£20,000 After Tax UK (2026/27)
Take-home pay on £20,000 is £17,919.60 a year — £1,493.30 a month or £344.61 a week — after £1,486 of Income Tax and £594.40 of National Insurance in 2026/27.
Rates for England, Wales & Northern Ireland, 2026/27, standard tax code. Live in Scotland or pay into a pension? Use the full calculator.
Last updated: 12 October 2026 · Sources: HMRC: Rates and thresholds for employers 2026 to 2027; HMRC: Salary sacrifice and the effects on PAYE; GOV.UK: Income Tax rates and Personal Allowances; GOV.UK: National Insurance – how much you pay; GOV.UK: Repaying your student loan – what you pay; GOV.UK: Income Tax in Scotland; GOV.UK: National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage rates; Low Pay Commission: Minimum wage rates for 2026; GOV.UK: Who gets the minimum wage; GOV.UK: Employers and the minimum wage; HM Treasury: thresholds maintained until 5 April 2031; GOV.UK: Marriage Allowance; GOV.UK: Individual Savings Accounts; GOV.UK: Workplace pensions – what you, your employer and the government pay; DWP: Review of the automatic enrolment earnings trigger and qualifying earnings band for 2026/27; GOV.UK: Pension tax relief; GOV.UK: Pension annual allowance; HMRC: Adjusted net income; HMRC: CWG2 further guide to PAYE and National Insurance 2026 to 2027; HMRC: Student loan and postgraduate loan repayment guidance for employers; HMRC: Pensions relief relating to net pay arrangements
For information only, not tax advice. Figures are estimates for a standard case; your own tax position may differ. Check with the official source or a qualified adviser before making decisions.
Where £20,000 sits in the tax bands
£20,000 stays inside the basic-rate band: after the £12,570 Personal Allowance, the remaining £7,430 is all taxed at 20%, which comes to £1,486.
National Insurance is 8% on the £7,430 above £12,570: £594.40 a year.
| Band | Rate | Income in band | Income Tax |
|---|---|---|---|
| Personal Allowance | 0% | £12,570 | £0 |
| Basic rate | 20% | £7,430 | £1,486 |
Earning £1,000 more (£21,000) would add £200 of Income Tax and £80 of National Insurance, so you would keep £720 of it — a combined marginal rate of 28%. It is 20% Income Tax plus 8% National Insurance.
£20,000 is £30,270 below the higher-rate threshold (£50,270), where Income Tax rises to the higher rate and National Insurance drops to the upper rate.
At 37.5 hours a week, £20,000 is £10.26 an hour before tax — below the £12.71 National Living Wage for workers aged 21 and over, which comes to £24,785 a year at those hours. For an adult, a salary this low is only lawful on fewer hours; the lower minimum-wage rates for younger workers and apprentices are the other exception.
£20,000 by year, month, week, day and hour
| Year | Month | Week | Day | Hour | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gross pay | £20,000.00 | £1,666.67 | £384.62 | £76.92 | £10.26 |
| Income Tax | -£1,486.00 | -£123.83 | -£28.58 | -£5.72 | -£0.76 |
| National Insurance | -£594.40 | -£49.53 | -£11.43 | -£2.29 | -£0.30 |
| Take-home pay | £17,919.60 | £1,493.30 | £344.61 | £68.92 | £9.19 |
Day = year ÷ 260 working days. Hour = 37.5 hours a week × 52 weeks (1950 hours); gross hourly pay is £10.26.
£20,000 compared with £22,000
| Salary | Take-home / year | Take-home / month | Effective rate | Take-home vs £20,000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| £20,000 | £17,919.60 | £1,493.30 | 10.4% | — |
| £22,000 | £19,359.60 | £1,613.30 | 12.0% | +£1,440.00 |
Going from £20,000 to £22,000 adds £2,000 before tax and £1,440 after it — 72% of the rise.
Student loans and pension on £20,000
| Scenario | Take-home cut / year | Take-home / year | Take-home / month |
|---|---|---|---|
| No student loan or pension | — | £17,919.60 | £1,493.30 |
| Plan 2 student loan | — | £17,919.60 | £1,493.30 |
| Plan 5 student loan | — | £17,919.60 | £1,493.30 |
| 5% pension (salary sacrifice) | −£720.00 | £17,199.60 | £1,433.30 |
- Plan 2: nothing to repay, because £20,000 is £9,385 below the £29,385 threshold.
- Plan 5: nothing to repay, because £20,000 is £5,000 below the £25,000 threshold.
- Paying 5% of salary (£1,000) into a workplace pension by salary sacrifice lowers take-home by £720, not the full £1,000, because it also saves £280 of Income Tax and National Insurance. Each £1 that goes into the pension costs 72p of take-home pay.
- At 37.5 hours a week, though, this sacrifice would cut cash pay to £9.74 an hour, below the National Living Wage, which salary sacrifice is not allowed to do. At those hours the contribution would have to be made from pay in the normal way instead.
How £20,000 compares with UK earnings
£20,000 is 48.8% below the £39,039 median gross salary for UK full-time employees (ONS ASHE 2025, provisional, April 2025).
That is below the 10th percentile (£23,990): fewer than one in ten full-time employees earn less.
Gross pay before tax. Sources: ONS: ASHE Table 1, 2025 provisional (Table 1.7a, full-time annual gross pay); ONS: Employee earnings in the UK: 2025.
£20,000 after tax: questions
How much is £20,000 a month after tax?
£1,493.30 a month in 2026/27, or £344.61 a week. That is £20,000 minus £1,486 Income Tax and £594.40 National Insurance, with no student loan or pension deductions.
What tax band is £20,000 in?
£20,000 stays inside the basic-rate band: after the £12,570 Personal Allowance, the remaining £7,430 is all taxed at 20%, which comes to £1,486. Earning £1,000 more (£21,000) would add £200 of Income Tax and £80 of National Insurance, so you would keep £720 of it — a combined marginal rate of 28%. It is 20% Income Tax plus 8% National Insurance.
How much student loan would I repay on £20,000?
Plan 2: nothing to repay, because £20,000 is £9,385 below the £29,385 threshold. Plan 5: nothing to repay, because £20,000 is £5,000 below the £25,000 threshold.
How does £20,000 compare with the UK median salary?
£20,000 is 48.8% below the £39,039 median gross salary for UK full-time employees (ONS ASHE 2025, provisional, April 2025). That is below the 10th percentile (£23,990): fewer than one in ten full-time employees earn less.
Related
- Salary Tax Calculator — any salary, Scottish tax, pensions, all student loan plans, US tax
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