Salaries · United Kingdom · North East
Average salary in North East
Full-time employees working in the North East earn a median of £36,460 a year (ONS ASHE 2026, provisional), 11% below the UK median of £40,911 and the lowest of the 12 UK nations and regions. That is up 5.9% on a year earlier. Full-time workers who live in the North East earn a median of £36,904, about the same as jobs located there pay.
By Dominic Roworth · ONS ASHE 2026 data, checked 31 October 2026
Pay in North East: the key figures
Full-time, before tax, year to April 2026.
| Jobs in North East | People living in North East | United Kingdom | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median pay | £36,460 | £36,904 | £40,911 |
| Average (mean) pay | £41,765 | £42,325 | £52,109 |
| Lowest-paid 10% earn under | £24,206 | £24,289 | £25,288 |
| Lowest-paid 25% earn under | £28,205 | £28,382 | £30,600 |
| Highest-paid 25% earn over | £48,913 | £49,414 | £56,842 |
| Highest-paid 10% earn over | £63,553 | £64,577 | £82,680 |
| Median a week | £722.70 | £732.50 | £811.20 |
| Median an hour | £18.60 | £18.70 | £20.90 |
| Full-time employee jobs (indicative) | 647,000 | 681,000 | 18,184,000 |
ONS counts jobs, not people.
Take-home pay on the median
On £36,460, a full-time employee keeps about £29,771 a year (£2,481 a month) after income tax and National Insurance, with the standard tax code, no student loan and no pension contributions.
What drives pay in the North East
The North East has the lowest median of the 12 UK nations and regions, £36,460 for full-time jobs, and almost all of the gap with the UK is at the top of the scale. The lowest-paid tenth of full-time employees earn £24,206 or less, only 4.3% under the UK level, but the top tenth start at £63,553, 23.1% under the UK's £82,680.
The job mix explains much of that. Health and social work, education and public administration together provide a third of the region's jobs (33.5%, against 26.9% across Great Britain), while finance, digital and professional services hold 10.1% against 17.0% (ONS, 2024). Manufacturing is a bigger share of output than nationally, 13.4% against 8.9%, and includes Nissan's Sunderland plant, which has built 12 million vehicles since 1986. Output per hour worked is 14.6% below the UK average, and GDP per head, £29,957 in 2024, is the lowest of any English region or UK nation.
Where people live makes little difference across the region: the resident median is just £444 higher than the jobs median. North Tyneside (£39,663) and Newcastle (£38,726) have the top workplace medians. Northumberland's jobs pay £33,514 but its residents earn £38,000, a sign of commuting into Tyneside.
What is changing: pay for North East jobs rose 5.9% in 2026, second only to London, and the economy grew 1.6% in real terms in 2024, joint fastest of the English regions and UK nations with the North West. In September 2026 Nissan said it would invest £170 million to build a new hybrid model, the Kicks, in Sunderland.
Pay by council
Across the North East's 12 council areas, jobs pay most in North Tyneside (£39,663) and least in South Tyneside (£33,182). Any town or village: local pay lookup.
| Council | Jobs there | People living there | Change on a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| North Tyneside | £39,663 | £39,515 | +7.1% |
| Newcastle upon Tyne | £38,726 | £38,520 | +5.3% |
| Darlington | £38,114 | £38,725 | +11.7% |
| Stockton-on-Tees | £37,470 | £38,756 | +3.0% |
| Gateshead | £37,226 | £36,673 | +9.5% |
| Middlesbrough | £36,524 | £35,600 | +7.3% |
| Hartlepool | £35,829 | £36,528 | +9.9% |
| Redcar and Cleveland | £35,411 | £35,039* | -0.2% |
| Sunderland | £34,568 | £34,555 | +7.0% |
| County Durham | £34,489 | £35,151 | +4.7% |
| Northumberland | £33,514 | £38,000 | -4.7% |
| South Tyneside | £33,182 | £35,463 | +4.3% |
* Less precise (coefficient of variation over 10%).
The highest-paid jobs in the North East
For jobs located in the North East, where the estimate is precise (coefficient of variation up to 10%).
| Job | Median a year | Change on a year |
|---|---|---|
| Police officers (sergeant and below) | £49,412 | +3.8% |
| Secondary education teaching professionals | £48,621 | +2.0% |
| Other nursing professionals | £42,086 | +3.1% |
| Assemblers (vehicles and metal goods) | £38,768 | +7.1% |
| Office managers | £36,550 | +5.6% |
| Food, drink and tobacco process operatives | £32,698 | +17.8% |
| National government administrative occupations | £31,966 | +11.3% |
| Book-keepers, payroll managers and wages clerks | £31,219 | +1.2% |
| Warehouse operatives | £30,149 | +9.7% |
| Nursing auxiliaries and assistants | £28,299 | +4.6% |
| Customer service occupations (other) | £27,808 | +4.7% |
| Care workers and home carers | £27,776 | +7.0% |
The most common full-time jobs in the North East
| Job | Jobs (indicative) | Median a year |
|---|---|---|
| Other nursing professionals | 24,000 | £42,086 |
| Other administrative occupations (other) | 18,000 | £27,673 |
| Care workers and home carers | 17,000 | £27,776 |
| Warehouse operatives | 13,000 | £30,149 |
| Managers and directors in retail and wholesale | 12,000 | £30,820* |
| Nursing auxiliaries and assistants | 12,000 | £28,299 |
| National government administrative occupations | 11,000 | £31,966 |
| Police officers (sergeant and below) | 10,000 | £49,412 |
| Secondary education teaching professionals | 10,000 | £48,621 |
| Metal working production and maintenance fitters | 10,000 | £41,929* |
| Customer service occupations (other) | 10,000 | £27,808 |
| Business and financial project management professionals | 9,000 | £58,357* |
* Less precise.
North East and its neighbours
| Jobs there | People living there | Change on a year | |
|---|---|---|---|
| North East | £36,460 | £36,904 | +5.9% |
| Yorkshire and the Humber | £37,519 | £37,676 | +5.2% |
| North West | £38,599 | £38,503 | +3.4% |
| Scotland | £41,466 | £41,591 | +4.5% |
Limits
ASHE covers employee jobs, not the self-employed; the 2026 figures are provisional and ONS revises them a year later. Annual pay is for employees in the same job for at least a year. More in our methodology.
Sources
- ONS, Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings 2026, provisional, Table 7: place of work by local authority
- ONS, Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings 2026, provisional, Table 8: place of residence by local authority
- ONS, Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings 2026, provisional, Table 15: region by occupation
- Take-home pay: Paygrade's 2026/27 UK tax engine, see the methodology.
- ONS Business Register and Employment Survey 2024 (provisional), employment by industry, via Nomis, 28 October 2025
- ONS, Regional gross value added (balanced) by industry: all ITL regions, Table 1c, 23 September 2026
- ONS, Regional economic activity by gross domestic product, UK: 1998 to 2024 (Tables 1 and 2), 23 September 2026
- ONS, Regional and subregional labour productivity, UK: 2023, 19 June 2025
- Nissan UK newsroom, Nissan announces a new model for Europe, with production planned for Sunderland, UK, 16 September 2026
Related
- Salaries in the United Kingdom: pay for every career we cover
- Local pay lookup: any UK town or village
- NHS pay bands 2026/27
- Am I underpaid? Check your pay against the official figures