UK Take-Home Pay
Weighing up a UK job offer, or just moved here? Enter a salary and we'll show what actually reaches your bank each month — and where every pound of the rest goes. Figures are for England, 2025/26.
How the calculator works
Your take-home is your gross salary minus four things: income tax, National Insurance, your pension contribution, and any student-loan repayment. We apply the 2025/26 England tax bands and personal allowance, then National Insurance on your gross, then your chosen pension percentage and student-loan plan. The result is itemised, so you see the size of each deduction rather than a single mystery number.
Three modes cover the questions people actually have. Gross to net turns a salary offer into a monthly figure. Net to gross runs it backwards — tell us the take-home you need and we'll show the salary to ask for. Compare puts two offers side by side, so a higher headline that loses more to tax can't fool you.
The whole picture, not just the payslip
Knowing your take-home is step one. What it actually buys in London is the part most calculators skip. See your whole picture — take-home, real monthly costs, and where you could afford to live — instead of a number with no context. The cost-of-living and area-suggestion tools pick up exactly where this one ends.
Common questions
How is UK take-home pay calculated?
- We start from your gross salary and subtract income tax (using the 2025/26 England bands and your personal allowance), National Insurance, your pension contribution, and any student-loan repayment. What's left is your take-home — shown per year and per month, with every deduction itemised so you can see where each pound goes.
What's the difference between gross and net salary?
- Gross is the headline figure on a job offer, before anything is taken off. Net — your take-home — is what actually reaches your bank account after tax, National Insurance, pension and student loan. The gap is often larger than people expect, especially above the £50,270 higher-rate threshold.
How do you work out the gross salary you need for a target take-home?
- Switch the calculator to net-to-gross mode and enter the monthly take-home you want. We work backwards through the same tax and National Insurance rules to show the gross salary you'd need to ask for — useful when you're negotiating an offer around a budget.
Does it include pension and student loan?
- Yes. You can set your pension contribution percentage and pick your student-loan plan, and both are reflected in the deductions. Leave them at zero if neither applies to you.
Is the calculator accurate for 2025/26?
- It uses the England income-tax bands, personal allowance, and National Insurance rates for the 2025/26 tax year. It's a clear estimate for planning, not a payslip — your employer's exact figures can vary with benefits, salary sacrifice and tax-code quirks.
Keep going
Paying into a pension? See what sacrificing part of this salary really costs your take-home.
London cost-of-living calculator →See what a real month costs once your take-home lands — rent, bills, travel and the rest.
Area suggestion tool →Find the boroughs your salary actually stretches to, ranked on open data.
Why your take-home feels small →The guide to where your salary really goes, and why the gap is bigger than it looks.
Is £3,000 a month enough to live in London? →Put a take-home figure to the test against real London life.