UK Salary Benchmarking
Enter your gross annual salary to see where you rank in the UK income distribution, which tax thresholds you're near, and how much frozen thresholds have cost you since 2022.
Distance to key tax thresholds
Where the major salary milestones sit in the UK
| Gross salary | UK percentile (approx.) | Key threshold significance |
|---|---|---|
| £12,570 | ~15th | Personal Allowance — pays no Income Tax below this |
| £25,000 | ~35th | Student Loan Plan 5 threshold begins |
| £27,295 | ~42nd | Student Loan Plan 2 threshold begins |
| £37,430 | 50th | UK median full-time salary (ONS 2024) |
| £50,270 | ~78th | Higher rate Income Tax begins (40%) |
| £60,000 | ~85th | HICBC fully applies if claiming Child Benefit |
| £80,000 | ~92nd | Child Benefit fully clawed back above this |
| £100,000 | ~96th | 60% tax trap begins — Personal Allowance tapered |
| £125,140 | ~98th | Personal Allowance fully removed — 45% rate |
How fiscal drag has affected you since 2022
In the March 2021 Budget, the Chancellor froze all Income Tax thresholds at their 2021/22 levels until April 2028. Over this period, wage inflation has pushed millions of workers into higher tax bands — not because rates changed, but because their nominal salary rose while the thresholds stayed fixed. This is fiscal drag — a stealth tax rise that never required a vote.
The OBR estimates that 3.7 million additional taxpayers will be pulled into paying Income Tax or a higher rate band by 2028 due to the freeze — compared with what would have happened if thresholds rose with inflation. A worker on £40,000 today has paid approximately £900–£1,200 more in tax between 2022 and 2026 than they would have if thresholds had been indexed to CPI. The calculator above estimates your personal fiscal drag cost.
How UK Tax Drag holds itself to account
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