How much do you want to take home? Enter monthly or annual net pay below.
Most salary calculators start with gross and work down to net. This one does the opposite. You tell it what you want to take home each month, and it works backwards through the tax and NI bands to find the gross salary that produces that net figure.
It uses binary search (trying progressively closer gross figures) because the tax system isn't a simple formula you can reverse in one step. The Personal Allowance taper between £100K and £125K makes it non-linear, so the calculator iterates until it finds the right answer within £1 accuracy.
| Monthly take-home | Annual take-home | Gross salary needed |
|---|---|---|
| £1,500 | £18,000 | ~£20,700 |
| £2,000 | £24,000 | ~£28,900 |
| £2,500 | £30,000 | ~£37,100 |
| £3,000 | £36,000 | ~£45,800 |
| £3,500 | £42,000 | ~£55,200 |
| £4,000 | £48,000 | ~£65,400 |
| £5,000 | £60,000 | ~£88,500 |
These assume no student loan and no pension. A Plan 2 student loan adds roughly £2,000-£4,000 to the required gross depending on the salary level (since you need to earn more to cover the 9% repayment and still hit your target net).
Job negotiations are the obvious one. If you know you need £2,800/month to cover rent, bills, and savings, you can work out that you need a minimum gross of roughly £42,500. No point accepting a role paying £38K if the maths doesn't work for your budget.
It's also helpful when comparing roles with different pension arrangements. A job offering £50K with 5% salary sacrifice pension and a job offering £47K with no pension might give you very different net pay. Plug your target into both scenarios to compare properly.
And if you're self-employed setting your day rate, knowing you need £3,500/month net tells you what annual revenue you need to target before expenses.
Once you've found your required gross, use our main salary calculator to see the full breakdown with student loans, pension, and Scottish rates factored in. Or check how much you could borrow for a mortgage on that salary.