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.
Job seekers
Compare salary ranges by role before your next application.
Contractors
Track inside/outside IR35 day-rate movement week to week.
Recruiters and hiring teams
Benchmark compensation and demand pressure by sector and role.
UK Average Advertised Salary
This is the average advertised salary for all jobs listed in the UK in the 12 months to February 2026:
£40,014.88
Compared with the previous 12-month period (February 2024 to February 2025), this is an increase of £195.56. The average advertised UK salary in that earlier period was £39,819.31.
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.
£38,774.10
January 2026: 3.2%
£38,324.65
January 2025: 3.9%
Deflating £40,014.88 by 3.2% gives an estimated real-terms value of £38,774.10, a purchasing-power gap of £1,240.77.
Compared with the inflation-adjusted value for the previous 12-month period, this is an increase of £449.45 in real terms.
We use the most recent consumer price inflation data provided by the Office for National Statistics.
UK Jobs Map
- Job Count Map
- Job Pay Map
- Opportunity Map
This is a combined view of number of advertised jobs and how much money those jobs paid between 1st March 2025 and 28th February 2026.
Areas where there are higher numbers of job listings, and higher advertised salaries show in the darkest green.
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
UK Advertised Jobs Count
The total number of advertised jobs in the UK between February 2025 and February 2026:
2,035,456
| Job Type | Total Jobs | Percentage of Jobs 🔽 |
|---|---|---|
| Permanent | 1,971,603 | 96.86 % |
| Contract (Inside IR35) | 44,741 | 2.20 % |
| Contract (Outside IR35) | 19,112 | 0.94 % |
| Contract (IR35 Not Specified) | 0 | 0.00 % |
On average, there are 39,143 new UK Jobs posted each week, or 169,621 each month.
| Job Type | Weekly Jobs | Monthly Jobs 🔽 |
|---|---|---|
| Permanent | 37,915 | 164,299 |
| Contract | 1,227 | 5,321 |
The busiest month for new permanent jobs in the UK is January, whilst the quietest month is June.
The busiest month for new contract jobs is also January, and the quietest month is May.
Last 12 Month Permanent UK Jobs
Last 12 Month UK Contract Jobs
Last 12 Month Total Listed Jobs
| Month 🔽 | Listed Jobs | vs Prev Month | vs Prev 3 Months | vs Prev 6 Months | vs Prev Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| February 2026 | 251,922 | ||||
| January 2026 | 271,628 | ||||
| December 2025 | 108,964 | ||||
| November 2025 | 154,928 | ||||
| October 2025 | 154,263 | ||||
| September 2025 | 194,846 | ||||
| August 2025 | 138,151 | ||||
| July 2025 | 123,852 | ||||
| June 2025 | 91,914 | ||||
| May 2025 | 105,135 | ||||
| April 2025 | 130,766 | ||||
| March 2025 | 152,862 |
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.