How to Compare Two Salaries After Tax in the UK (2026/27)

A job offer is usually written as one gross salary. The comparison that matters is what remains after Income Tax, employee National Insurance, and any pension or Student Loan that applies.

For 6 April 2026 to 5 April 2027, this site starts from gross pay and estimates one regular week or one regular month. The salary comparison calculator runs that estimate twice and shows the gap. This article explains how to read the gap. It is not an offer letter, a payslip, or advice on a personal tax code.

The worked pair is £30,000 beside £35,000, paid monthly in England, with the standard Personal Allowance, Category A National Insurance, no pension and no loan. Salary A is an estimated £2,093.34 a month. Salary B is an estimated £2,393.35 a month. The estimated difference is +£300.01 a month. The gross difference for that same month is +£416.67.

Gross salary is not the amount paid into a bank account

Gross salary is pay before employee deductions. A yearly figure shown as a month is the nearest penny of that year divided by 12. This estimate then applies a selected pension, a share of annual Income Tax, Category A employee National Insurance for that period, and a Student Loan or Postgraduate Loan only if you select one.

Employer National Insurance is not deducted. An employer pension contribution is not added to the payment. Benefits, bonuses, overtime and the cost of getting to work stay outside the figure.

The same months are on the £30,000 after tax and £35,000 after tax pages. The comparison calculator subtracts them for one shared period.

One England month, side by side

Both salaries use the standard Personal Allowance of £12,570. Both are yearly salaries shown as one regular month. The nation is England. Pension and loans are off. Wales and Northern Ireland use this same employment calculation. Scotland does not.

Put the take-home row beside the offer. The gross row is the figure in the contract. These amounts match the site’s checked example. They are not an HMRC worked example of these two salaries.

Why a £5,000 rise leaves £300.01 a month

£35,000 is £5,000 more across the year. The monthly gross gap is £416.67. The payment rises by £300.01 because Income Tax and National Insurance both apply to the extra pay.

In England, Wales and Northern Ireland both salaries sit in the 20% band. The basic-rate ceiling on the standard-allowance table is £50,270. Annual Income Tax is £3,486.00 on £30,000 and £4,486.00 on £35,000. The extra £5,000 is taxed at 20%, which is £1,000.00 for the year.

The month shows the nearest penny of each annual bill divided by 12. £3,486.00 divides exactly, so the lower salary shows £290.50. £4,486.00 does not. The nearest penny is £373.83, and twelve of those pennies are £4,485.96, four pence short of the annual bill. The tax gap in the table is £83.33, not a flat twelfth of £1,000.00.

Category A on these months stays in the 8% band, because both are below the £4,189 upper earnings limit. The contributions are £116.16 and £149.49, a gap of £33.33.

£416.67 minus £83.33 minus £33.33 is £300.01. A rise across £50,270 is taxed at 40% on the slice above it, and National Insurance becomes 2% above the upper earnings limit. Above £100,000 the Personal Allowance tapers. This pair reaches neither point.

Twelve repeats of these months come to £25,120.08 and £28,720.20. That is a projection of one rounded month, not a payslip for the year and not an annual National Insurance assessment. Rounding is recorded in the methodology. The official rates are listed on the sources page.

This Income Tax figure is not PAYE

The £290.50 shown here is one-twelfth of estimated annual Income Tax. Actual PAYE on a payslip can differ because payroll uses tax codes, tax periods and its applicable rounding rules.

PAYE uses the tax code, the pay date, and whether that employment is cumulative or on a week 1 or month 1 basis. In this calculator, 1257L means the standard Personal Allowance for one employment. It does not read every code, a second job, a taxable benefit, savings interest or dividends. Use the annual amounts for the tax-year bill under these assumptions, and the monthly amounts when you want two regular payments side by side.

National Insurance belongs to one pay period

Category A is calculated on the earnings in that week or month. The monthly limits are the published £1,048 and £4,189, not the annual £12,570 and £50,270 divided by 12. £4,189 times 12 is £50,268. £116.16 is 8% of the £2,500 month above £1,048. Other category letters are not estimated. The employer’s 15% contribution is not taken off take-home pay.

The same two yearly salaries, as one regular week in England with 52 weeks and no pension or loan, are £483.09 and £552.32. The gap is +£69.23 on a gross gap of £96.16. That result is a week. The weekly limits are £242 and £967. Fifty-two repeats are not an annual National Insurance assessment.

Scotland changes the tax, not the National Insurance thresholds

Scotland uses different earned-income rates. Category A thresholds stay the same, so the £30,000 month is still £116.16 of National Insurance and the £35,000 month is still £149.49. Scottish annual Income Tax is £3,451.07 and £4,501.07. The monthly equivalents are £287.59 and £375.09.

The gross months stay £2,500.00 and £2,916.67. The Scottish take-home gap is £4.17 smaller than England’s £300.01. Wales and Northern Ireland match the England month. Set a nation on each side when one offer is in Scotland and the other is not.

Pension and Student Loan change the gap only when you select them

Net pay reduces the pay charged to Income Tax and leaves National Insurance on gross pay. Relief at source takes its cash after both, and the scheme claims basic-rate relief. Relief above that rate is not added to the month as cash already received. Salary sacrifice lowers the cash pay first, so Income Tax and National Insurance both use the reduced amount.

A £50 net-pay contribution on the £35,000 England month leaves National Insurance at £149.49. Annual Income Tax falls from £4,486.00 to £4,366.00, and estimated take-home pay falls from £2,393.35 to £2,353.35. The fall is £40, not £50, because the month’s tax equivalent falls by £10.

The employer’s payment into a registered scheme is not deducted again. Where a scheme uses the legal minimum, the total is 8% of qualifying earnings and the employer must pay at least 3% of those earnings. For 2026/27, The Pensions Regulator’s earnings-threshold table puts that band from £6,240 to £50,270 a year, or from £520 to £4,189 a month. Pay below the lower level, and pay above the upper level, is outside the band. The 8% is not 8% of the whole headline salary. A scheme can use a different earnings definition, and it can ask for more than the minimum. A larger employer contribution can make a lower salary the stronger offer, and the take-home line will not show it.

Plan 2 uses a monthly threshold of £2,448.75 and a rate of 9%, on the earnings used for Class 1 National Insurance, rounded down to the pound. On the £35,000 month the deduction is £42.00 and take-home pay is £2,351.35. Against the £30,000 salary with no loan, the estimated gap is £258.01 rather than £300.01. Plan 2 on the £30,000 month itself is £4.00, and take-home pay is £2,089.34. Plans 1, 4 and 5 use different thresholds. A Postgraduate Loan can apply as well. Only a plan you select is calculated.

Use the same pay period for both offers

A week is not subtracted from a month. Annual Income Tax can still be compared, because that bill is for the year. The payment gap cannot.

£30,000 divides into twelve months of £2,500.00. £35,000 becomes £2,916.67, and twelve of those months are £35,000.04. A figure entered as a month, a week or an hourly rate is used as entered. Compare both offers as weeks, or both as months, before reading the signed gap.

Hours, benefits and the journey are a separate comparison

The +£300.01 is one regular month of estimated cash pay. It is not a score for the whole job. This example does not turn that gap into an hourly rate, and it does not assume a 37.5-hour week. If one offer expects more hours for the extra £5,000, compare the contracted hours.

A bonus, overtime, a company car, private medical insurance or childcare support is not priced here, and the High Income Child Benefit Charge is not calculated. Fares, fuel and parking are not deductions inside £2,093.34 or £2,393.35. Approved mileage rates are for business miles in an employee’s own vehicle. They do not price the journey to a permanent workplace, and this estimate does not apply them.

A practical order for two offers

Note each gross salary, pay frequency, nation, pension method, employee amount, employer amount and any Student Loan plan. Leave a field blank when the offer does not state it. In the salary comparison calculator, use one period for both and read the signed take-home gap before the gross gap. A range of annual salaries is on the UK salary table. The Income Tax bands, employee National Insurance and how take-home pay is calculated guides explain the charges. Adjust for hours, employer pension, benefits and travel afterwards. The £30,000 and £35,000 pages show each salary alone. A payslip is the figure that was paid.

Questions

Does the higher gross salary always leave more take-home pay?

£35,000 leaves an estimated £300.01 more per month than £30,000 in this England example. A pension, a Student Loan, another nation or another period changes that gap. Hours, employer pension, benefits and travel sit outside it.

Can a weekly offer be subtracted from a monthly offer?

No. Compare two weeks, or two months. Annual Income Tax can still be set side by side, because that bill is for the year.

Why is the Income Tax on the £30,000 month £290.50?

£3,486.00 is the annual Income Tax on £30,000 in England with the standard allowance and no pension. Divided by 12, that is £290.50. It is an annual-tax equivalent. PAYE on a payslip can be a different figure.

Does the employer’s pension contribution increase the take-home figure?

No. The employer pays it into the scheme. It is not cash in the estimated take-home pay. The employee method can change the estimate. The employer percentage is a separate part of the offer.

What if only one offer has a Student Loan?

Select it on that salary only. Plan 2 on the £35,000 England month is £42.00, so the gap against the £30,000 salary with no loan is £258.01 a month rather than £300.01. The calculator does not choose the plan.

Sources

Opened on 24 October 2026:

• Income Tax rates and Personal Allowances. Current tax year 6 April 2026 to 5 April 2027. Standard Personal Allowance £12,570. England basic rate 20% from £12,571 to £50,270. The allowance tapers above £100,000 and is zero at £125,140.
• Rates and thresholds for employers 2026 to 2027. Last updated 1 September 2026. PAYE widths for England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland. Class 1 primary threshold £242 a week and £1,048 a month. Upper earnings limit £967 a week and £4,189 a month. Category A employee rates 8% and 2%. Employer rate 15%. Plan 2 monthly threshold £2,448.75 at 9%. The mileage section is for business miles, not commuting.
• Automatic enrolment earnings thresholds. The 2026-2027 table shows a lower level of qualifying earnings of £6,240 a year and £520 a month, and an upper level of £50,270 a year and £4,189 a month. This page was opened for those band figures. It was not used as the source of the 8% and 3% rates. The 2026 statutory instrument is not the source of the 8% and 3% figures in this article.
• Making contributions to your pension scheme. From 6 April 2019 the total minimum contribution is 8%, including a 5% staff contribution, and the employer minimum is 3%. The page says that paying this 8% minimum uses a specific range of earnings. For 2026/27 it gives £6,240 to £50,270 a year, and £520 to £4,189 a month. It also says the amount paid can vary with the scheme chosen.

The £30,000, £35,000, Scotland, Plan 2, weekly and £50 net-pay amounts were recalculated from the rules on the pages above. Apart from the thresholds on those pages, they are not HMRC worked examples of these salaries.