Make better UK career decisions with real market pay signals

HighestPayingJobs helps you decide what to apply for, what to contract for, and where hiring demand is strongest right now.

Annual Highest Paying Jobs Rankings

Explore the most search-friendly yearly ranking pages for the most recent completed UK salary years.

This is the average advertised salary for all jobs listed in the UK in the 12 months to May 2026:

£40,512.33

Compared with the previous 12-month period (May 2024 to May 2025), this is an increase of £483.79. The average advertised UK salary in that earlier period was £40,028.54.

Inflation-Adjusted Average Advertised Salary (Real Terms)

To compare salary levels across time periods, we adjust for inflation. This converts advertised salary values into estimated real purchasing power using the latest available annual CPI rate for each period.

Deflating £40,512.33 by 3% gives an estimated real-terms value of £39,332.36, a purchasing-power gap of £1,179.97.

Compared with the inflation-adjusted value for the previous 12-month period, this is an increase of £880.35 in real terms.

We use the most recent consumer price inflation data provided by the Office for National Statistics.

Total UK Jobs Listed by Month

Use this trend view to decide timing: where hiring momentum is accelerating, where it is slowing, and which sectors are worth prioritising next.

Last 12 Month Total UK Jobs

On average, there are 47,228 new UK Jobs posted each week, or 204,655 each month.

The busiest month for new permanent jobs in the UK is March, whilst the quietest month is June.

The busiest month for new contract jobs is January, and the quietest month is December.

Last 12 Month Total Listed Jobs

Highest Paying Jobs By Sector

Compare sector-level pay benchmarks to focus your search, contract targets, or compensation planning on roles with stronger upside.

Open a sector to move from summary into role-level decisions with salary checker and weekly mover actions.