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Average salary in Scotland

Full-time employees working in Scotland earn a median of £41,466 a year (ONS ASHE 2026, provisional), 1% above the UK median of £40,911 and the 3rd highest of the 12 UK nations and regions. That is up 4.5% on a year earlier. Full-time workers who live in Scotland earn a median of £41,591, about the same as jobs located there pay.

By Dominic Roworth · ONS ASHE 2026 data, checked 31 October 2026

Pay in Scotland: the key figures

Full-time, before tax, year to April 2026.

Jobs in ScotlandPeople living in ScotlandUnited Kingdom
Median pay £41,466 £41,591 £40,911
Average (mean) pay £48,088 £48,435 £52,109
Lowest-paid 10% earn under £25,984 £26,109 £25,288
Lowest-paid 25% earn under £31,167 £31,264 £30,600
Highest-paid 25% earn over £54,909 £55,145 £56,842
Highest-paid 10% earn over £75,159 £75,447 £82,680
Median a week £824.80 £825.40 £811.20
Median an hour £21.60 £21.70 £20.90
Full-time employee jobs (indicative)1,553,0001,590,00018,184,000

ONS counts jobs, not people.

Take-home pay on the median

On £41,466, a full-time employee keeps about £33,296 a year (£2,775 a month) after Scottish income tax and National Insurance, with the standard tax code, no student loan and no pension contributions. Elsewhere in the UK the same pay leaves £33,375.

What drives pay in Scotland

Scotland is the only part of the UK outside London and the South East where the typical full-time job pays more than the UK median, at £41,466. That fits its productivity: output per hour worked was 1.1% below the UK average in 2023, the third best of the 12 nations and regions after London and the South East.

Two cities lift the figure. Aberdeen City has the top workplace median in the council table (£45,696), and one job in eight there is in mining and quarrying, the industry group that includes North Sea oil and gas, against 0.15% of jobs across Great Britain. Edinburgh (£44,574) is a financial centre, with 11.3% of its jobs in finance and insurance, more than three times the British share.

Health, care and public administration carry more weight than in any English region except the North East. Health and social work provide 16.2% of Scottish jobs and public administration 6.5%, against 13.9% and 4.7% for Great Britain (ONS, 2024). Energy supply, including power generation, makes up 4.2% of Scotland's economic output, about double the UK share.

Where people live matters less than in southern England: Scotland's resident and workplace medians are within about £125 of each other. The gap shows up around the cities. Glasgow's jobs pay £42,573 but its residents earn £39,817, while commuter areas such as East Renfrewshire (£49,073 for residents, £34,876 for local jobs) and East Dunbartonshire top the table for what residents earn.

What is changing: on the Scottish Government's weekly measure, full-time pay rose 6.7% in 2026, ahead of the UK's 5.8%, and the full-time gender pay gap narrowed to 0.9%. Real GDP per head grew 0.5% in 2024, the biggest rise of any UK nation or region.

Pay by council

Across Scotland's 32 council areas, jobs pay most in Aberdeen City (£45,696) and least in Dumfries and Galloway (£34,191). Any town or village: local pay lookup.

CouncilJobs therePeople living thereChange on a year
Aberdeen City £45,696 £43,092 +4.4%
City of Edinburgh £44,574 £43,272 +1.8%
South Ayrshire £44,166 £45,079 +11.2%
Aberdeenshire £43,585* £45,213 +11.5%
Glasgow City £42,573 £39,817 +3.9%
Orkney Islands £42,354 not published -1.6%
Shetland Islands £42,289* £42,282* -10.3%
Argyll and Bute £42,124 £38,865 +5.5%
North Ayrshire £41,521 £42,234 +2.6%
West Dunbartonshire £40,991 £39,813 +6.3%
Highland £40,314 £41,485 +5.1%
Midlothian £40,056 £42,038 -2.5%
Stirling £39,832 £45,014 +3.4%
South Lanarkshire £39,782 £41,649 +1.7%
Clackmannanshire £39,734* £40,582 +10.4%
Falkirk £39,613 £40,218 -1.8%
Fife £39,414 £41,409 +6.1%
Dundee City £39,379 £38,424 +6.7%
North Lanarkshire £39,317 £41,516 +0.6%
Perth and Kinross £39,180 £40,826 +5.0%
Inverclyde £39,111* £37,819 -1.2%
West Lothian £39,028 £41,532 +3.1%
East Dunbartonshire £38,080 £46,797 -3.9%
Renfrewshire £38,054 £42,592 +6.8%
Na h-Eileanan Siar £37,180* £37,728* +10.0%
East Lothian £36,049 £39,405 +3.0%
Angus £35,968 £39,499 -0.5%
East Ayrshire £35,430 £38,976 -4.6%
Moray £35,312* £35,605* +5.1%
East Renfrewshire £34,876 £49,073 -5.1%
Scottish Borders £34,719 £35,622 +7.5%
Dumfries and Galloway £34,191 £34,683 +0.5%

* Less precise (coefficient of variation over 10%).

The highest-paid jobs in Scotland

For jobs located in Scotland, where the estimate is precise (coefficient of variation up to 10%).

JobMedian a yearChange on a year
Financial managers and directors£70,212+10.6%
Head teachers and principals£64,502-5.8%
Production managers and directors in manufacturing£63,329+7.4%
Business and financial project management professionals£59,720-1.0%
Higher education teaching professionals£58,354+12.3%
Programmers and software development professionals£54,261+10.2%
Police officers (sergeant and below)£53,212+3.4%
Secondary education teaching professionals£51,939+4.1%
Primary education teaching professionals£51,755+3.7%
Other nursing professionals£47,833+6.2%
Social workers£47,117+3.5%
Management consultants and business analysts£46,281+3.1%

The most common full-time jobs in Scotland

JobJobs (indicative)Median a year
Other nursing professionals41,000£47,833
Primary education teaching professionals40,000£51,755
Care workers and home carers36,000£30,566
Other administrative occupations (other)34,000£30,568
Secondary education teaching professionals31,000£51,939
Police officers (sergeant and below)26,000£53,212
Production managers and directors in manufacturing25,000£63,329
Higher education teaching professionals25,000£58,354
Financial managers and directors22,000£70,212
Business and financial project management professionals22,000£59,720
Programmers and software development professionals22,000£54,261
IT managers22,000£52,076*

* Less precise.

Scotland and its neighbours

Jobs therePeople living thereChange on a year
Scotland £41,466 £41,591 +4.5%
North East £36,460 £36,904 +5.9%
Northern Ireland £38,203 £38,483 +3.2%

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

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