Average salary in Oxford, UK
ONS data for April 2025 · Page updated
Oxford's full-time median is above the UK and South East figures. Its labour market is dominated by the university and hospitals, which tends to cluster pay in the middle of the range, with life sciences and car manufacturing adding higher-paid technical roles.
- Median full-time pay
- £43,502
- Change on a year earlier
- +6%
- Compared with the UK
- +11%
- Full-time jobs
- 73k
How pay is spread in Oxford
Line: 10th to 90th percentile. Bar: the middle half of earners (25th to 75th). Mark and label: median. Where ONS doesn't publish the 90th percentile, the line stops at the highest published point.
| Full-time annual pay | Oxford | South East | UK |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10th percentile | £27,317 | £24,138 | £23,990 |
| 25th percentile | £33,948 | £29,704 | £29,262 |
| Median | £43,502 | £39,983 | £39,039 |
| 75th percentile | £55,216 | £55,000 | £54,009 |
| 90th percentile | – | £77,370 | £76,903 |
| Mean | £49,365 | £47,619 | £48,512 |
– ONS doesn't publish this figure because the sample is too small to be reliable.
These are gross annual earnings for full-time employee jobs based in Oxford, wherever the employee lives. The median is the middle salary: half of full-time jobs pay more, half pay less. The mean is pulled up by a small number of very high earners, so the median is the better guide to a typical salary. Figures cover Oxford City Council's area.
What that means after tax
| Gross salary | Income tax | National Insurance | Take-home a year | A month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| £43,502 | £6,186 | £2,475 | £34,841 | £2,903 |
| £55,216 | £9,518 | £3,115 | £42,583 | £3,549 |
The median and 75th percentile salaries above, for the 2026/27 tax year: tax code 1257L, no pension contributions, student loan or benefits in kind. Pension contributions through salary sacrifice would reduce both tax and take-home pay.
Who employs people in Oxford
The University of Oxford and Oxford University Hospitals are the largest employers. Publishing, a growing life sciences sector, and BMW's Mini plant at Cowley are also significant.
Negotiating pay in Oxford
University and NHS roles. Both use national pay scales. Negotiate the grade and the starting point, and ask for previous experience to count. Research roles funded by grants may have fixed budgets, but the grade can sometimes be revisited.
Housing costs aren't a lever. Oxford is expensive, but your rent isn't the employer's reason to pay more. Argue from the role's market value instead; our pay rise guide shows how.
A city median is a starting point, not a target. What you should ask for depends on your role, level and the employer. Check the pay ranges by role, or see where your salary sits in Oxford.
Negotiating a job or pay rise in Oxford?
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Pay in nearby cities
Source: Office for National Statistics, Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings 2025 (provisional), Table 7.7a (work geography). Gross annual pay for full-time employee jobs, April 2025. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. See how we use this data.