New NISRA Data Reveals Northern Ireland Workers Earn £2,700 Less Than the UK Average. See Where You Rank

The typical full-time worker in Northern Ireland earned £38,203 in the year to April 2026, according to new figures from the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA). That’s £2,708 less than the UK median of £40,911, and the gap gets a lot wider the further up the pay scale you go.

The figures come from the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE), which NISRA published on Thursday 22 October 2026. They show where your salary sits against everyone else’s, how pay changes with age and sector, and which council area takes home the most. Short answer on that last one: Lisburn and Castlereagh, by a distance.

We’ve turned NISRA’s tables into the calculator below. Put in your yearly salary, pick your council area if you like, and you’ll see roughly what share of full-time workers you out-earn in Northern Ireland, in your area and across the UK. Everything is in sterling, since this is Northern Ireland data only (our Northern Ireland vs Ireland guide explains where the two systems split).

Key Findings

• Median full-time annual pay in Northern Ireland was £38,203 in the tax year to 5 April 2026, up 3.2% on £37,014 a year earlier.
• The UK median was £40,911, so the typical full-time worker in Northern Ireland earned £2,708 less.
• Weekly pay grew faster. Median full-time weekly earnings in April 2026 rose 6.1% to £754, against 5.8% growth to £811 across the UK.
• After inflation, NISRA says real weekly earnings in Northern Ireland rose 3.1%, the third rise in a row, and are at their highest level on record.
• You need £68,405 a year to be in the top 10% of full-time earners in Northern Ireland. Across the UK, the top 10% starts at £82,680.
• Lisburn and Castlereagh residents had the highest median full-time pay at £42,678. Causeway Coast and Glens had the lowest at £33,694, a gap of £8,984.
• Public sector full-time workers had a median of £42,839, against £35,342 in the private sector. Private sector pay grew 5.6%, while public sector pay was flat (down 0.1%).
• Northern Ireland’s gender pay gap was 7.1%, well below the UK figure of 12.3%.

What Is the Average Salary in Northern Ireland in 2026?

The median full-time salary in Northern Ireland is £38,203 a year. To earn more than half of full-time workers, that’s the number to beat.

NISRA leads with the median because a small number of very high earners pull the mean up. The mean full-time salary was £44,642, more than £6,000 above the median. If someone quotes you an “average” salary, ask which one they mean.

The full pay ladder

NISRA publishes the salary at each step of the scale, which is what powers the calculator. For full-time workers in Northern Ireland:

• The bottom 10% earned under £24,985
• The bottom quarter earned under £29,578
• The middle (median) worker earned £38,203
• The top quarter earned £51,427 or more
• The top 20% earned £55,368 or more
• The top 10% earned £68,405 or more

So a salary of £30,000 puts you just above the bottom quarter. At £50,000 you out-earn roughly 73% of full-time workers and sit just short of the top quarter.

Why the calculator uses full-time pay only

Part-time pay mostly reflects hours worked rather than how well a job pays, so mixing the two would muddy the comparison. The median part-time salary was £15,323. NISRA counts anyone working more than 30 paid hours a week as full-time (or 25 hours or more for teachers).

Northern Ireland vs the UK: Where the Gap Opens Up

The £2,708 gap at the median is the headline, but it hides a more interesting pattern. Near the bottom of the scale, full-time pay in Northern Ireland and the UK is close. Near the top, it isn’t.

At the 10th percentile the difference is just £303 a year. By the 90th percentile it’s £14,275. In other words, lower-paid full-time jobs pay much the same in Northern Ireland as across the UK, but the highest-paid roles here pay a good deal less than the UK’s top end.

Weekly pay grew faster than the UK

The annual figures cover the tax year to April 2026. NISRA’s weekly figures are a snapshot of April 2026 itself, and they look a little brighter. Median full-time weekly pay rose £44 (6.1%) to £754, ahead of the UK’s 5.8% rise to £811. NISRA notes that’s the second year in a row Northern Ireland’s growth has beaten the UK’s.

Even so, Northern Ireland’s weekly median is 7.0% below the UK’s, and NISRA ranks it fifth lowest of the 12 UK regions (the ONS release for the whole UK has the other regions).

What about inflation?

Using the CPIH measure of inflation, which the ONS publishes monthly, NISRA says real weekly earnings rose £23 (3.1%) on the year, against 2.8% across the UK. Real pay is now £50 a week (7.1%) above 2019. Pay is finally outrunning prices on paper, though anyone who has looked at a weekly shop lately might want a second opinion.

Comparing with the Republic of Ireland? Our look at CSO price data across the EU and our cost of living in Ireland vs the US guide cover the euro side.

Which Council Area Earns the Most in Northern Ireland?

Where you live matters. Northern Ireland’s six counties are split into 11 council areas (our guide to all 32 counties covers the older county map), and NISRA breaks pay down by each one. The table below ranks them by where employees live, not where they work.

Lisburn and Castlereagh comes out on top

Lisburn and Castlereagh residents had a median full-time salary of £42,678, the only council area above the UK median. It also tops the weekly figures at £815. Antrim and Newtownabbey is second on £39,662, with Ards and North Down (£38,451) and Belfast (£38,404) close behind.

Belfast in fourth surprises people. That’s because these figures go by where people live. Measured by where people work, NISRA puts Belfast top for weekly pay, at £813. The city has been adding big employers, from Bank of America’s move into City Quays 3 to the wider shifts in the Northern Ireland office market.

Causeway Coast and Glens at the bottom

Causeway Coast and Glens had a median of £33,694, and it was the only council area where the median fell (down 2.7%). That’s £8,984 less than Lisburn and Castlereagh. It’s home to some of Northern Ireland’s busiest visitor spots, from the Giant’s Causeway to Dunluce Castle, along with several of Northern Ireland’s whiskey distilleries, but none of that shows up in residents’ pay.

Mid and East Antrim (£35,569), Newry, Mourne and Down (£36,110) and Derry City and Strabane (£36,299) also sit at the lower end. Fair warning: council figures come from a smaller sample, so a change of a few per cent in one year can be noise as much as news, and the gaps between neighbouring areas are often small.

Biggest risers and slowest growth

Ards and North Down had the biggest rise in annual median pay, up 8.0%, followed by Newry, Mourne and Down at 6.3%. On weekly pay, Antrim and Newtownabbey grew fastest at 10.3%, while Fermanagh and Omagh was slowest at 2.5%.

A few local links if you know these areas from a day out rather than a payslip: Ballywalter beach is in Ards and North Down, Carrickfergus is in Mid and East Antrim, and the Marble Arch Caves are in Fermanagh and Omagh, where Sainsbury’s is bringing 140 jobs to Omagh. Derry City and Strabane is covered in our Derry food and cycling trip guide, and if you’re weighing up a move, our best places to live in Ireland round-up and Northern Ireland landmarks guide are a decent place to start.

How Pay Changes With Age

Full-time pay climbs through your twenties and thirties, levels off in your forties and fifties, then drops after 60. Here are the median full-time salaries by age group:

• Aged 22 to 29: £32,000
• Aged 30 to 39: £38,967
• Aged 40 to 49: £42,251
• Aged 50 to 59: £42,833
• Aged 60 and over: £33,925

Younger workers

NISRA didn’t publish a full-time annual figure for 18 to 21-year-olds because the sample was too small. Still, 45.0% of jobs held by 16 to 21-year-olds were low-paid, compared with 0.4% for people aged 40 to 49.

The peak years

People in their forties and fifties earn the most, with medians of £42,251 and £42,833, both above the UK median for all ages. The 40 to 49 group also had the largest share of high-paid jobs, at 25.2%.

Public vs Private Sector Pay

The public sector pays more at the middle. The median full-time public sector salary was £42,839, against £35,342 in the private sector, a difference of £7,497. Non-profit bodies and mutual associations sat between the two at £36,810.

The UK gap is mostly a private sector gap

This is where the story gets more interesting. On NISRA’s weekly figures, public sector workers in Northern Ireland earn £840, just 2.6% below the UK public sector median of £862. Private sector workers earn £708, which is 10.9% below the UK private sector median of £794. So most of the gap between Northern Ireland and the UK comes from private sector pay.

Private pay is catching up

The private sector is closing in, though. Private sector annual pay rose 5.6%, while public sector annual pay was flat (down 0.1%). On weekly pay, NISRA says private sector earnings grew 6.8%, ahead of the UK’s 5.4%, and are at their highest level on record in real terms.

Men, Women and the Gender Pay Gap

Full-time men in Northern Ireland had a median annual salary of £39,318, against £36,904 for full-time women. That gap is mostly about hours. On hourly pay excluding overtime, full-time women actually earned slightly more than full-time men: £19.32 an hour against £19.02. NISRA notes that men work 6.5 more paid hours a week than women on average, across all employees.

Northern Ireland vs the UK on the gender pay gap

Across all employees, Northern Ireland’s gender pay gap (based on median hourly pay excluding overtime) was 7.1%, down from 7.4% in 2025. The UK gap was 12.3%. The gap was largest among people aged 50 to 59, at 16.0%.

How Pay Has Changed Over Ten Years

A 47% rise since 2016

Median full-time annual pay in Northern Ireland has gone from £25,978 in 2016 to £38,203 in 2026, a rise of 47.1%. It was £27,437 in 2019, just before the pandemic. NISRA flags that its methods changed in 2004, 2006, 2011 and 2021, so long comparisons are a guide rather than an exact like-for-like.

Why annual and weekly growth don’t match

Annual pay rose 3.2% while weekly pay rose 6.1% because they measure different things. Annual pay covers the whole tax year to 5 April 2026, while weekly pay is a snapshot of one pay period in April 2026. NISRA also warns that a change in the mix of jobs can move the median without anyone’s pay changing.

How to Use the Widget

• Enter your gross yearly salary before tax, including any bonus or overtime. You can type 32000, 32,000 or 32k.
• Choose your council area if you want a local comparison, or leave it on Northern Ireland (all).
• Press “See where I rank” to get your rough position in Northern Ireland, your council area and the UK.
• Read the pay ladder to see how far you are from the next step up, then scroll the council list to see how your pay compares with each area’s median.
• Use “Copy my result” to share your ranking.

Rankings are estimated between the percentiles NISRA publishes, so treat them as a close guide. Above the 90th percentile (the 80th for council areas) there’s no finer breakdown, so you’ll see “at least 90%”. If you like this sort of thing, our national debt calculator and new homes by area tracker work the same way for the Republic of Ireland.

About the Data

All figures come from the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, run by NISRA in Northern Ireland and the Office for National Statistics for the UK. ASHE is based on a 1% sample of jobs taken from HMRC’s PAYE records. It covers employees only, not the self-employed. Checked October 2026.

• NISRA, Employee earnings in NI 2026 (full bulletin), published 22 October 2026
• NISRA publication page for Employee earnings in NI 2026
• NISRA ASHE tables, including Table 1.7a (annual pay) and Table 8.7a (annual pay by council area of residence)
• NISRA earnings by place of work and place of residence
• NISRA earnings by age, industry, occupation and sector
• NISRA ASHE headline statistics and time series
• NISRA Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings homepage
• ONS ASHE Table 1, 2026 provisional, for the UK comparison

Annual figures cover the tax year ending 5 April 2026 for full-time employees on adult rates who have been in the same job for more than a year. Weekly and hourly figures refer to a pay period in April 2026. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the average salary in Northern Ireland in 2026?

The median full-time salary in Northern Ireland was £38,203 in the tax year to April 2026, according to NISRA. That’s up 3.2% on the year before and £2,708 below the UK median of £40,911. Median weekly full-time pay was £754.

Is £30,000 a good salary in Northern Ireland?

£30,000 is below the middle. It puts you just above the bottom quarter of full-time workers in Northern Ireland, since 25% earn under £29,578. Add £8,200 or so and you’d reach the median of £38,203. For younger workers it’s closer to typical: the median for 22 to 29-year-olds is £32,000.

Is £50,000 a good salary in Northern Ireland?

Yes, comfortably. A full-time salary of £50,000 means you out-earn roughly 73% of full-time workers in Northern Ireland. The top quarter starts at £51,427, so you’re just short of it. Across the UK as a whole, £50,000 would put you ahead of roughly two-thirds of full-time workers.

What salary puts you in the top 10% in Northern Ireland?

You need £68,405 or more a year to be in the top 10% of full-time earners in Northern Ireland. That’s well below the UK figure of £82,680, the point where Northern Ireland and the UK differ most.

Which part of Northern Ireland has the highest wages?

By where people live, Lisburn and Castlereagh has the highest median full-time salary at £42,678, followed by Antrim and Newtownabbey (£39,662). By where people work, NISRA puts Belfast top for weekly pay at £813. Causeway Coast and Glens is lowest on both measures.

Why are wages lower in Northern Ireland than in the rest of the UK?

NISRA’s figures show the gap is concentrated in two places: the top end of the pay scale and the private sector. Low-paid full-time jobs pay almost the same as the UK, and public sector pay is only 2.6% below the UK on a weekly basis. Private sector weekly pay is 10.9% lower.

Does this data include part-time workers and the self-employed?

The calculator uses full-time employees only. Part-time employees are in NISRA’s data, with a median annual salary of £15,323, but ASHE doesn’t cover the self-employed at all. If you’re thinking of working for yourself, our guide to online businesses to start in Ireland is a good starting point.

How many jobs in Northern Ireland pay below the minimum wage?

NISRA estimates that 1.0% of eligible jobs were paid below the minimum wage that applied to them in April 2026. Low-paid jobs made up 4.0% of employee jobs, up from 3.5% in 2025, the highest share of the 12 UK regions. Current rates are on the GOV.UK minimum wage page.