK, Take-Home ComparedGermany advertises the biggest gross salary for software engineers of these three countries. Run the real tax brackets and it is the one where engineers keep the least of it.Why a Bigger Salary Abroad Can Leave You With LessA higher national average salary doesn't guarantee more breathing room once rent, food, and bills are paid. Spain and Switzerland prove the point in opposite directions.Best Countries for Remote Workers to Be Tax-Resident In (and the Ones to Avoid)The country with the best advertised tax break for remote workers isn't always the one that nets out best once you run real numbers, and tax residency involves a lot more than the headline rate.Nurse Salary: Netherlands vs Germany vs UK, Take-Home ComparedNetherlands nurses earn more on paper. UK nurses keep more of what they earn. Germany pairs the lowest gross with the heaviest deduction stack. Here is what the numbers actually look like.The UK Minimum Wage Just Rose to £12.71. Take-Home Pay Grew Slower.The National Living Wage has climbed every year since 2021. The tax-free personal allowance hasn't moved once in that time, and that mismatch is quietly eating into minimum-wage take-home pay.The Dutch Minimum Wage Just Rose to €14.99 an Hour. Workers Keep Almost All of It.The Dutch minimum wage rose again on 1 July 2026, this time to €14.99 an hour. Run the actual loonheffing numbers and a full-time minimum-wage worker keeps a strikingly large share of it, though that share has been slowly shrinking with every increase.Spain's Minimum Wage Rose Again in 2026, and Earners Still Pay Zero Income TaxSpain raised its minimum wage again in 2026, to €17,094 a year. For the fourth year running, the government says earners at that level pay no income tax at all, thanks to a specific deduction that is easy to conflate with a genuine tax-free threshold.

Salary by profession in United Kingdom

Compare with other countries