Gross salary
is a lie.
We show you what's left after rent, tax and living costs.
Most career advice focuses on the top-line number. But £72,000 in London can often leave you with less disposable income than £55,000 in Manchester once real-world costs are factored in. We built SalaryDex to expose the truth about UK purchasing power.
829
Pages live
20
UK Cities
12
Professions
6
Analysis types
What we do
SalaryDex was born from a simple observation: the UK's economic landscape is wildly fractured. A single "UK Average" salary is a meaningless metric when house prices in Kensington are 15x higher than in parts of Lancashire.
We aggregate data from over six primary government and private sources to calculate the Discretionary Surplus. This is the amount of money you actually have to spend or save after the essentials—tax, rent, utilities, and local transport—are settled.
Our mission is to empower professionals to move where their talent is valued most, not just where the headline number is biggest. We give you the leverage to negotiate with data, not intuition.
Real winner:
Manchester
When comparing mid-level Software Engineers across the UK, Manchester currently offers the highest rent-to-savings ratio for 2025.
How the numbers work
Real gross salary
We use ONS ASHE and NHS pay circulars to verify what people are actually being paid in specific regions, not just job board estimates.
Exact take-home pay
Automatic calculation of 2025/26 Income Tax, National Insurance, and standard student loan repayments (Plan 2).
Actual living costs
Data from Numbeo and local council tax rates to determine the average basket of goods and utilities in each specific postcode.
Disposable income
The "Final Count." What stays in your pocket after the city takes its cut. This is the only metric that truly matters for quality of life.
Rent-to-income ratio
We scrape Rightmove Q4 2025 data to provide real-time rental market pressure scores for every major UK hub.
Purchasing power verdict
A final kinetic score that ranks the job opportunity based on wealth-building potential rather than status.
Data sources
ONS
Official StatisticsAnnual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) provides the baseline for regional occupational pay.
NHS Employers
Public SectorSpecific pay bands for Agenda for Change staff updated for the 2025/26 financial cycle.
HMRC
Tax ComplianceCurrent UK tax tables, including National Insurance thresholds and personal allowance tapers.
Revenue Scotland
Devolved TaxScottish Income Tax bands used for accurate calculations in Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Aberdeen.
Rightmove
Real EstateQ4 2025 Rental Price Index for 1 and 2 bedroom properties across all mapped urban centers.
Numbeo
Cost of LivingCrowdsourced and verified cost data for groceries, transport, and recreational activities.
Limitations
SalaryDex provides statistical averages and estimates based on large-scale data sets. It does not account for individual lifestyle choices, debt obligations, or specific family circumstances. We recommend consulting with a qualified financial advisor before making significant relocation or career changes. All data is provided "as is" and intended for informational purposes only.
Find out where your salary actually goes furthest
Compare real purchasing power across 20 UK cities in seconds.