Chef Salary in Wales
Official ONS earnings for Wales.
Median salary — Wales
£25,625
gross, per year, all employees
Mean
£24,731
What a typical chef takes home
On the median of £25,625, 2026/27 tax year, England, Wales and Northern Ireland rates, no pension or student loan.
Take-home a month
£1,831
Take-home a year
£21,970
Income Tax
£2,611
National Insurance
£1,044
What most chefs actually earn
Half of chefs in Wales earn between £16,279 and £30,042. Earning above £30,042 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 Wales.
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 18.1% 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 Wales 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 Wales?
The median is £25,625 a year and the mean is £24,731, 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 Wales.
What is a good Chef salary?
Half of chefs earn between £16,279 and £30,042. Anything above £30,042 is in the top quarter for the role.
Do chefs in Wales earn more than the UK average?
The median in Wales is £25,625 against £26,531 across the UK, 3.4% lower. ONS marks the Wales figure as imprecise, so treat the gap as indicative.
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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