£21,000 After Tax UK 2025/26 – Take-Home Pay

On £21,000, you are an early-career or entry-level earner: comfortably clear of the tax-free allowance but well inside the basic-rate band. You take home £18,639.60 a year, or £1,553.30 a month, after income tax and National Insurance. Overall, £21,000 places you in the lower half of the UK earnings distribution, around the 24th percentile of UK full-time earnings.

£21,000 after tax: full 2025/26 breakdown

Here is the full 2025/26 breakdown for £21,000:

Rounded to the nearest penny; assumes no pension or student loan.

Income tax on £21,000

HMRC taxes £8,430 of your salary — everything above the £12,570 allowance — at the 20% basic rate. That produces a bill of £1,686.00 a year, or £140.50 a month. None of your income reaches the 40% threshold, so 20p is the most you pay on any pound you earn.

National Insurance on £21,000

Your Class 1 National Insurance is £674.40 a year, or £56.20 a month. The entire contribution is charged at the 8% main rate, since none of your income exceeds £50,270.

Pension: what a 5% contribution costs you on £21,000

Paying 5% into a workplace pension (£1,050.00 a year) reduces your take-home to £1,491.80 a month. That is £738.00 less in your pocket over the year — but you also build £1,050.00 of pension, so the true cost is lower once you account for the tax relief. Model your own percentage with the take-home pay calculator.

£21,000 vs nearby salaries

The difference in take-home between salaries is always smaller than the difference in gross pay, because of income tax and National Insurance. Here is how £21,000 compares with the closest salary levels:

What affects your take-home pay on £21,000

The figures above assume a standard tax code and no additional deductions. In reality several factors shift the number — sometimes substantially:

• Pension contributions. A 3% contribution lowers your £21,000 take-home to about £1,516.40 a month; 5% takes it to roughly £1,491.80. Salary sacrifice goes further and saves National Insurance too.
• The £50,270 threshold. You are below the higher-rate band, so you pay 20% on all taxable income. A pay rise or bonus that takes you over £50,270 would be taxed at 40% on the excess.
• Where you live. As a Scottish taxpayer you would take home £1,555.22 a month at this salary — £1.92 more than under England/Wales rates.
• Your tax code. The standard code 1257L assumes the full £12,570 allowance. A non-standard code, an emergency code or untaxed benefits can all change what you actually receive.

Is £21,000 a good salary in the UK?

A £21,000 salary puts you in the lower half of the UK earnings distribution, at around the 24th percentile of UK full-time earnings. It sits about 40% below the UK median full-time salary of roughly £35,000, so it is in the lower half of the UK earnings distribution.

Roles that commonly pay around this level include administrative assistants, sales staff, delivery drivers and care assistants. For a single person in the North and Midlands this covers a decent lifestyle. In the South East or London, a partner's income or shared housing is usually essential.

The honest answer is that it depends on your outgoings as much as your income - two people on the same salary can have very different experiences. Use the calculator above to see your exact take-home, then compare it against your actual outgoings rather than a national average.

Your marginal rate on £21,000

From your next £1 of pay you keep 72p. Across the whole salary, your effective deduction rate is 11.2%: £2,360.40 of your £21,000 goes to income tax and National Insurance each year.