Compare two salaries side by side.
See exactly how two UK gross salaries compare after income tax, National Insurance, pension and student loan, for the 2026/27 tax year.
+£300.00/ month
Salary B keeps £3,600.00 more per year than Salary A, for a gross gap of £5,000.
Full breakdown
| Item (month) | Salary A | Salary B | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total income | £2,500.00 | £2,916.67 | +£416.67 |
| Base salary | £2,500.00 | £2,916.67 | +£416.67 |
| Earnings breakdown | £0.00 | £0.00 | - |
| Taxable income | £1,452.50 | £1,869.17 | +£416.67 |
| Pension qualifying earnings | £1,980.00 | £2,396.67 | +£416.67 |
| Total deductions | £406.70 | £523.37 | +£116.67 |
| Income tax | £290.50 | £373.83 | +£83.33 |
| National Insurance | £116.20 | £149.53 | +£33.33 |
| Pension | £0.00 | £0.00 | - |
| Take-home pay | £2,093.30 | £2,393.30 | +£300.00 |
Useful next steps
Work out your take-home pay
Plug in your salary, pension and student loan and see your real monthly take-home for 2026/27.
Salary tables for 2026/27
Pre-calculated take-home pay from £15,000 up to £200,000, in £1,000 steps.
How your salary is calculated
Income tax thresholds, NI rates, the Scottish bands and student-loan plans, in plain English.
Common questions
Why is the take-home gap smaller than the gross gap?
−Can I compare a Scottish salary against a rest-of-UK one?
+Does this include pension and student-loan deductions?
+I want to compare more than two salaries, can I?
+How to compare two job offers properly
Last reviewed · Calculate My Salary Editorial Team
Comparing headline salaries is the easy part; the tool above shows you the after-tax difference instantly. But two offers with similar take-home pay can be thousands of pounds apart once you account for everything else. Work through these before deciding:
- Pension match. An employer contributing 8% instead of the 3% minimum is worth £1,500 a year on a £30,000 salary, tax free, before investment growth. Check whether the scheme uses salary sacrifice, which also saves you National Insurance.
- Threshold effects. A raise that crosses £50,270 changes your marginal deduction from 28% to 42%, and one that crosses £100,000 can trigger the 60% effective band and the loss of tax-free childcare. A £2,000 raise near a threshold is worth much less in your pocket than the same raise below it.
- Student loans. Deductions of 9% above your plan threshold apply to the higher salary too; see how repayments are calculated.
- Benefits with cash value. Private medical insurance is a taxable benefit that changes your tax code; car allowances are taxed as salary; extra holiday has a real day-rate value.
- Sick pay and parental pay. Statutory minimums versus enhanced policies rarely appear in offer letters but matter more than most perks.
When you have the full picture, put both packages through the comparison above, including pension percentages and any bonus, and judge offers on the monthly take-home difference rather than the headline gap.