£18,000 after tax
On £18,000 you take home £16,480 a year, which is £1,373.34 a month. Your marginal rate is 28.0%, so that is what the next pay rise will really be worth.
That is £16,480 a year after income tax, National Insurance and anything else coming off your pay.
- Income tax
- £1,086
- National Insurance
- £434
- Effective rate
- 8.4%
- Marginal rate
- 28.0%
| Year | Month | Week | Hour | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gross pay | £18,000.00 | £1,500.00 | £346.15 | £9.23 |
| Income tax | £-1,086.00 | £-90.50 | £-20.88 | £-0.56 |
| National Insurance | £-433.92 | £-36.16 | £-8.34 | £-0.22 |
| Take-home pay | £16,480.08 | £1,373.34 | £316.92 | £8.45 |
£18,000 across the four UK nations
| Nation | Income tax | National Insurance | Take-home | A month | Effective rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| England | £1,086 | £434 | £16,480 | £1,373.34 | 8.4% |
| Wales | £1,086 | £434 | £16,480 | £1,373.34 | 8.4% |
| Northern Ireland | £1,086 | £434 | £16,480 | £1,373.34 | 8.4% |
| Scotland | £1,046 | £434 | £16,520 | £1,376.65 | 8.2% |
The payslip, period by period
| Paid | Gross | Income tax | National Insurance | Take-home |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yearly | £18,000.00 | £1,086.00 | £434.40 | £16,479.60 |
| Monthly | £1,500.00 | £90.50 | £36.16 | £1,373.34 |
| 4-weekly | £1,384.62 | £83.54 | £33.33 | £1,267.75 |
| Fortnightly | £692.31 | £41.77 | £16.66 | £633.87 |
| Weekly | £346.15 | £20.88 | £8.33 | £316.94 |
With a pension and a student loan
| Setup | Pension | Student loan | Take-home | A month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0% pension | £0 | £0 | £16,480 | £1,373.34 |
| 5% pension | £900 | £0 | £15,760 | £1,313.34 |
| 5% pension, Plan 2 | £900 | £0 | £15,760 | £1,313.34 |
| 8% pension, Plan 2 | £1,440 | £0 | £15,328 | £1,277.34 |
| 5% pension, Plan 5 | £900 | £0 | £15,760 | £1,313.34 |
| 10% pension | £1,800 | £0 | £15,040 | £1,253.34 |
What £18,000 actually covers
At £1,373.34 a month, the usual advice of keeping rent to 30% of income means £412.00 if you apply it to take-home, and £450.00 if you apply it to gross — which is what most people quoting the rule actually mean. A letting agent will typically accept up to £600.00 a month on this salary. Those are three quite different flats. The rent calculator does all three tests.
| City | Take-home a month | Rent | Left over | Rent as %% of net |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| London | £1,373.34 | £950.00 | £423.34 | 69.2% |
| Oxford | £1,373.34 | £780.00 | £593.34 | 56.8% |
| Cambridge | £1,373.34 | £760.00 | £613.34 | 55.3% |
| Reading | £1,373.34 | £750.00 | £623.34 | 54.6% |
| Brighton | £1,373.34 | £740.00 | £633.34 | 53.9% |
| Bristol | £1,373.34 | £685.00 | £688.34 | 49.9% |
| Edinburgh | £1,376.65 | £675.00 | £701.65 | 49.0% |
| Milton Keynes | £1,373.34 | £645.00 | £728.34 | 47.0% |
| Manchester | £1,373.34 | £590.00 | £783.34 | 43.0% |
| Birmingham | £1,373.34 | £550.00 | £823.34 | 40.0% |
If you are weighing a move, the London page and the Manchester page go through the same salary city by city, and the relocation calculator does it for a specific pair. If you are weighing a job offer rather than a move, the offer comparison calculator adds the pension and the commute to the arithmetic.
Salaries either side of this one
The next step up is worth £720 of take-home at this level, about £60.00 a month. Neighbouring figures: £15,000, £16,000, £17,000, £19,000, £20,000, £21,000.
If you earned a bit more
A rise from £18,000 to £19,000 adds £720 to your year, which is £60.00 a month. That is 72.0% of the gross rise, and the reason for the gap is your 28.0% marginal rate. The pay rise calculator shows where the thresholds that change it actually sit.
Questions people actually ask
How much is £18,000 after tax?
£16,480 a year, or £1,373.34 a month, in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland it is £16,520 a year.
How much tax do I pay on £18,000?
£1,086 of income tax and £434 of National Insurance, an effective rate of 8.4%. Your marginal rate — what the next pound costs — is 28.0%.
Is £18,000 a good salary?
Median full-time pay in the UK is around £38,000, so £18,000 sits below that. What matters more is where you live: £1,373.34 a month goes a great deal further in Sheffield than in London, and the city comparison puts numbers on that.
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.