How to work out the salary you need
- Choose Take-home target if you know how much you want to take home. Enter the amount and pick per year, month or week.
- Or choose Budget builder and list your monthly costs: rent or mortgage, council tax, energy, water, broadband and phone, food, transport, childcare, insurance, subscriptions, debt repayments, savings and leisure. The amounts filled in are only examples. Replace them, rename or remove lines, add your own, and set each line to a week, month or year. A safety margin adds a percentage on top for irregular bills.
- Choose where you live and the tax year (2026/27 by default).
- Open Pension, student loan and hours if you pay into a workplace pension, repay a student loan or want the hourly rate for different hours.
- Read the gross salary you need, the monthly and hourly equivalents and the breakdown of tax and NI. Copy results saves a summary. Your budget is stored only in this browser.
How net to gross works
Take-home pay is gross pay minus income tax, National Insurance, any student loan and your pension contribution. Working backwards isn't a simple percentage, because each pound of salary is taxed at a different rate depending on where it falls. The calculator searches for the lowest whole-pound salary whose take-home pay meets your target, using the 2026/27 rules:
- Personal allowance £12,570 (reduced by £1 for every £2 over £100,000).
- England, Wales and Northern Ireland: 20% to £50,270, 40% to £125,140 and 45% above. Scotland: six bands from 19% to 48%.
- Employee NI: 8% between £12,570 and £50,270, and 2% above.
- Student loans: 9% of pay above the plan threshold (Plan 2: £29,385 a year), and 6% above £21,000 for a Postgraduate Loan.
As a rule of thumb, between £12,570 and £50,270 in England each extra £1 of take-home pay needs about £1.39 of salary, because 28p of every pound goes on tax and NI. Above £50,270 it needs about £1.72, and between £100,000 and £125,140 about £2.63.
Worked examples (England, 2026/27)
£2,500 a month take-home. That's £30,000 a year. Pay above £12,570 loses 28%, so the salary is £12,570 + (£30,000 − £12,570) ÷ 0.72 = £36,779 (rounded up). Income tax is £4,841.80 and NI £1,936.72. With a Plan 2 student loan, you'd need £37,835. In Scotland, with no loan, you'd need £36,825.
The example budget. The example costs add up to £2,495 a month, or £29,940 a year. To take that home you need a salary of £36,695 (£3,057.92 a month gross, or £18.82 an hour at 37.5 hours a week). At the National Living Wage for 21 and over (£12.71 an hour from April 2026), that's about 55.5 hours a week.
Building a realistic budget
- Use your bank statements from the last few months, not guesses. Annual bills such as car insurance, TV licence or memberships can be entered per year.
- Council tax is usually billed over 10 months. Enter the yearly amount to spread it fairly.
- Put savings and pension goals in the budget too, so they are paid for from salary.
- If you will pay into a workplace pension, set it in the options. The salary goes up to cover your contribution, and your employer adds theirs on top.
- Universal Credit, Child Benefit and other benefits are not included. If you get them, you may need less salary.
Why the real figure may differ
These are yearly estimates for steady pay on the standard 1257L tax code. A different tax code, benefits in kind, bonuses or overtime will change the result. NI and student loans are worked out per pay period, and payroll rounds to whole pounds or pennies, so payslips can differ slightly. If you or your partner get Child Benefit, a higher salary can also trigger the High Income Child Benefit Charge, which isn't included here.
Related calculators
To check a salary you've been offered, use the UK salary calculator, and to compare offers, the salary comparison calculator. To turn the salary into an hourly rate, use the hourly wage calculator. To see what a mortgage would cost each month, try the mortgage calculator, and for debts in your budget, the debt calculator. For the US, use the US net to gross calculator.
Frequently asked questions
How do I convert net salary to gross in the UK?
Enter your target take-home pay and the calculator finds the gross salary that produces it after income tax, National Insurance, student loan and pension. For basic-rate taxpayers in England, a quick estimate is £12,570 + (net − £12,570) ÷ 0.72.
What salary do I need to take home £3,000 a month?
In England, Wales or Northern Ireland in 2026/27, with no pension or student loan, about £45,112 a year. Enter £3,000 per month to see it for your own region, pension and loans.
How much do I need to earn to live comfortably?
It depends on your costs, so start from your budget, not an average. Use the budget builder: list your real monthly costs, add savings and a safety margin, and it shows the salary that covers them after tax.
Does a pension contribution change the salary I need?
Yes. Your contribution comes out of your pay, so you need a higher salary to keep the same take-home pay. Thanks to tax relief, the salary goes up by less than the contribution.
Is my budget saved anywhere?
Only in your own browser (local storage), so it's there next time on this device. Nothing is sent to our server. Reset clears it.
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