A salary comparison USA vs UK shows that US employers advertise much higher pay for the same jobs: in TalentUp’s analysis of more than 44,000 job postings with a stated annual salary published between January and September 2026, the median US salary was higher than the UK median for all 11 roles analysed, with a typical gap of 77% after converting pounds to dollars.
The gap is far from uniform. It ranges from 25% for electricians to 94% for data engineers, and it is much smaller in official national statistics, where the US median full-time worker earns about 24% more than the UK median. Gross salary is also only part of the story: UK employers pay higher payroll taxes, and UK employees get statutory paid leave and NHS healthcare that US law does not provide.
This guide gives HR and compensation teams the role-by-role data, the exchange rate and method behind it, the differences in employer costs and benefits, and a practical way to set pay when you hire on both sides of the Atlantic.
Key takeaways
- US job ads pay a median 77% more than UK ads for the same role (TalentUp, 2026, $1.345 per £).
- The gap is smallest for electricians (+25%) and widest for data engineers (+94%).
- Across all full-time workers, official data puts the US median only about 24% above the UK.
- UK employers add 15% employer NI and a pension contribution; UK staff get 28 days of paid leave and NHS care.
- Benchmark each country in its own currency and market; do not convert one country’s bands into the other.
USA vs UK Salaries by Role: TalentUp 2026 Data
+77%
median US premium over UK across 11 roles
$187,400
vs £76,600 median software engineer salary in US and UK job ads
+25%
smallest gap, for electricians
~44,000
job postings with an annual salary analysed
Source: TalentUp job postings database, January–September 2026. UK salaries converted at $1.345 per £.
The table compares the median annual base salary advertised in job postings for the same job titles in each country. UK figures are converted to US dollars at $1.345 per pound, the January–September 2026 average of the European Central Bank’s reference rates.
| Role |
US median (USD) |
UK median (GBP) |
UK median in USD |
US premium |
| Data engineer |
$158,500 |
£60,800 |
$81,800 |
+94% |
| Mechanical engineer |
$128,200 |
£49,600 |
$66,700 |
+92% |
| Project manager |
$134,700 |
£54,900 |
$73,800 |
+83% |
| Software engineer |
$187,400 |
£76,600 |
$103,100 |
+82% |
| Data analyst |
$108,300 |
£44,800 |
$60,200 |
+80% |
| Sales manager |
$117,600 |
£49,400 |
$66,400 |
+77% |
| Nurse |
$89,100 |
£39,400 |
$52,900 |
+68% |
| Business analyst |
$111,000 |
£50,600 |
$68,000 |
+63% |
| Accountant |
$93,100 |
£45,800 |
$61,500 |
+51% |
| DevOps engineer |
$148,000 |
£75,000 |
$100,900 |
+47% |
| Electrician |
$70,700 |
£42,100 |
$56,600 |
+25% |
Sample sizes per role (US / UK postings): data engineer 1,800 / 190; mechanical engineer 860 / 300; project manager 4,760 / 1,680; software engineer 13,100 / 1,250; data analyst 980 / 140; sales manager 1,080 / 1,250; nurse 8,030 / 1,190; business analyst 1,100 / 210; accountant 2,230 / 1,610; DevOps engineer 1,080 / 260; electrician 180 / 960.
Three patterns stand out:
- Professional and office roles show the widest gaps. Engineering, data, project and sales management roles are advertised at roughly 1.8 to 1.9 times the UK level in dollar terms.
- Skilled trades are much closer. Electricians earn only 25% more in US job ads, a sign that the transatlantic gap is concentrated in the upper half of the pay distribution.
- Some UK tech roles hold up well. UK DevOps engineers and software engineers are advertised at £75,000–£76,600, which narrows the gap compared with other professional roles.
These are advertised salaries, not what employees in post earn. For how often employers in each market actually publish pay, see our data on transparent salary job postings: about 56% of US postings and 58% of UK postings state a salary.
How the Gap Compares with Official Averages
Official statistics show a much smaller US-UK gap than job ads for professional roles, because they cover every occupation and every region.
| Measure |
United States |
United Kingdom |
| Median full-time earnings |
$1,251 a week, Q2 2026 (≈ $65,100 a year) |
£39,039 a year, April 2025 (≈ $52,500) |
| Annual growth |
+4.6% (CPI +3.9%) |
+4.3% (annual), +5.3% (weekly) |
| Minimum wage (age 21+) |
$7.25 an hour (federal) |
£12.71 an hour from April 2026 (≈ $17.09) |
| Source |
BLS, Usual Weekly Earnings |
ONS, Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings |
On these figures, the US median full-time worker earns roughly 24% more than the UK median in dollar terms. The reference periods differ by a year, so treat this as an order of magnitude rather than a precise gap. The minimum wage points the other way: the UK legal floor is more than twice the US federal minimum at current exchange rates, although many US states set higher minimums.
The contrast with the role data is the key insight for HR: the US pays much more than the UK for graduate-level, internationally mobile roles, while the difference for the typical worker, and at the bottom of the pay scale, is far smaller. If you compare at country level, you will underestimate the gap for engineers and overestimate it for trades. The same pattern appears when you compare the US with continental Europe, as our analysis of salary differences between the United States and Europe shows.
London vs the Rest of the UK
Within the UK, London pays a clear premium. In TalentUp’s 2026 data, the median advertised annual salary across all roles was £49,700 in London (about 10,700 postings) against £39,600 in the rest of the UK (about 163,100 postings), a 25% premium.
For software engineers, the London median reached £114,500 (160 postings) against £74,900 elsewhere in the UK (1,090 postings). Converted at $1.345, a London software engineer is advertised at about $154,000, still below the US national median of $187,400 but much closer than the UK average suggests. Location tagging is incomplete for part of the UK data, so read the London figures as indicative.
For employers, this means “UK” is not one market. If you hire in London, benchmark against London data; if you hire in Manchester, Edinburgh or remotely across the UK, a national or regional benchmark is more accurate.
Employer Costs: Payroll Taxes and Pensions
Comparing gross salaries ignores what each employer actually pays on top. The statutory costs work differently in each country.
| Employer cost |
United States |
United Kingdom |
| Social security |
6.2% Social Security (up to $184,500 in 2026) + 1.45% Medicare |
15% employer National Insurance above £5,000 a year |
| Retirement |
No legal minimum (401(k) matching is voluntary) |
Auto-enrolment: at least 3% employer contribution on earnings between £6,240 and £50,270 |
| Health insurance |
Employer plans are a major voluntary or ACA-driven cost |
Covered by the NHS through general taxation |
A simple illustration with the legal minimums: on a £60,000 UK salary, employer NI is £8,250 and the minimum pension contribution about £1,321, so statutory costs add about 16%. On a $100,000 US salary, employer Social Security and Medicare add 7.65%, but US employers usually pay for health insurance on top. According to the BLS, benefits make up 30% of private-industry employer compensation costs in the US (June 2026), compared with 70% for wages and salaries.
The lesson: when you compare the cost of a hire in each country, model total employer cost, not just base salary.
Benefits, Leave and Healthcare
The total value of a job differs more than gross pay suggests, because the UK sets statutory minimums that the US does not:
- Paid holiday: UK workers on a five-day week are entitled to at least 28 days of paid annual leave (employers may include bank holidays). Under the US Fair Labor Standards Act, paid vacation and holidays are not required; they depend on the employer.
- Healthcare: UK residents use the NHS, so private medical insurance is a perk rather than a necessity. In the US, access to healthcare largely depends on the employer’s health plan, which also affects deductibles and out-of-pocket costs for the employee.
- Pension: UK auto-enrolment guarantees a minimum 8% total contribution (at least 3% from the employer). US retirement contributions are voluntary.
- Variable pay and equity: our data covers base salary only. Bonuses and equity, especially in US tech companies, can widen the total compensation gap further.
For candidates weighing an offer, the right comparison is net pay plus benefits minus the costs they would pay themselves, such as health premiums. For employers, being explicit about these elements in offers helps UK roles compete with higher US base salaries. Our guide to what HR can offer besides salary lists practical options.
Pay Transparency Rules in the US and the UK
Both markets are moving towards more open pay, through different routes:
- United States: there is no federal rule, but a growing number of states, including California, Colorado, Illinois, New York and Washington, require a good-faith pay range in job postings. That is one reason why many US postings include salary data.
- United Kingdom: employers with 250 or more employees must report their gender pay gap every year (snapshot date 5 April for private employers). There is no general legal duty to publish salary ranges in job ads, even though a majority of UK postings already do.
- EU, for comparison: the UK is not covered by the EU Pay Transparency Directive, but companies with staff in EU countries are, as national laws transposing it apply. The transposition deadline was 7 June 2026; it requires pay information for candidates before the interview and pay gap reporting from 7 June 2027 for employers with 150 or more workers. See our guide to what HR needs to know about the EU pay transparency law.
If you hire across all three jurisdictions, one defensible pay structure documented per country is far easier to manage than separate ad hoc practices.
How to Set Pay When You Hire in Both Countries
- Benchmark each market separately. Use US data in dollars for US roles and UK data in pounds for UK roles. Converting a US band into pounds overshoots the UK market, while converting a UK band into dollars will make US offers uncompetitive.
- Go down to role and location. The gap ranges from 25% to 94% depending on the role, and London pays about 25% more than the rest of the UK. A single “US vs UK factor” will be wrong for most jobs.
- Fix the exchange rate in your policy. Use a period average (for example the ECB or central bank rate over the last 6–12 months) and review it once a year, so pay does not move with daily currency swings.
- Compare total employer cost. Add payroll taxes, pension and health insurance before deciding where to place a team.
- Build bands and check positioning. Turn the benchmarks into salary bands in 7 steps, then track where employees sit in each band with range penetration.
- Explain internal equity across borders. Employees compare notes across countries. Be ready to explain that pay follows the local market, as discussed in market salaries vs internal equity.
TalentUp provides salary benchmarks by role, seniority and location for the UK, Europe and other markets. See how our data is built or check the pricing plans.
Sources
- TalentUp. Job postings database, about 44,000 US and UK postings with an annual salary for 11 roles, published January–September 2026 (see methodology above).
- European Central Bank. Euro foreign exchange reference rates, USD and GBP, monthly averages January–September 2026. https://data.ecb.europa.eu/data/datasets/EXR
- US Bureau of Labor Statistics. Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers, Second Quarter 2026 (21 July 2026). https://www.bls.gov/news.release/wkyeng.nr0.htm
- US Bureau of Labor Statistics. Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, June 2026 (9 September 2026). https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ecec.nr0.htm
- Office for National Statistics. Employee earnings in the UK: 2025 (23 October 2025). https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/bulletins/annualsurveyofhoursandearnings/2025
- GOV.UK. National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage rates. https://www.gov.uk/national-minimum-wage-rates
- GOV.UK. Rates and thresholds for employers 2026 to 2027. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/rates-and-thresholds-for-employers-2026-to-2027
- GOV.UK. Workplace pensions: what you, your employer and the government pay. https://www.gov.uk/workplace-pensions/what-you-your-employer-and-the-government-pay
- GOV.UK. Holiday entitlement. https://www.gov.uk/holiday-entitlement-rights
- GOV.UK. Who needs to report their gender pay gap. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/who-needs-to-report-their-gender-pay-gap
- Internal Revenue Service. Topic no. 751, Social Security and Medicare withholding rates. https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc751
- US Department of Labor. Vacation leave; Minimum wage. https://www.dol.gov/general/topic/workhours/vacation_leave, https://www.dol.gov/general/topic/wages/minimumwage
- European Union. Directive (EU) 2023/970 on pay transparency. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dir/2023/970/oj