Average UK annual salary by age revealed – see how you compare
Money doesn't buy happiness. As much as we want to believe in the sentiment, it sure does feel like money would solve a lot of our problems. And if it can't buy happiness, we might as well be grumpy on a beach in Fiji, beer in hand, than clocking in at a 9 to 5. However, another proverb that is undoubtedly true is the wise words of US President Theodore Roosevelt: comparison is the thief of joy. If we're constantly looking over the fence in jealousy at our neighbour's seemingly perfect lives, we might just forget to enjoy our own. Except there's a problem with that, too. British stubbornness (Picture: Getty Images)
We're desperate to know how we compare to those around us, and no more so than when it comes to our annual earnings. Discussing the amount we get paid to do the jobs we dedicate so much of our lives to is somewhat taboo, even among work colleagues and our closest friends, making it hard to know how we measure up. Thankfully, the business buffs at Forbes have done the snooping for us and crunched the Office for National Statistics numbers to work out the UK median wage for different age brackets. It allows you to see if you're sitting pretty - or being short-changed - when compared to your peers (Picture: Getty Images)
A quick note here to explain that the numbers given by Forbes are median rather than mean, as a true average can be heavily inflated by the serious earners (thanks a lot investment bankers). The median paints a more realistic image of what's going on around you. Unless, of course, you're in that top 1%, in which case you really don't need to be concerning yourself with all of this, do you? (Picture: Getty Images)
Age 18-21. Median annual salary: £24,440
Unsurprisingly, 18 to 21-year-olds have the lowest median earnings across the UK due to lack of experience on the job at £470 per week. It's hard to demand top-tier wages at this stage unless you're lucky to be good enough at kicking a football around that Chelsea will add you to its little army. The good news is that earnings typically increase with age and time under employment (Picture: Getty Images)
Age 22-29. Median annual salary: £32,292
This is where the numbers get closer to the overall UK average annual salary of around £37,600 a year. By this stage we’ve got a bit of experience under our belts and we’re still young enough for people to think we’re vibrant, enthusiastic and full of ideas to shake things up. The reality is we’re more concerned with having to accept the fact we’ll likely never own a house of our own. It works out at £621 a week (Picture: Getty Images)
Age 30-39. Median annual salary: £39,988
As we mentioned earlier, salary typically increases with age, so it’s another jump now as we get into our thirties, when you can expect to earn £769 per week. Which is much needed if you’re planning to start a family and settle down, or simply want to live within a four-hour and £200 train journey of London (Picture: Getty Images)
Age 40-49. Median annual salary: £42,796
It might be mid-life crisis o'clock, but it’s also the time, on average, we’ll earn the most in our lives. £823 a week to be precise. No wonder so many 40-something men have convertible sports cars. It’s all downhill from here, apparently, so enjoy it while you can. Buy that BMW, it'll definitely make you look cool (Picture: Getty Images)
Age 50-59. Median annual salary: £40,456
It turns out 30-year-olds and 50-year-olds have more in common than we thought; they both earn on average about £770 a week (£778, for the older bracket). As you can see, this is where earnings typically start to decline again. It could be because those vibrant youngsters see us as dinosaurs of the workplace, or simply because by this point we’ve realised our energy is better spent finding happiness elsewhere (Picture: Getty Images)
60+. Median annual salary: £36,036
Ahh, the sweet release of retirement must be close. Although if you’re one of us average Joes who has tracked on course through this list, it’s likely a lot further away than you had hoped - especially as earnings drop again, this time to £693 a week. Forbes attributes the decline in median wages after 50 to factors such as more workers leaving the workforce, going part-time or ill health (Picture: Getty Images)
Gender
It’s well worth noting that the median annual pay for men is higher than that of women in every age bracket. This gap significantly widens from the age of 30, which Forbes says is ‘no doubt due to more women than men having a more disrupted career path due to caring responsibilities, either children or elderly relatives’. The lowest gender pay gap is at 18 to 21-years-old (where women earn £520 less per year than men on average) and the highest is between the ages of 50-59 (where women earn £3,484 less per year). This article was first published in August 2024 (Picture: Getty Images)
