London vs Cardiff on the same salary
On £45,000, London leaves you £2,043.34 a month after rent and Cardiff leaves you £2,463.34. That gap, not the salary, is what the move is actually worth.
| Salary | London | Cardiff | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| £28,000 | £1,023.34 | £1,443.34 | £420.00 |
| £35,000 | £1,443.34 | £1,863.34 | £420.00 |
| £45,000 | £2,043.34 | £2,463.34 | £420.00 |
| £55,000 | £2,588.17 | £3,008.17 | £420.00 |
| £70,000 | £3,313.17 | £3,733.17 | £420.00 |
| £90,000 | £4,279.83 | £4,699.83 | £420.00 |
The salary you would need to match
To be in the same position in Cardiff as £45,000 leaves you in London, you would need roughly £38,000 — about £0 more. Whether the roles on offer actually pay that difference is the real question, and it is a question about the job market rather than about tax.
You would also be changing tax system
London and Cardiff are not in the same income tax regime. The Scotland and England comparison sets out the difference at every salary.
| Salary | England, Wales, NI | Scotland | Difference | A month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| £30,000 | £25,120 | £25,155 | +£35 | £2.91 |
| £40,000 | £32,320 | £32,255 | −£65 | £5.42 |
| £45,000 | £35,920 | £35,524 | −£396 | £33.00 |
| £60,000 | £45,358 | £43,608 | −£1,750 | £145.84 |
| £85,000 | £59,858 | £57,308 | −£2,550 | £212.50 |
The crossover sits at roughly £33,000. Below it, Scotland's starter band at 19% leaves you very slightly better off. Above it, the higher rate arriving at £43,663 instead of £50,270 — and running at 42% instead of 40% — opens a gap that keeps widening. The Scotland comparison page goes through it in full.
Take-home in each, before rent
| Salary | Income tax | National Insurance | Take-home | A month | Effective rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| £28,000 | £3,086 | £1,234 | £23,680 | £1,973 | 15.4% |
| £35,000 | £4,486 | £1,794 | £28,720 | £2,393 | 17.9% |
| £45,000 | £6,486 | £2,594 | £35,920 | £2,993 | 20.2% |
| £55,000 | £9,432 | £3,110 | £42,458 | £3,538 | 22.8% |
| £70,000 | £15,432 | £3,410 | £51,158 | £4,263 | 26.9% |
| £90,000 | £23,432 | £3,810 | £62,758 | £5,230 | 30.3% |
| Salary | Income tax | National Insurance | Take-home | A month | Effective rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| £28,000 | £3,086 | £1,234 | £23,680 | £1,973 | 15.4% |
| £35,000 | £4,486 | £1,794 | £28,720 | £2,393 | 17.9% |
| £45,000 | £6,486 | £2,594 | £35,920 | £2,993 | 20.2% |
| £55,000 | £9,432 | £3,110 | £42,458 | £3,538 | 22.8% |
| £70,000 | £15,432 | £3,410 | £51,158 | £4,263 | 26.9% |
| £90,000 | £23,432 | £3,810 | £62,758 | £5,230 | 30.3% |
Two tables because London and Cardiff are not in the same income tax regime. If they were, one table would do — which is the case for any pair of English, Welsh or Northern Irish cities, where the entire difference is rent.
Going the other way
The comparison is not symmetrical in the way people expect. Moving from London to Cardiff and keeping the same salary changes what is left by £420.00 a month. Moving back changes it by the same amount in the other direction — but the salary on offer usually moves too, and that is the part worth negotiating rather than assuming.
What this comparison does not include
Council tax, which varies by band and by authority and can differ by several hundred pounds a year between two cities. Travel, which in London is a genuine monthly line and elsewhere usually is not. Whether you would be sharing or living alone, which changes the rent figure more than the city does. And everything that is not money.
Rent figures are indicative and move faster than tax rates do. The tax figures are exact, and they are the part most comparisons get wrong or leave out entirely.
If you are weighing an actual offer rather than a hypothetical move, the offer comparison calculator adds the pension, the commute and the benefits to the same arithmetic.
Questions people actually ask
Is Cardiff cheaper than London?
On rent, yes. On tax, they use different schedules — see above.
How much more do I need to earn to move?
Roughly £0 on a £45,000 salary, to stay in the same position after rent.
Figures on this page are for the 2026/27 tax year (6 April 2026 to 5 April 2027) and were last checked on 29 August 2026. Every rate we use is listed on the sources page.