13.01.2025

UK’s top earners bag average salary by February

The latest research from The Global Payroll Association (GPA), reveals that it takes the UK’s top 1% of earners just 39 days to earn the nation’s average annual salary.

GPA’s analysis of earnings data from the Office for National Statistics* reveals that the average UK salary stands at £28,932 per year.

Meanwhile, the average salary for the UK’s top 1% of earners stands at £186,120 per year.

With approximately 253 working days in a year*, after accounting for weekend days and public holidays, this means the top 1% rake in an average of £735.65 per day.

Therefore, it takes the top 1% just 39 working days to earn what the average person makes in an entire year.

This means that by February 26th 2025, while the majority of people are still settling into the year and the Christmas decorations are still waiting to be returned to the loft, the UK’s highest paid workers will have already surpassed the full year’s earnings for the average person.

Melanie Pizzey, CEO and Founder of the Global Payroll Association, said: “January tends to be a bit of a struggle. With the excitement of Christmas behind us and bank balances a little worse for wear, most of us will be cutting back in order to make ends meet over the course of what feels like a very long month.

"So it’s probably galling to hear that the top 1% will, by the end of January, be just a few weeks away from surpassing the typical person’s pay for the whole year.

"Having said that, there’s an old adage that says you spend what you make, so even those who earn a fortune will probably be feeling the January pinch because they’ll have proportionally spent the same as everyone else.

"Finally, let’s all do our best to remember that money alone doesn’t make us happy, and start the year feeling good about the things we do have and the opportunities that lay ahead.”

Data tables and sources