A £30,000 salary is about £25,120 a year after tax, which is roughly £2,093 a month or £483 a week.
That is for the 2026/27 tax year on the standard 1257L tax code, with no pension contributions and no student loan, in England, Wales or Northern Ireland. Scotland sets its own bands and comes out a few pounds ahead at this salary, as the section below shows. Everything here shows the working, so you can see exactly where the money goes.
£30,000 after tax at a glance
| Yearly | Monthly | Weekly | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gross pay | £30,000 | £2,500 | £577 |
| Tax-free allowance | £12,570 | £1,048 | £242 |
| Income tax | £3,486 | £291 | £67 |
| National Insurance | £1,394 | £116 | £27 |
| Take-home pay | £25,120 | £2,093 | £483 |
You keep about 84p of every pound you earn at this salary.
The working, step by step
Step 1: take off the personal allowance. The first £12,570 you earn carries no income tax. That leaves £17,430 of taxable income.
Step 2: apply income tax. The basic rate band runs from £12,570 up to £50,270, so all £17,430 sits inside it and is taxed at 20%.
£17,430 x 20% = £3,486
Step 3: apply National Insurance. Employees pay 8% on earnings between £12,570 and £50,270. That is the same £17,430.
£17,430 x 8% = £1,394
Step 4: what is left is yours.
£30,000 minus £3,486 minus £1,394 = £25,120
Your headline tax rate is 20%, but your effective income tax rate is 11.6%, because the first £12,570 escapes tax completely. The personal allowance accounts for most of the gap between the headline rate and the effective rate. Add National Insurance and the total deduction is 16.3% of gross pay.
What £30,000 works out at per hour
On a standard 37.5 hour week across 52 weeks, that is 1,950 hours a year.
- Gross: £15.38 an hour
- After tax and National Insurance: £12.88 an hour
If you work a 40 hour week the gross figure drops to £14.42 an hour. That is still above the National Living Wage of £12.71, but not by a wide margin. The hourly pay calculator converts any pattern of hours and minutes into an annual figure.
£30,000 after tax with a student loan
Student loan repayments come off your pay through PAYE, after tax and National Insurance. At £30,000 the effect depends heavily on which plan you are on, because the salary sits just above some thresholds and below others.
| Plan | Threshold | Yearly repayment | Monthly | Take-home after loan |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plan 1 | £26,900 | £279 | £23 | £24,841 |
| Plan 2 | £29,385 | £55 | £5 | £25,064 |
| Plan 4 (Scotland) | £33,795 | £0 | £0 | £25,120 |
| Plan 5 | £25,000 | £450 | £38 | £24,670 |
Each plan takes 9% of everything above its threshold. Plan 2 graduates, the largest group, repay almost nothing at this salary because the threshold is £29,385. Plan 5, for students who started in England from September 2023, costs the most. The student loan repayment calculator shows the figure for your plan.
What changes the number
A workplace pension. Pay 5% into a pension and £1,500 goes into your pot, while your take-home falls to around £23,920 rather than by the full £1,500, because the contribution reduces the pay you are taxed on. Under salary sacrifice it also cuts your National Insurance, leaving roughly £24,040. Most employees on £30,000 are already enrolled, with the employer adding at least 3%. Our salary sacrifice guide explains the two methods.
Your tax code. 1257L is standard. A different code changes your tax-free allowance, and the common causes at this level are a second job, which usually carries a BR code with no allowance, company benefits such as medical insurance, unpaid tax carried over from an earlier year, or the Marriage Allowance. The tax code checker explains what yours means.
Living in Scotland. Scottish income tax has a 19% starter rate on the first slice of taxable income and a 21% intermediate rate higher up. At £30,000 the starter rate saving still outweighs the intermediate rate cost, so Scottish income tax is about £3,451 rather than £3,486 and take-home is around £25,155, roughly £35 a year more than in England. From about £32,000 upwards the position reverses.
Bonuses and overtime. These are taxed, but the month they land can look far worse than the annual figure suggests, because PAYE is worked out cumulatively. If a payslip has surprised you, see why you paid more tax this month.
Is £30,000 a good salary in the UK?
It sits a little below the median for full-time employees, so it is a typical wage rather than a high one. It is a common salary for skilled trades, early-career professionals, teaching assistants, NHS band 5 staff and many roles in retail and logistics management.
What matters more in practice is where you live. £2,093 a month covers rent and bills with some room to spare across much of the north, the Midlands, Wales and Scotland. In London and the south east, housing alone can absorb half of it. The second factor is your employer’s pension contribution, which can add £900 to £3,000 a year of hidden pay depending on the scheme.
The headroom before the higher rate
At £30,000 you have £20,270 of headroom before you reach the higher rate threshold at £50,270. Every extra pound up to that point is taxed at 20% plus 8% National Insurance, so you keep 72p of each pound of a pay rise. A rise from £30,000 to £33,000 is worth £2,160 a year in your pocket, or £180 a month.
Above £50,270 the rate jumps to 40% and National Insurance drops to 2%, so the combined marginal rate becomes 42%. That is a long way off at this salary, but it is the reason a pension contribution is cheaper for someone on £60,000 than for someone on £30,000: the higher earner gets 40p back on each pound, you get 20p. The pay rise calculator values any offer after tax.
Work out your own figure
The table above is the clean case. If you pay into a pension, have a student loan, live in Scotland, work part time or receive a bonus, the number moves.
Open the take-home pay calculator to run your own figures. It covers pension schemes, all student loan plans, Scottish rates, tax codes and National Insurance categories, and gives the result by year, month, week and day. Nothing you type leaves your device.
Common questions
How much is £30,000 after tax and National Insurance per month? About £2,093 a month, based on £25,120 a year spread across twelve months.
How much is £30k a year per hour? About £15.38 an hour gross on a 37.5 hour week, or £12.88 an hour after tax and National Insurance.
Is £30,000 before or after tax? Job adverts quote the gross figure, so £30,000 is before tax and National Insurance are taken off.
How much do I take home on £30,000 with a 5% pension? Roughly £23,920 a year, or £24,040 under salary sacrifice, while £1,500 goes into your pension.
How much is £30,000 after tax and student loan? On Plan 2 about £25,064 a year, since the salary is only £615 above the threshold. On Plan 5 it is £24,670, and on Plan 1 £24,841.
What is £30,000 after tax in Scotland? About £25,155 a year, roughly £35 more than in England, because Scotland’s 19% starter rate applies to the first slice of taxable income.
How much National Insurance do I pay on £30,000? £1,394 a year, which is 8% of the £17,430 you earn above the £12,570 threshold.
Information, not financial advice. Figures use the 2026/27 rates for England, Wales and Northern Ireland and are estimates to help you understand the rules. Check your own circumstances against gov.uk or speak to a qualified adviser before acting on them.