Detailed UK salary benchmarks by age group in 2026. Median, 75th percentile, and top 10% figures so you can find out if your salary matches your career stage.
Age is one of the most important factors in benchmarking your salary, and one of the most commonly misused. Comparing your pay to the national average regardless of age gives you a distorted picture. A 24-year-old earning £28,000 is performing well above their age group median. A 44-year-old on the same salary is likely being significantly underpaid. Here is the 2026 data, broken down precisely by age group.
| Age group | 25th percentile | Median (50th) | 75th percentile | 90th percentile |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18–21 | £13,500 | £20,000 | £24,000 | £29,000 |
| 22–24 | £20,000 | £25,000 | £30,000 | £38,000 |
| 25–29 | £24,000 | £30,000 | £38,000 | £50,000 |
| 30–34 | £28,000 | £37,000 | £50,000 | £68,000 |
| 35–39 | £30,000 | £40,000 | £55,000 | £75,000 |
| 40–44 | £31,000 | £42,000 | £58,000 | £80,000 |
| 45–49 | £30,500 | £42,500 | £60,000 | £82,000 |
| 50–54 | £29,000 | £40,500 | £57,000 | £78,000 |
| 55–59 | £27,500 | £39,000 | £54,000 | £74,000 |
| 60–65 | £25,000 | £35,000 | £48,000 | £65,000 |
Workers at this age span an enormous range. The group includes apprentices on near minimum wage, degree apprentices at professional firms earning £20,000 or more, and young people in part time work. The median of £20,000 reflects this mixture. The National Living Wage of £12.21 per hour, around £23,600 full time, is the effective floor for most workers in this group.
If you are 18–21 and earning above £24,000 in a structured role, you are performing in the top 25% of your age group. That is a strong position. The key decisions at this age have compounding effects on where you end up at 30 and beyond. Apprenticeship versus university, employer quality, and sector choice all shape the trajectory significantly.
This is when the graduate premium begins to show. The median of £25,000 reflects a mixture of recent graduates in entry roles, typically earning £24,000 to £29,000, alongside non graduates in more advanced positions. The spread is wide. A software engineer aged 24 at a tech company might earn £38,000. A 24 year old in hospitality management might earn £23,000.
The graduate starting salary matters more than most people realise, because future raises are typically calculated as a percentage of your current salary. Accepting a low starting offer and staying without negotiating locks in a compounding disadvantage. See our salary negotiation guide for how to approach this.
The 25–29 bracket is where career trajectories begin to diverge most sharply. The median of £30,000 conceals an enormous range. The 75th percentile sits at £38,000 and the 90th percentile at £50,000. This is the period where professional qualifications begin paying off with significant salary jumps, first management responsibilities appear for high performers, and job moves deliver the biggest percentage increases relative to experience level.
Someone who entered a competitive graduate scheme at 22, qualified professionally by 26, and negotiated or moved employers once or twice could reasonably be earning £40,000 to £55,000 by 29. Someone who accepted the same starting salary and remained passively in the same role might be on £28,000 to £32,000. The gap between these two paths grows with every year that passes.
The median jumps to £37,000 in this bracket. Several factors drive this. Most professional qualifications complete in the late twenties and the pay rises associated with them materialise here. First management roles emerge with salary uplifts of £5,000 to £15,000. Workers in their early thirties who move employers are often making strategic moves rather than opportunistic ones, and achieving commensurate pay increases.
The 90th percentile of £68,000 at this age represents early high achievers who have reached senior individual contributor or first management level in well-paying sectors.
The 35–49 bracket represents peak earning years for most professionals. The median plateaus around £40,000 to £42,500, but the distribution widens significantly. The gap between the 25th and 90th percentile at age 40–49 is £49,000, compared to £16,500 at age 22–24.
This widening reflects the compounding effect of career decisions made in the twenties and early thirties. Sector, employer quality, qualification, and proactivity in salary negotiation all compound over 15 to 20 years of working life into dramatically different outcomes by the mid forties.
A key warning sign in this bracket: workers who have been in the same role without a significant pay increase or promotion for three or more years are very likely below market rate. The loyalty penalty is real. Median pay rises for those who stay in the same job run at 3 to 5 percent, while job movers achieve 10 to 20 percent increases on average.
Median salaries peak around ages 45–49 and then begin a gradual decline through the fifties and into the early sixties. Several factors contribute. Some workers in their fifties reduce hours, moving to part time arrangements that reduce their annual salary figure. Some voluntarily trade pay for lower pressure or more flexibility. Some industries skew younger in hiring, creating headwinds for older workers seeking senior roles. Higher earners may also consciously reduce hours as retirement approaches.
The decline in median is modest, from £42,500 at 45–49 to £39,000 at 55–59, and does not represent reduced individual earning capacity. It is a compositional shift in who is working full time at each age.
The gender pay gap is not uniform across age groups. At 22–24, it is small, around 2 to 4 percent. It widens sharply through the thirties, driven primarily by career breaks for caring responsibilities and the underrepresentation of women in senior management and board positions. By ages 40–49, the gap in median pay between men and women is approximately £8,000 to £10,000. This is not because women are less capable. It is because systemic factors have diverted their career trajectories.
The honest answer is to compare to your sector and role, not just your age group. A 35 year old nurse earning £38,000 is at the 65th percentile for nurses of that age. The same salary for a 35 year old solicitor at a commercial firm sits below the 25th percentile for their peer group. Age-based medians are a starting point. Role specific and sector specific benchmarks are the more actionable comparison. Use our salary checker to benchmark against your specific job title and location.
Our salary checker benchmarks your pay against ONS data for your specific job, age, and location.
Check Your Salary →ONS data shows UK median salaries of approximately £20,000 at 18–21, £25,000 at 22–24, £30,000 at 25–29, £37,000 at 30–34, £40,000 at 35–39, £42,000 at 40–49, and £39,000 at 55–59.
At 30–34, the UK median is approximately £37,000. In professional roles, £35,000 to £45,000 is a reasonable benchmark. In high demand sectors like technology or finance, £45,000 to £55,000 by 30 is achievable.
At 40–44, the UK median is approximately £42,000. In professional and management roles, £45,000 to £60,000 is a reasonable benchmark. If you are significantly below the median for your age group, it is worth examining whether you are below market rate.
Median salaries peak in the 45–49 age group at approximately £42,500. Individual earners in high paying professions often peak later, with senior partners, directors, and executives frequently reaching their highest earnings in their fifties.
The apparent decline in median salaries after 50 is largely a compositional effect. More workers move to part time hours, some take lower pressure roles, and some retire early. Full time workers who remain in senior roles often maintain or increase their earnings through their fifties.