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Average salary in Wales

Full-time employees working in Wales earn a median of £37,330 a year (ONS ASHE 2026, provisional), 9% below the UK median of £40,911 and the 10th highest of the 12 UK nations and regions. That is up 4.2% on a year earlier. Full-time workers who live in Wales earn a median of £37,993, about the same as jobs located there pay.

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

Pay in Wales: the key figures

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

Jobs in WalesPeople living in WalesUnited Kingdom
Median pay £37,330 £37,993 £40,911
Average (mean) pay £42,839 £43,529 £52,109
Lowest-paid 10% earn under £24,972 £25,074 £25,288
Lowest-paid 25% earn under £28,845 £29,218 £30,600
Highest-paid 25% earn over £50,360 £50,847 £56,842
Highest-paid 10% earn over £66,125 £67,319 £82,680
Median a week £744.50 £755.50 £811.20
Median an hour £19.10 £19.50 £20.90
Full-time employee jobs (indicative)746,000794,00018,184,000

ONS counts jobs, not people.

Take-home pay on the median

On £37,330, a full-time employee keeps about £30,397 a year (£2,533 a month) after income tax and National Insurance, with the standard tax code, no student loan and no pension contributions.

What drives pay in Wales

Wales has the lowest output per hour worked of the 12 UK nations and regions, 15.1% below the UK average in 2023, and that weighs on pay. Jobs here pay a median of £37,330, about 9% below the UK, and nearly all of that gap is at the top: the lowest-paid tenth earn within 1.2% of the UK level, but the best-paid tenth start at £66,125, 20.0% below.

The job mix explains much of this. Public administration provides 8.4% of jobs in Wales and health and social work 17.0%, against 4.7% and 13.9% across Great Britain (ONS, 2024). Finance and insurance make up 5.4% of Welsh economic output against 8.0% for the UK. Manufacturing is a bigger share of output than in any other UK nation or region, at 14.6% against 8.9% for the UK: in Flintshire a quarter of all jobs are in manufacturing.

Cardiff has the top workplace median in the council table (£39,806), with public administration and finance each more than twice their British share of local jobs. Neath Port Talbot, home of the steelworks, pays £39,298 for jobs located there, more than its own residents earn (£36,243). Merthyr Tydfil and Blaenau Gwent pay the least.

Some 794,000 full-time jobs are held by Welsh residents but only 746,000 are located in Wales, and residents earn slightly more, so some better-paid work is across the border. The Vale of Glamorgan shows the commuter effect: residents earn £43,675, local jobs pay £38,095.

What is changing: At Port Talbot, Tata Steel is replacing its blast furnaces with an electric arc furnace, a £1.25 billion project backed by a £500 million UK Government grant. On the Welsh Government's weekly measure, full-time pay rose 5.4% in 2026, behind the UK's 5.8%.

Pay by council

Across Wales's 22 council areas, jobs pay most in Cardiff (£39,806) and least in Blaenau Gwent (£31,430). Any town or village: local pay lookup.

CouncilJobs therePeople living thereChange on a year
Cardiff £39,806 £39,566 +4.2%
Newport £39,383 £38,723 +5.2%
Neath Port Talbot £39,298 £36,243 +4.9%
Torfaen £38,872 £37,740 +7.8%
Flintshire £38,833 £38,502 -1.5%
Vale of Glamorgan £38,095 £43,675 +8.9%
Bridgend £37,181 £39,343 +3.3%
Carmarthenshire £37,136 £38,686 +12.8%
Swansea £36,750 £37,977 +1.8%
Gwynedd £36,408 £36,186 +5.6%
Wrexham £36,254 £36,162 -3.1%
Pembrokeshire £35,889 £36,248 -0.7%
Isle of Anglesey £35,689* £35,744* -1.6%
Rhondda Cynon Taf £35,681 £36,304 +4.9%
Conwy £35,640 £36,936 +13.4%
Monmouthshire £35,480* not published -9.9%
Caerphilly £35,028 £38,160 +6.3%
Ceredigion £34,464 £35,432* +5.5%
Denbighshire £34,073 £34,080 +3.3%
Powys £33,602 £37,023 +8.3%
Merthyr Tydfil £32,808 £35,287 +6.8%
Blaenau Gwent £31,430* £35,967 -4.5%

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

The highest-paid jobs in Wales

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

JobMedian a yearChange on a year
Higher education teaching professionals£51,885+2.2%
Primary education teaching professionals£51,110+4.6%
Secondary education teaching professionals£49,818+2.0%
Police officers (sergeant and below)£48,990+4.8%
Other nursing professionals£40,438-0.1%
Large goods vehicle drivers£38,491+0.1%
Metal working production and maintenance fitters£36,957-1.3%
National government administrative occupations£32,602+4.5%
Managers and directors in retail and wholesale£31,602-4.0%
Postal workers, mail sorters and messengers£31,419+4.8%
Book-keepers, payroll managers and wages clerks£30,926-3.0%
Nursing auxiliaries and assistants£30,134+2.1%

The most common full-time jobs in Wales

JobJobs (indicative)Median a year
Other nursing professionals25,000£40,438
Other administrative occupations (other)21,000£28,233
Care workers and home carers19,000£29,031
Primary education teaching professionals16,000£51,110
Production managers and directors in manufacturing14,000£51,802*
Secondary education teaching professionals13,000£49,818
Police officers (sergeant and below)13,000£48,990
Managers and directors in retail and wholesale13,000£31,602
Nursing auxiliaries and assistants12,000£30,134
Higher education teaching professionals11,000£51,885
Warehouse operatives11,000£27,521
Sales and retail assistants11,000£25,612

* Less precise.

Wales and its neighbours

Jobs therePeople living thereChange on a year
Wales £37,330 £37,993 +4.2%
North West £38,599 £38,503 +3.4%
West Midlands £38,628 £38,750 +4.3%
South West £39,078 £39,457 +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

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