Salary and take-home pay calculator
Enter your salary to see what actually lands in your account, after income tax, National Insurance, student loan repayments and pension contributions. Figures are for the 2026/27 tax year, and Scotland is calculated separately since it has its own income tax bands.
Your pay
Your take-home pay
Take-home per year
£0.00
£0.00 a month
How this is worked out
Income tax is calculated after the Personal Allowance, the amount you can earn before paying any tax at all. Above £100,000 the Allowance shrinks by £1 for every £2 earned, and disappears entirely at £125,140, which is why very high earners can face a marginal rate above 60% in that band. Scotland has its own tax bands, which is why the same salary produces a different result depending on where you pay tax.
Personal Allowance = £12,570, reduced by £1 per £2 earned above £100,000
Income tax: banded rates applied to income above the Allowance
National Insurance: 8% between £12,570 and £50,270, then 2% above
Student loan: a fixed percentage of income above the plan's threshold
Pension: percentage of qualifying earnings, £6,240 to £50,270
A worked example
On a £35,000 salary in England, Wales or Northern Ireland, with no student loan and the auto-enrolment minimum 5% pension, take-home pay comes to a little over £27,000 a year. Income tax and National Insurance together account for most of the difference, with the pension contribution making up the rest.
Why the same salary pays differently by region
Scotland's bands mean a modest earner can pay slightly less tax than in the rest of the UK, while anyone earning above roughly £30,000 typically pays more, and the gap widens the higher the salary goes. This is a genuine policy difference rather than a rounding effect, and it catches people out when comparing job offers across the border.
What this assumes
- You are employed and paying tax through PAYE. This does not model self-employment, dividends or the Marriage Allowance.
- Your tax code is the standard one for your Personal Allowance, with no adjustments for benefits in kind, other income or previous underpayments.
- The pension is calculated on qualifying earnings, the standard auto-enrolment method. Some workplace schemes use a different basis, which would give a different figure.
- National Insurance is calculated on your full salary before any pension deduction, which matches the most common arrangement but not every scheme.
- Only one student loan plan is repaid at a time. If you have more than one, GOV.UK's guidance covers how repayments are split.
Where this stops being reliable
This is a planning estimate, not a payslip. Your actual take-home pay depends on your tax code, any benefits you receive through work, additional income, and decisions your specific pension scheme makes about how contributions are calculated. If a number here matters to a decision, check it against a payslip or ask your payroll department.
Figures used, with sources. All verified against GOV.UK on 7 August 2026, for the tax year 6 April 2026 to 5 April 2027. Tax rules are reviewed at least once a year and can change at a Budget, so treat anything more than a few months old as worth re-checking.
| Figure | Source |
|---|---|
| Income tax rates and Personal Allowance (England, Wales, NI) | gov.uk/income-tax-rates |
| Scottish income tax rates | gov.uk/scottish-income-tax |
| National Insurance rates and thresholds | gov.uk rates and thresholds for employers |
| Student loan repayment thresholds | gov.uk/repaying-your-student-loan |
| Auto-enrolment pension minimums and qualifying earnings | gov.uk/workplace-pensions |