What is the best-paid job in the UK?

By median full-time pay in the ONS ASHE data (April 2025), the highest-earning occupation listed here is Chief executives and senior officials at a median £99,944 gross per year, followed by Marketing, sales and advertising directors (£94,135).

How accurate is this UK salary data?

Every figure is a published Office for National Statistics estimate from the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE 2025 provisional, April 2025 reference period, ONS, OGL v3), released under the Open Government Licence. They are medians for full-time employees by 4-digit SOC 2020 occupation — real estimates, not modelled numbers, though individual pay varies by employer, region and experience.

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UK Salary Comparison

Compare any two UK jobs head-to-head on real pay. Every figure below is a published ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings median (April 2025) — see which job pays more, the full percentile range, and where the regional gap is widest.

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Best-paid jobs in the UK

Top 25 occupations by median full-time gross annual pay, ASHE 2025 provisional, April 2025 reference period, ONS, OGL v3.

#	Occupation	Median	25th–75th range
1	Chief executives and senior officials	£99,944	£63,161–£151,903
2	Marketing, sales and advertising directors	£94,135	£65,527–£134,962
3	Specialist medical practitioners	£92,847	£67,335–£136,100
4	Information technology directors	£91,671	£69,515–£119,408
5	Directors in logistics, warehousing and transport	£83,447	—
6	Aircraft pilots and air traffic controllers	£82,746	—
7	Financial managers and directors	£76,447	£50,000–£120,417
8	Train and tram drivers	£76,327	£68,924–£83,129
9	Functional managers and directors n.e.c.	£75,711	£54,692–£104,802
10	Public relations and communications directors	£72,887	—
11	Head teachers and principals	£72,192	£59,307–£83,623
12	Senior police officers	£66,690	—
13	Rail and rolling stock builders and repairers	£64,322	—
14	Production managers and directors in mining and energy	£63,241	—
15	Health services and public health managers and directors	£61,573	£48,613–£80,002
16	Financial and accounting technicians	£60,575	£36,907–£76,303
17	Electrical engineers	£60,303	£43,003–£73,899
18	IT business analysts, architects and systems designers	£60,288	£45,860–£81,932
19	Business and financial project management professionals	£59,834	£46,399–£77,568
20	Production managers and directors in manufacturing	£58,640	£42,885–£85,000
21	IT project managers	£58,373	£41,423–£74,823
22	Clinical psychologists	£58,366	—
23	Business, research and administrative professionals n.e.c.	£58,341	£44,939–£68,194
24	Purchasing managers and directors	£58,005	£44,801–£82,749
25	Sales accounts and business development managers	£57,625	£43,049–£79,598

Data: Office for National Statistics — Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE), ASHE 2025 provisional, April 2025 reference period, ONS, OGL v3. Open Government Licence v3.0. Medians for full-time employees; individual pay varies. A Gera Systems product.