The average salary (UK) figures for jobs in 2024 have been revealed by those helpful number-crunching people over at the Office of National Statistics, in case you want to compare how much you earn with the country's average - and your friends.
We're weirdly shy about discussing our salaries with each other - a survey by pension provider Scottish Widows found 49% of us find the topic too sensitive to discuss with their colleagues - despite 57% of us, on the whole, being unhappy about what we earn.
However, it's important we're more open about discussing our paypackets - greater salary visibility exposes glaring inequalities such as the gender pay gap. More transparency also means we're also more likely to be paid fairly.
Whether you're just figuring out what career to choose or you're considering switching to a totally different career path, it's always important to know what your earning potential might be and if you're making the average wage in the UK for your position.
The survey found the average UK salary for full-time employees was £34,963
for the tax year ending 5 April 2023, up 5.8% on the previous year. However, we certainly feel poorer, with the cost of living and high inflation seeing the prices of food and fuel rocketing.
When adjusted for inflation using the ONS's Consumer Prices Index including owner occupiers' housing costs (CPIH) time series, median weekly earnings for full-time employees fell on the year in April 2023 by 1.5%. In real terms, a fall on the year was seen for both full-time and part-time employees.
Here's a selection of the 300+ jobs featured in the survey, compiled from average full-time salaries in 2024.
The average salary (UK) for 115 different jobs
Average UK salary for medical careers
- Generalist medical practitioners - £41,296
- Specialist medical practitioners - £66,031
- Pharmacists - £46,139
- Paramedics - £48,688
- Psychologists - £36,315
- Radiographers - £44,296
- Nurses - £41,523
- Midwives - £41,423
- Ambulance staff (excluding paramedic) - £28,301
Average UK salary for teachers
- Higher education teaching professionals - £47,726
- Secondary school teaching professionals - £42,818
- Primary school teaching professionals - £40,059
- Special needs education teaching professionals - £36,258
- Education advisers and school inspectors - £37,486
- Nursery education teaching professionals - £31,648
Average UK salary for lawyers
- Legal professionals (National Executive Committee) - £29,571
- Barristers and judges - £52,416
- Solicitors - £52,296
- Legal associate professionals - £29,965
- Legal secretaries - £23,999
Average UK salary for dentists
- Dental nurses - £21,739
- Medical and dental technicians - £25,978
Average UK salary for electricians
- Electrical and electronic trades (National Executive Committee) - £40,386
- Electricians and electrical fitters - £35,494
Average UK salary for marketing careers
- Marketing Directors - £83,015
- Public Relations Professionals - £79,886
- Marketing associate professionals - £30,601
- Web design and development professionals - £41,288
- Graphic Designers - £29,104
Average UK salary for HR careers
- Human resource managers and directors, £49,409
- Human resources and industrial relations officer - £29,744
- Human resources administrative occupations - £23,104
- Office managers - £35,000
Average UK salary for IT careers
- Information technology and telecommunications directors- £80,000
- IT business analysts, architects and systems designers - £51,698
- Information technology and telecommunications professionals n.e.c. - £44,244
- IT project and programme managers - £51,933
- IT specialist managers - £50,880
- IT quality and testing professionals - £39,914
- IT network professionals - £42,841
- Programmers and software development professionals, £49,430
Average UK salary for hospitality careers
- Hotel and accommodation managers and proprietors, £32,701
- Bar staff - £18,103
- Chefs - £26,000
- Cooks - £21,777
- Catering and bar managers - £25,901
- Kitchen and catering assistants - £20,126
- Waiters and waitresses - £18,426
Average UK salary for finance careers
- Financial institution managers and directors - £70,000
- Financial managers and directors n.e.c, - £41,622
- Finance and investment analysts and advisers - £40,629
- Finance officers - £27,852
Average UK salary for retail careers
- Managers and directors in retail and wholesale - £33,121
- Shelf fillers - £22,952
- Product, clothing and related designers - £40,503
- Sales and retail assistants - £21,530
- Retail cashiers and check-out operators - £18,602
- Sewing machinists - £21,341
Average UK salary for police careers
- Senior police officers - £59,503
- Police officers (sergeant and below) - £44,803
- Police community support officers - £29,779
Average UK salary for other popular careers
- Architects - £45,894
- Archivists and curators - £33,560
- Authors, writers and translators - £33,780
- Bakers and flour confectioners - £21,893
- Bank and post office clerks - £24,734
- Beauticians and related occupations - £19,026
- Bricklayers and masons - £30,939
- Butchers - £26,084
- Bus and coach drivers - £31,038
- Care workers and home carers - £23,409
- Civil engineers - £45,524
- Chartered and certified accountants - £46,847
- Cleaners and domestics - £21,058
- Clergy - £27,689
- Counsellors - £29,170
- Carpenters and joiners - £29,734
- Chartered surveyors - £41,555
- Electrical engineers - £53,488
- Environmental health professionals - £38,873
- Fitness instructors - £23,206
- Farmers - £29,815
- Hairdressers and barbers - £19,589
- Health and safety officers - £40,879
- Journalists, newspaper and periodical editors - £40,762
- Laboratory technicians - £24,717
- Librarians - £31,660
- Office managers - £35,000
- Painters and decorators - £28,570
- Property, housing and estate managers - £38,352
- Physiotherapists - £40,888
- Plumbers and heating and ventilating engineers - £35,248
- Receptionists - £21,692
- Sales related occupations n.e.c. - £27,274
- Sales administrators - £25,509
- Senior care workers - £25,463
- Social workers - £40,713
- Social and humanities scientists - £36,447
- Sports coaches, instructors and officials - £23,206
- Taxation experts - £46,272
- Taxi and cab drivers and chauffeurs - £27,393
- Travel agents - £29,618
- Leisure and travel service occupations n.e.c. - £25,700
- Veterinarians - £48,062
- Veterinary nurses - £24,370
- Window cleaners - £26,584
Kimberley Bond is a Multiplatform Writer for Harper’s Bazaar, focusing on the arts, culture, careers and lifestyle. She previously worked as a Features Writer for Cosmopolitan UK, and has bylines at The Telegraph, The Independent and British Vogue among countless others.