Chief Executive Salary
Official ONS earnings for the UK, covering 133,000 jobs.
Median salary
£89,835
gross, per year, all employees
Part-time work is common in this occupation, so the figure above sits 11.3% below the £99,944 median for people working full-time.
▲ 9.8% change on the previous year
Full-time only
£99,944
Mean
£141,016
Jobs measured
133,000
What most chief executives actually earn
Half of chief executives earn between £48,429 and £141,253. Earning above £141,253 puts you in the top quarter of the profession.
The full pay range
Each bar is the salary at that percentile — the 25th means a quarter of chief executives earn less than this.
Chief Executive salary by region
2 of 11 GB regions have a published figure for this occupation.
Where this figure comes from
- ONS occupation group
- Chief executives and senior officials
- SOC 2020 code
- 1111
- Measure
- Gross annual pay, all employees
- Edition
- ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, 2025 provisional
ONS doesn't measure “chief executive” as its own category. These figures are for the wider group “Chief executives and senior officials”, which includes this role alongside others. ONS group covers chief executives and senior officials across every sector.
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.
Chief Executive salary FAQs
What is the average Chief Executive salary in UK?
The median is £89,835 a year and the mean is £141,016, according to the ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings. Those cover all employees; full-time employees alone have a median of £99,944.
What is a good Chief Executive salary?
Half of chief executives earn between £48,429 and £141,253. Anything above £141,253 is in the top quarter for the role.
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, covering 133,000 jobs in this occupation.
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