Waiter Salary in London
Official ONS earnings for London, covering 25,000 jobs.
Median salary — London
£17,812
gross, per year, all employees
▲ 9.2% change on the previous year
Mean
£19,423
Jobs measured
25,000
What a typical waiter takes home
On the median of £17,812, 2026/27 tax year, England, Wales and Northern Ireland rates, no pension or student loan.
Take-home a month
£1,362
Take-home a year
£16,344
Income Tax
£1,048
National Insurance
£419
What most waiters actually earn
Half of waiters in London earn between £9,948 and £28,047. Earning above £28,047 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 “Other Elementary Services Occupations” group in London.
The full pay range
Each bar is the salary at that percentile — the 25th means a quarter of waiters earn less than this.
Where this figure comes from
- ONS occupation group
- Waiters and waitresses
- SOC 2020 code
- 9264
- Measure
- Gross annual pay, all employees
- Edition
- ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, 2026 provisional
ONS publishes a sampling error of 16.0% 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 London 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.
Waiter salary FAQs
What is the average Waiter salary in London?
The median is £17,812 a year and the mean is £19,423, 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 waiter earn per hour?
Across the UK the median hourly rate is £12.81 excluding overtime, or £13.37 for full-time employees. ASHE publishes hourly pay by occupation nationally only, so there is no separate rate for London.
What is a good Waiter salary?
Half of waiters earn between £9,948 and £28,047. Anything above £28,047 is in the top quarter for the role.
How much do the highest-paid waiters earn?
The top 10% of waiters earn more than £34,827 a year, and the top quarter more than £28,047. ASHE does not publish figures above the 90th percentile.
Do waiters in London earn more than the UK average?
The median in London is £17,812 against £11,412 across the UK, 56.1% higher. ONS marks the London figure as imprecise, so treat the gap as indicative.
Has waiter pay gone up in the last year?
ASHE puts the year-on-year change in the median at +9.2% for this occupation in London. That compares the latest survey with the one before it and is not adjusted for inflation.
How many waiters are there in London?
ASHE counts around 25,000 employee jobs in “Waiters and waitresses” (SOC 9264) in London. 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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