Frequently Asked Questions

SalaryDex is a free tool that helps you understand what your salary actually buys you across different UK cities. We compare take-home pay, cost of living, and real purchasing power to help you make informed career decisions.

We source data from official UK sources: ONS (Office for National Statistics), HMRC tax calculators, NHS Employers pay scales, Rightmove rental data, and Numbeo cost of living indices. Our methodology page explains our calculations in detail.

Yes, completely free. No registration required.

We apply current UK tax rates, National Insurance contributions, and typical pension deductions (where applicable) to gross salaries. Scottish tax rates are applied for Scottish cities (Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen).

Our calculations use median salaries and standard tax codes. Your actual pay may differ based on:

• Your specific employer
• Years of experience
• Bonuses or overtime
• Student loan repayments
• Personal tax code
• Company pension scheme rates

Yes. London salaries include High Cost Area Supplement (HCAS) where applicable, particularly for NHS roles.

We use Rightmove data for average rent (1-bedroom flat in typical areas), plus standard costs for:

• Utilities (electricity, gas, water)
• Council tax (Band D average)
• Transport (public transport monthly pass)
• Food (Numbeo grocery index)

We focus on essential costs to calculate true disposable income. What you spend your disposable income on is personal choice.

Yes! Use our comparison tool. Type your job and two cities to see the difference in real purchasing power.

Yes. We use official NHS Employers Agenda for Change (AfC) pay scales, updated for the most recent pay awards. Our data includes all 8 NHS bands (Band 2 through Band 8b).

Yes. NHS pages show take-home pay after pension contributions based on current NHS Pension Scheme rates.

London NHS pages include the Inner London HCAS uplift. Outer London and Fringe zones have different rates which we apply accordingly.

Yes! All our pages are freely linkable. We appreciate attribution.

Not currently. If you're interested in using our data programmatically, contact us at [email protected]

We update salary data quarterly and cost of living data monthly. Major updates (tax rates, NHS pay scales) are implemented immediately when announced.