£20,000 salary → £17,920 take-home (UK, 2024/25)
A £20,000 UK salary in the basic-rate band — 2024/25 tax year, rest-of-UK bands. Below is the exact breakdown, plus what changes with pension contributions and how it compares to nearby salaries.
Take-home summary
Where £20,000 goes (annual)
| Gross salary | £20,000 |
| − Income Tax | £1,486 |
| − National Insurance | £594 |
| = Take-home | £17,920 |
Effective total tax rate: 10.4%. Marginal rate on your next £1: 28.0%.
What tax band is £20,000?
£20,000 sits in the basic-rate band. You're in the 20% Income Tax band and pay 8% National Insurance on earnings above £12,570. Every extra £1 you earn keeps 72p in your pocket.
With a workplace pension
Most UK workplace pensions are salary sacrifice or net-pay, which means the contribution comes off your gross before tax and NI. Here's how contributing to a pension changes your take-home:
| Pension | Take-home / year | Take-home / month | Into pension |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0% | £17,920 | £1,493 | £0 |
| 5% | £17,200 | £1,433 | £1,000 |
| 10% | £16,480 | £1,373 | £2,000 |
Notice that contributing £1,000 into your pension (5%) only reduces take-home by £720 — the difference of £280 is tax and NI you would otherwise have paid. That's the "free money" effect of pension salary sacrifice.
How this compares to nearby salaries
| Gross | Take-home / year | Take-home / month | Effective tax rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| £20,000 (this page) | £17,920 | £1,493 | 10.4% |
| £25,000 | £21,520 | £1,793 | 13.9% |
| £30,000 | £25,120 | £2,093 | 16.3% |
What's included and what's not
- Included: UK Income Tax (rest-of-UK bands), National Insurance Class 1 (employee), personal allowance and its £100k taper.
- Excluded by default: student loan repayments (Plan 1/2/4/5/PG), pension contributions, salary sacrifice for childcare/cycle-to-work, benefits in kind, and any non-standard tax code adjustments. Add these on the full calculator.
- Scotland: If you're a Scottish taxpayer, use the Scottish take-home calculator — the Income Tax bands are different, though NI is the same.
Related tools
- Full UK take-home pay calculator — pension, student loan, hours
- Salary sacrifice calculator — see the tax saving on any contribution
- SIPP tax relief calculator — for private pensions
- Browse all salary landing pages
- Compare two salaries side-by-side — is your pay rise worth it?
- How UK take-home pay actually works