Chef Salary in East
Official ONS earnings for East, covering 10,000 jobs.
Median salary — East
£24,083
gross, per year, all employees
▼ 7.7% change on the previous year
Mean
£24,909
Jobs measured
10,000
What a typical chef takes home
On the median of £24,083, 2026/27 tax year, England, Wales and Northern Ireland rates, no pension or student loan.
Take-home a month
£1,738
Take-home a year
£20,859
Income Tax
£2,303
National Insurance
£921
What most chefs actually earn
Half of chefs in East earn between £17,072 and £31,321. Earning above £31,321 puts you in the top quarter of the profession.
ONS suppresses the detailed spread for this occupation at regional level, so this range describes the wider “Food Preparation and Hospitality Trades” group in East.
The full pay range
Each bar is the salary at that percentile — the 25th means a quarter of chefs earn less than this.
Where this figure comes from
- ONS occupation group
- Chefs
- SOC 2020 code
- 5434
- Measure
- Gross annual pay, all employees
- Edition
- ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, 2025 provisional
ONS publishes a sampling error of 17.9% for this figure and asks that anything above 10% is treated as imprecise — too few people in this region answered the survey for this occupation. The figure is shown because it is the one ONS published, but it is not firm enough to rank East against anywhere else, so this page doesn't.
Source: Office for National Statistics, Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Figures are estimates from a survey of PAYE jobs and are not financial advice.
Chef salary FAQs
What is the average Chef salary in East?
The median is £24,083 a year and the mean is £24,909, according to the ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings. Those cover all employees; ASHE publishes no full-time split at regional level.
How much does a chef earn per hour?
Across the UK the median hourly rate is £14.00 excluding overtime, or £14.67 for full-time employees. ASHE publishes hourly pay by occupation nationally only, so there is no separate rate for East.
What is a good Chef salary?
Half of chefs earn between £17,072 and £31,321. Anything above £31,321 is in the top quarter for the role.
Do chefs in East earn more than the UK average?
The median in East is £24,083 against £26,531 across the UK, 9.2% lower. ONS marks the East figure as imprecise, so treat the gap as indicative.
Has chef pay gone up in the last year?
ASHE puts the year-on-year change in the median at -7.7% for this occupation in East. That compares the latest survey with the one before it and is not adjusted for inflation.
How many chefs are there in East?
ASHE counts around 10,000 employee jobs in “Chefs” (SOC 5434) in East. Self-employed work is not included.
Is this figure official?
Yes. It comes from the ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, an accredited official statistic based on employer PAYE records.
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