Data analyst salary UK: the ONS median, range and regions

The median gross annual pay for full-time data analysts in the UK was £38,572 in 2025. That is the official figure from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE), 2025 provisional results, Table 14.7a, for occupation code 3544 “Data analysts” in the Standard Occupational Classification 2020 (SOC 2020) (ONS, ASHE Table 14 (opens in a new tab), checked 18 Oct 2026).

Half of full-time data analyst jobs paid more than that, and half paid less. Salary websites often quote other numbers, because they use job adverts or pay that users report. This guide uses the official survey only. It shows where the median comes from, how wide the range is, how London compares, and where the code and the job title part ways.

Where the figure comes from

ASHE is the ONS’s main survey of pay. Its notes describe it as a 1% sample of jobs, taken from the Pay As You Earn (PAYE) records of HM Revenue and Customs. It covers employee jobs in the UK, not the self-employed (ASHE Table 14.7a notes, checked 18 Oct 2026). Three details shape the number above:

The period. Annual pay is for the tax year that ended on 5 April 2025. It covers employees on adult rates who had been in the same job for more than a year.
The table. Table 14 breaks pay down by four-digit SOC code. Table 14.7a is gross annual pay, and the full-time sheet holds the £38,572 median.
The status. The 2025 results are provisional. The dataset page says the revised 2025 results will come out in October or November 2026, so the figures may change slightly.

The quality is good. ONS rates each estimate by its coefficient of variation (CV), a measure of sampling error. The CV of the data analyst median is 3.8%, which ONS calls “precise” (5% or less).

The range: from the 10th to the 80th percentile

A median hides the spread. ASHE publishes percentiles: the value below which a given share of jobs falls. For full-time data analysts in 2025, the 10th percentile was £27,338, the 25th £30,835, the 75th £47,045 and the 80th £49,946.

Fig. 1 Full-time data analyst pay, SOC 3544, 2025 Source: ONS ASHE 2025 provisional, Table 14.7a (opens in a new tab)

The 90th percentile is not published for data analysts. ONS suppresses an estimate when its CV is above 20%, which it calls unreliable for practical use, or when it could disclose a single person or employer.

So the middle half of full-time data analyst jobs paid between about £30,800 and £47,000 in 2025. Table 14 does not show which jobs sit where in that band.

Median and mean

The mean, or simple average, was £45,103, well above the median. ONS explains why it prefers the median: a small number of very high earners pull the mean up, so the median “gives a better indication of typical pay” (ASHE notes, checked 18 Oct 2026).

The year-on-year changes show why caution helps. ASHE puts the 2025 median 10.5% above 2024, and the mean 23.3% above. ONS notes that these changes are not adjusted for changes in the mix of jobs. With a sample this size, treat a one-year change with caution. The indicative count is about 62,000 full-time data analyst jobs, and ONS warns that its job counts are not reliable estimates.

Two other views of the same code, from the same release:

All employees, full-time and part-time: median £38,107 a year.
Weekly pay, full-time: median gross £755.00 a week (Table 14.1a). Weekly pay covers a pay period in April 2025 and includes people new to their job, so it is not simply the annual figure divided by 52.

London and the regions

ASHE Table 15 gives pay by the region where people work. For full-time data analysts in 2025, the median was £43,058 in London and £34,421 in the North West (ONS, ASHE Table 15 (opens in a new tab), checked 18 Oct 2026). Both carry CVs of 7.0% and 6.4%, which ONS calls “reasonably precise”.

Office towers of Canary Wharf in London seen across the River Thames — Fig. 2 Canary Wharf, London Photo: Dietmar Rabich (opens in a new tab) · CC BY-SA 4.0 (opens in a new tab) · modified

The other regions have small samples. Their medians carry CVs above 10% (“acceptable”) or have no CV available, and Scotland’s is not published. They are too uncertain to rank.

Fig. 3 Data analyst median pay by region, 2025 Source: ONS ASHE 2025 provisional, Tables 14 and 15 (opens in a new tab)

A higher London median does not mean more money left over. Living costs differ too, and ASHE does not measure them.

Men and women

For full-time data analysts in 2025, the median was £40,046 for men and £36,986 for women (Table 14.7a, male and female full-time sheets). These are raw medians. They do not adjust for age, hours, region or seniority, so they do not measure pay for the same work.

Entry-level pay: what the data cannot tell you

ASHE does not publish pay for four-digit occupations by age or by years in the job. So there is no official “graduate data analyst” salary. The 10th and 25th percentiles describe the lower-paid jobs in the group, which are not the same thing as starting jobs.

For a starting figure, the National Careers Service gives £28,000 for a starter data analyst-statistician and £65,000 for an experienced one (National Careers Service (opens in a new tab), checked 18 Oct 2026). That is the service’s own estimate, not an ASHE result, and it does not say how it was made.

When the job title does not match the code

ASHE counts jobs by their SOC code, not by their advertised title. A job advertised as “data analyst” can sit under more than one code, depending on what the person does. The official job-title lists show two that matter here (Appendix Skilled Occupations (opens in a new tab), checked 18 Oct 2026):

3544 Data analysts, among the business associate professionals.
2433 Actuaries, economists and statisticians, which includes “statistical data scientists” and statisticians.

Fig. 4 Full-time medians by SOC code, 2025 Source: ONS ASHE 2025 provisional, Table 14.7a (opens in a new tab)

The 2433 group has a higher median, £53,342, but it also holds actuaries and economists, so it is not a clean “senior analyst” figure. To find the code for a real job, gov.uk points to the CASCOT occupation coding tool, and warns that similar jobs can have different codes (Skilled Worker visa: your job (opens in a new tab), checked 18 Oct 2026).

Salary and the Skilled Worker visa

For international graduates, the code also decides whether a job can lead to a Skilled Worker visa. This is information, not advice; the rules below are from gov.uk, checked 18 Oct 2026.

The usual minimum salary is £41,700 a year or the “going rate” for the job, whichever is higher. Some people, including those on a Graduate visa, can be paid 70% of the going rate, with a floor of £33,400 (Skilled Worker visa: your job (opens in a new tab)).
Code 3544 appears only in Tables 1a and 2aa of Appendix Skilled Occupations. Those tables are for workers first granted permission under the rules in place before 22 July 2025, with a Table 1a going rate of £34,900. It is not in Table 1, the list of degree-level (RQF 6) jobs that new applicants use. Code 2433 is in Table 1.
A medium-skilled job can still qualify if it is on the immigration salary list or the temporary shortage list. Code 3544 is not on the immigration salary list, but it is on the temporary shortage list, for a certificate of sponsorship issued before 31 December 2026 (Appendix Skilled Worker, SW 6.1A (opens in a new tab), checked 18 Oct 2026).

If you are on a Student or Graduate visa and plan to stay, ask a future employer which code they would use, and check it on gov.uk. For advice on your own case, use an adviser regulated by the Immigration Advice Authority (IAA), or a solicitor.

How to check the figures yourself

You can reproduce every number in this guide from the ONS site, and check it again when the next release comes out.

Open the ASHE Table 14 dataset page (opens in a new tab) and download the latest edition. On 18 October 2026, that was “2025 provisional”.
Open the file for Table 14.7a, “Annual pay - Gross”. For weekly pay, use 14.1a.
Choose the sheet you need: “All”, “Full-Time”, or a male or female sheet.
Find the row with code 3544. The columns give the job count, the median, the mean and the percentiles.
Open the matching “CV” file, 14.7b, to see how precise each value is. An “x” in either file means the value is not published.

For a region, do the same with Table 15. Check the year in the file name every time: a provisional figure is replaced by a revised one about a year later.

Why other salary pages show different numbers

Salary pages for “data analyst UK” often quote figures from job boards, recruiters or user reports. Those sources measure different things, such as advertised pay or pay that users choose to share, and they rarely say which year or which jobs they cover. ASHE has its own limits, set out above, but it states its method, its sample and its code. When two numbers disagree, check what each one counts first.

Before you act

These figures describe groups of jobs. They do not predict what any one person will earn or whether they will find a job. Our disclaimer explains how we use official salary data. For the work itself, see what a data analyst does.

Sources

All checked on 18 October 2026.

Office for National Statistics, Earnings and hours worked, occupation by four-digit SOC: ASHE Table 14 (opens in a new tab), 2025 provisional edition, released 23 October 2025. Tables 14.7a (annual pay, gross), 14.7b (quality) and 14.1a (weekly pay, gross).
Office for National Statistics, Earnings and hours worked, region by occupation by four-digit SOC: ASHE Table 15 (opens in a new tab), 2025 provisional edition, Tables 15 (4).7a and 15 (4).7b.
National Careers Service, Data analyst-statistician (opens in a new tab).
gov.uk, Skilled Worker visa: your job (opens in a new tab).
gov.uk, Immigration Rules: Appendix Skilled Occupations (opens in a new tab), Tables 1 and 1a.
gov.uk, Immigration Rules: Appendix Immigration Salary List (opens in a new tab).
gov.uk, Immigration Rules: Appendix Skilled Worker (opens in a new tab), SW 6.1A.

General information, not legal, immigration or financial advice. Rules change. Confirm every requirement on the official page, and talk to a licensed adviser if your case is not simple. Disclaimer

Search is on its way

Data analyst salary in the UK: what official data says