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Official ONS earnings · 124 occupations compared

East Midlands vs Wales

Typical pay is about 3% higher in Wales, but that headline hides a lot: East Midlands pays more for 63 of the 124 occupations measured in both.

East Midlands

£31,587

typical occupation median

Occupations measured
201
Highest paid
£76,175
Lowest paid
£4,030
Full East Midlands report

Wales

£32,489

typical occupation median

Occupations measured
167
Highest paid
£86,152
Lowest paid
£10,404
Full Wales report
ONS doesn't publish a single average wage per region, so the figures above are the midpoint of each region's published occupation medians. They describe the spread of jobs measured, not the average worker — a region with more high-paying occupations will look higher even if individual jobs pay the same.

Where East Midlands pays more

Biggest proportional gaps in East Midlands's favour.

Taxation experts

+41.6%

£49,293 in East Midlands · £34,817 in Wales

Water and sewerage plant operatives

+39%

£42,262 in East Midlands · £30,413 in Wales

Kitchen and catering assistants

+27.9%

£13,303 in East Midlands · £10,404 in Wales

Managers and directors in retail and wholesale

+26.6%

£37,012 in East Midlands · £29,230 in Wales

Engineering project managers and project engineers

+25%

£58,303 in East Midlands · £46,626 in Wales

Research and development (R&D) managers

+24.3%

£54,739 in East Midlands · £44,036 in Wales

Metal machining setters and setter-operators

+24.2%

£35,387 in East Midlands · £28,496 in Wales

Construction and building trades supervisors

+21.7%

£47,592 in East Midlands · £39,106 in Wales

Where Wales pays more

Biggest proportional gaps in Wales's favour.

Metal making and treating process operatives

+30.8%

£37,233 in Wales · £25,747 in East Midlands

Occupational therapists

+28%

£41,377 in Wales · £29,782 in East Midlands

Primary education teaching professionals

+23.4%

£46,291 in Wales · £35,470 in East Midlands

Head teachers and principals

+20.2%

£76,119 in Wales · £60,776 in East Midlands

Assemblers and routine operatives n.e.c.

+19.9%

£35,251 in Wales · £28,243 in East Midlands

Graphic and multimedia designers

+18.3%

£32,303 in Wales · £26,391 in East Midlands

Other administrative occupations n.e.c.

+17.6%

£24,482 in Wales · £20,178 in East Midlands

Bar and catering supervisors

+17.1%

£21,561 in Wales · £17,872 in East Midlands

Jobs that pay the same in both

Where location makes almost no difference to the median.

Occupation East Midlands Wales Gap
Warehouse operatives £25,664 £25,655 0%
IT business analysts, architects and systems designers £49,892 £49,827 +0.1%
Human resources and industrial relations officers £32,889 £32,820 +0.2%
Chartered surveyors £38,033 £38,098 -0.2%
Construction operatives n.e.c. £29,684 £29,591 +0.3%

Source: Office for National Statistics, Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, 2025 provisional), Table 15. Comparison covers the 124 four-digit SOC 2020 occupations with a published median in both regions. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.