Compare Two Salaries UK
If you are weighing up two job offers, the headline salary is rarely the whole answer. A higher gross salary can still leave you only marginally better off once pension deductions, income tax and National Insurance are applied.
This page keeps the calculator above the fold, then explains how to interpret the gap between two salaries in practical terms. It is designed for job changes, promotion decisions, internal offer comparisons and salary negotiation prep.
Compare salary A and salary B
Enter the two gross annual salaries and the pension contribution rate you expect on each offer. Results only show after you click calculate.
Comparison result
How this calculator works
Each salary is run through the current UK employee tax and National Insurance rules, then pension contributions are deducted to show a more realistic annual and monthly take-home figure. On top of the employee view, the tool also estimates employer cost so you can see how large the hiring budget difference really is.
That matters because many offer discussions sound close on paper while being very different after deductions. A £7,000 salary increase is not a £7,000 spendable increase.
Worked example
Take a move from £35,000 to £42,000 with a 5% pension on each offer. The gross difference is £7,000, but the after-tax improvement is smaller because some of the uplift is absorbed by 20% income tax, 8% employee NI and the higher pension contribution amount.
This is often the most useful view in negotiation. If the improvement is only worth a modest monthly increase, title progression, commute, bonus structure or flexibility may become the real deciding factor.
2025/26 rates, thresholds, and inputs
The page deliberately keeps the inputs focused: gross annual salary and pension rate. That covers the majority of first-pass comparisons and keeps the result easy to explain.
| Item | Current assumption |
|---|---|
| Personal allowance | £12,570 |
| Basic rate band upper limit | £50,270 |
| Employee NI main rate | 8% |
| Employee NI upper rate | 2% |
| Employer NI rate | 15% above £5,000 |
| Pension treatment | Simple percentage of gross salary |
Edge cases and assumptions
- Scottish income tax is not modelled here.
- Student loans, childcare vouchers and salary sacrifice can materially change the result.
- Employer cost uses employer NI and employer pension as the main cost items, not recruitment fees or office overhead.
- The calculator assumes both offers are standard PAYE employment.
FAQs
Is a higher salary always worth taking?
Not automatically. Compare the annual and monthly net difference, pension matching, leave entitlement, bonus rules, commute cost and progression.
Why does the take-home gap look smaller than the gross gap?
Because the higher salary is partly reduced by income tax, employee National Insurance and pension contributions.
Can I use this to compare salary offers from different employers?
Yes. It is designed for exactly that kind of side-by-side comparison.
Sources and methodology
This page uses current UK personal allowance, basic-rate tax and employee/employer National Insurance assumptions for 2025/26. The methodology is intentionally straightforward so the result stays understandable and easy to audit against a payslip.
The employer-cost view combines gross salary, employer National Insurance and pension input. It does not try to estimate recruiter fees, software licences or other overhead.