SQL Contract Job Trends in the North of England

SQL (Structured Query Language)
England > North of England

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in the North of England requiring SQL skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 25 August 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
25 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 21 20 15
Rank change year-on-year -1 -5 0
Contract jobs citing SQL 582 338 363
As % of all contract jobs in the North of England 7.74% 8.44% 8.62%
As % of the Programming Languages category 31.54% 30.10% 34.97%
Number of daily rates quoted 344 246 248
10th Percentile £321 £313 £343
25th Percentile £406 £387 £406
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £472 £465 £475
Median % change year-on-year +1.51% -2.11% -4.28%
75th Percentile £538 £538 £550
90th Percentile £603 £599 £610
England median daily rate £500 £500 £538
% change year-on-year - -6.98% -0.46%
Number of hourly rates quoted 28 4 4
10th Percentile £23.53 £25.50 £32.68
25th Percentile £29.60 £29.52 £34.81
Median hourly rate £43.15 £34.56 £38.00
Median % change year-on-year +24.87% -9.07% -5.00%
75th Percentile £70.38 £45.13 £42.50
90th Percentile £76.30 £61.55 -
England median hourly rate £43.75 £47.25 £42.00
% change year-on-year -7.41% +12.50% -8.46%

All Programming Languages
North of England

SQL falls under the Programming Languages category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring coding skills in the North of England.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for coding skills 1,845 1,123 1,038
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North of England 24.53% 28.05% 24.65%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,182 801 718
10th Percentile £350 £315 £336
25th Percentile £413 £378 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £490 £465 £489
Median % change year-on-year +5.27% -4.91% -2.20%
75th Percentile £575 £538 £575
90th Percentile £650 £600 £639
England median daily rate £525 £515 £550
% change year-on-year +1.94% -6.36% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 84 13 30
10th Percentile £28.50 £30.35 £37.35
25th Percentile £46.66 £36.00 £39.71
Median hourly rate £68.25 £66.50 £51.88
Median % change year-on-year +2.63% +28.19% +12.33%
75th Percentile £70.38 £84.50 £67.50
90th Percentile £77.00 £93.75 £84.45
England median hourly rate £65.00 £55.00 £65.00
% change year-on-year +18.18% -15.38% +3.59%

SQL
Job Vacancy Trend in the North of England

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing SQL relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the North of England.

SQL job vacancy trend in the North of England

SQL
Daily Rate Trend in the North of England

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the North of England citing SQL.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the North of England citing SQL

SQL
Daily Rate Histogram in the North of England

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing SQL in the North of England over the 6 months to 25 August 2026.

Daily rate histogram for SQL in the North of England

SQL
Hourly Rate Trend in the North of England

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the North of England citing SQL.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the North of England citing SQL

SQL
Hourly Rate Histogram in the North of England

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing SQL in the North of England over the 6 months to 25 August 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for SQL in the North of England

SQL
Contract Job Locations in the North of England

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing SQL within the North of England region over the 6 months to 25 August 2026. The 'Rank Change' column provides an indication of the change in demand within each location based on the same 6 month period last year.

Location Rank Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Matching
Contract
IT Job Ads
Median
Daily Rate
Past 6 Months
Median Daily Rate
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
North West -1 295 £478 +2.36% 232
Yorkshire 0 247 £475 +1.33% 108
North East -17 49 £413 -11.29% 70
SQL
England

SQL
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the North of England by Category

The following tables expand on the one above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. They cover the same employment type, locality and period, with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each category:

Application Platforms
1 43 (7.39%) Confluence
2 21 (3.61%) Apache
2 21 (3.61%) Apache Spark
3 19 (3.26%) Apache Airflow
4 10 (1.72%) SharePoint
5 9 (1.55%) Jupyter
5 9 (1.55%) SAS
6 5 (0.86%) Oracle Workflow
6 5 (0.86%) WebSphere
7 4 (0.69%) Camunda
7 4 (0.69%) Palantir Foundry
8 3 (0.52%) Apache Geronimo
8 3 (0.52%) Apache ServiceMix
8 3 (0.52%) Red Hat Fuse
8 3 (0.52%) Tomcat
9 2 (0.34%) CMS
9 2 (0.34%) IIS
9 2 (0.34%) WordPress
10 1 (0.17%) Mule
10 1 (0.17%) nginx
Applications
1 36 (6.19%) Microsoft Excel
2 4 (0.69%) Microsoft Office
2 4 (0.69%) MS Visio
3 2 (0.34%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 11 (1.89%) Oracle EBS
2 8 (1.37%) SAP S/4HANA
3 5 (0.86%) Infor LN
3 5 (0.86%) Oracle Payables
4 3 (0.52%) Elite 3E
4 3 (0.52%) NetSuite
4 3 (0.52%) Remedy ITSM
5 2 (0.34%) Dynamics CRM
5 2 (0.34%) Oracle Cash Management
5 2 (0.34%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
5 2 (0.34%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
5 2 (0.34%) Payment Gateway
6 1 (0.17%) FIS Private Capital Suite
6 1 (0.17%) Oracle Applications
6 1 (0.17%) Sage 200
6 1 (0.17%) Salesforce CRM
6 1 (0.17%) SAP CRM
Cloud Services
1 161 (27.66%) Azure
2 123 (21.13%) AWS
3 112 (19.24%) Power Platform
4 48 (8.25%) GitHub
5 46 (7.90%) GCP
6 36 (6.19%) Azure DevOps
6 36 (6.19%) Serverless
7 31 (5.33%) Azure Data Factory
8 24 (4.12%) Snowflake
9 22 (3.78%) Azure Synapse Analytics
10 20 (3.44%) AWS Lambda
11 18 (3.09%) Amazon S3
12 17 (2.92%) dbt
12 17 (2.92%) SaaS
13 16 (2.75%) GitHub Actions
14 15 (2.58%) Power Automate
15 14 (2.41%) Google Analytics
15 14 (2.41%) Google Kubernetes Engine
15 14 (2.41%) PowerApps
16 13 (2.23%) OpenShift
Communications & Networking
1 12 (2.06%) DNS
2 11 (1.89%) Network Security
2 11 (1.89%) SSL
3 9 (1.55%) Firewall
4 6 (1.03%) 3GPP
4 6 (1.03%) RTP
4 6 (1.03%) Wireshark
5 5 (0.86%) DHCP
6 4 (0.69%) BGP
6 4 (0.69%) HTTP
6 4 (0.69%) LAN
6 4 (0.69%) Reverse Proxy
7 3 (0.52%) Internet
7 3 (0.52%) Kerberos
8 2 (0.34%) TCP/IP
8 2 (0.34%) VLAN
8 2 (0.34%) VoIP
8 2 (0.34%) VPN
8 2 (0.34%) WAN
8 2 (0.34%) Wi-Fi
Database & Business Intelligence
1 133 (22.85%) SQL Server
2 103 (17.70%) Power BI
3 85 (14.60%) Data Warehouse
4 43 (7.39%) PostgreSQL
5 35 (6.01%) Relational Database
6 34 (5.84%) NoSQL
6 34 (5.84%) SQL Server Integration Services
7 31 (5.33%) Tableau
8 30 (5.15%) Metadata
9 29 (4.98%) Oracle Database
10 26 (4.47%) Data Lake
10 26 (4.47%) MySQL
11 22 (3.78%) MongoDB
11 22 (3.78%) SQL Server Reporting Services
12 19 (3.26%) Azure SQL Database
12 19 (3.26%) Looker
13 18 (3.09%) Amazon Redshift
14 17 (2.92%) BigQuery
15 13 (2.23%) Amazon Athena
15 13 (2.23%) DynamoDB
Development Applications
1 70 (12.03%) Git
2 54 (9.28%) Jenkins
3 42 (7.22%) JIRA
4 38 (6.53%) GitLab
5 15 (2.58%) Gradle
6 11 (1.89%) Bitbucket
6 11 (1.89%) JUnit
6 11 (1.89%) Sonatype Nexus
7 10 (1.72%) Maven
8 9 (1.55%) Mockito
9 7 (1.20%) Flyway
9 7 (1.20%) Postman
9 7 (1.20%) Selenium
9 7 (1.20%) Team Foundation Server
10 6 (1.03%) Claude Code
10 6 (1.03%) Oracle Forms
10 6 (1.03%) REST Assured
10 6 (1.03%) TeamCity
11 5 (0.86%) Cucumber
11 5 (0.86%) Toad
General
1 171 (29.38%) Social Skills
2 108 (18.56%) Finance
3 107 (18.38%) Analytical Skills
4 68 (11.68%) Public Sector
5 44 (7.56%) Banking
6 20 (3.44%) Manufacturing
7 15 (2.58%) Retail
8 14 (2.41%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 9 (1.55%) Legal
10 8 (1.37%) Marketing
10 8 (1.37%) Organisational Skills
11 7 (1.20%) Games
11 7 (1.20%) Law
12 6 (1.03%) Documentation Skills
12 6 (1.03%) Influencing Skills
13 5 (0.86%) Aviation
13 5 (0.86%) Fire and Rescue
13 5 (0.86%) Investment Banking
13 5 (0.86%) Police
13 5 (0.86%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 132 (22.68%) Developer
2 85 (14.60%) Analyst
3 71 (12.20%) Data Engineer
4 66 (11.34%) Senior
5 64 (11.00%) DBA
6 51 (8.76%) Lead
7 38 (6.53%) SQL DBA
8 31 (5.33%) Consultant
8 31 (5.33%) Data Analyst
9 25 (4.30%) Java Developer
9 25 (4.30%) Oracle DBA
10 24 (4.12%) Senior Developer
11 23 (3.95%) Administrator
11 23 (3.95%) Software Engineer
11 23 (3.95%) SQL Developer
12 22 (3.78%) Senior Data Engineer
13 21 (3.61%) Architect
14 18 (3.09%) Software Developer
15 15 (2.58%) Performance Analyst
16 14 (2.41%) Business Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 55 (9.45%) Terraform
2 50 (8.59%) Kafka
3 48 (8.25%) REST
4 42 (7.22%) Spring Boot
5 39 (6.70%) PySpark
5 39 (6.70%) Spring
6 38 (6.53%) .NET
7 28 (4.81%) HTML
8 24 (4.12%) RESTful
8 24 (4.12%) XML
9 22 (3.78%) React
10 21 (3.61%) JSON
11 20 (3.44%) CSS
12 17 (2.92%) Web Services
13 15 (2.58%) AngularJS
14 14 (2.41%) .NET Core
15 13 (2.23%) Hibernate
16 12 (2.06%) JPA
16 12 (2.06%) Redux
17 10 (1.72%) RabbitMQ
Miscellaneous
1 45 (7.73%) Data Structures
2 34 (5.84%) Cloud Native
3 26 (4.47%) Product Ownership
4 23 (3.95%) Data Protection Act
5 22 (3.78%) Replication
6 17 (2.92%) Enterprise Software
6 17 (2.92%) NHS
7 16 (2.75%) Distributed Systems
8 15 (2.58%) Legacy Systems
9 14 (2.41%) Clustering
10 13 (2.23%) Self-Motivation
11 12 (2.06%) AI Agents
12 11 (1.89%) Onboarding
13 8 (1.37%) Algorithms
14 7 (1.20%) Low-Code
14 7 (1.20%) Robotics
15 6 (1.03%) Virtual Team
16 5 (0.86%) Distributed Computing
17 4 (0.69%) Analytical Mindset
17 4 (0.69%) Sports Betting
Operating Systems
1 40 (6.87%) Linux
2 25 (4.30%) Windows
3 17 (2.92%) Unix
3 17 (2.92%) Windows Server
4 8 (1.37%) Solaris
5 6 (1.03%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 3 (0.52%) Oracle Linux
6 3 (0.52%) Windows Server 2012
7 2 (0.34%) AIX
7 2 (0.34%) Ubuntu
7 2 (0.34%) Windows 10
8 1 (0.17%) VMS
8 1 (0.17%) Windows Server 2008
8 1 (0.17%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 154 (26.46%) CI/CD
2 150 (25.77%) Agile
3 145 (24.91%) Analytics
4 134 (23.02%) Data Modelling
5 133 (22.85%) Business Intelligence
6 121 (20.79%) ETL
7 108 (18.56%) DevOps
8 105 (18.04%) Data Pipeline
9 103 (17.70%) Problem-Solving
10 92 (15.81%) Migration
11 82 (14.09%) Validation
12 76 (13.06%) AI
13 74 (12.71%) Data Engineering
14 73 (12.54%) Performance Tuning
15 68 (11.68%) Data Analysis
16 67 (11.51%) Stakeholder Management
17 63 (10.82%) Microservices
17 63 (10.82%) Test Automation
18 61 (10.48%) Infrastructure as Code
19 55 (9.45%) Data Governance
Programming Languages
1 166 (28.52%) Python
2 87 (14.95%) Java
3 49 (8.42%) T-SQL
4 48 (8.25%) PowerShell
5 41 (7.04%) C#
6 35 (6.01%) JavaScript
7 31 (5.33%) PL/SQL
8 17 (2.92%) Bash
9 16 (2.75%) TypeScript
10 15 (2.58%) Data Analysis Expressions
11 12 (2.06%) Kotlin
11 12 (2.06%) Shell Script
12 9 (1.55%) R
12 9 (1.55%) Scala
13 8 (1.37%) Kusto Query Language
14 5 (0.86%) Search Processing Language
15 4 (0.69%) Bicep
15 4 (0.69%) VB
16 3 (0.52%) VB6
17 2 (0.34%) Perl
Qualifications
1 95 (16.32%) Security Cleared
2 83 (14.26%) SC Cleared
3 47 (8.08%) Degree
4 20 (3.44%) BPSS Clearance
5 19 (3.26%) Computer Science Degree
6 14 (2.41%) Microsoft Certification
7 8 (1.37%) Azure Certification
8 7 (1.20%) DV Cleared
9 6 (1.03%) CISSP
10 5 (0.86%) GCFA
10 5 (0.86%) GCIH
10 5 (0.86%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
11 4 (0.69%) Oracle Certification
12 3 (0.52%) OCP
13 2 (0.34%) AWS Certification
13 2 (0.34%) ITIL Certification
14 1 (0.17%) AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
14 1 (0.17%) DBS Check
14 1 (0.17%) Master's Degree
14 1 (0.17%) Numerate Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 123 (21.13%) Data Quality
2 34 (5.84%) QA
3 24 (4.12%) GDPR
4 10 (1.72%) Sarbanes-Oxley
5 6 (1.03%) GRC
6 5 (0.86%) PCI DSS
7 4 (0.69%) SLA
8 3 (0.52%) Accessibility
8 3 (0.52%) PMO
9 2 (0.34%) Actionable Recommendations
9 2 (0.34%) ISO 20022
9 2 (0.34%) MiFID
9 2 (0.34%) NIST
9 2 (0.34%) Solvency II
9 2 (0.34%) WCAG
10 1 (0.17%) California Consumer Privacy Act
10 1 (0.17%) HIPAA
10 1 (0.17%) ISO/IEC 27001
System Software
1 73 (12.54%) Docker
2 22 (3.78%) Active Directory
3 16 (2.75%) Oracle RAC
4 7 (1.20%) Virtual Machines
5 4 (0.69%) Hyper-V
5 4 (0.69%) KVM
5 4 (0.69%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 49 (8.42%) Kubernetes
2 36 (6.19%) Ansible
3 16 (2.75%) Data Guard
3 16 (2.75%) Oracle RMAN
4 14 (2.41%) Grafana
5 13 (2.23%) Prometheus
6 11 (1.89%) Control-M
7 7 (1.20%) SCOM
8 5 (0.86%) Argo
8 5 (0.86%) CASB
8 5 (0.86%) Progress Chef
9 2 (0.34%) AirWatch
9 2 (0.34%) Consul
9 2 (0.34%) Enterprise Manager Cloud Control
9 2 (0.34%) Failover Clustering
9 2 (0.34%) Foglight
9 2 (0.34%) Nagios
9 2 (0.34%) Oracle Enterprise Manager
9 2 (0.34%) SCCM
9 2 (0.34%) Zipkin
Vendors
1 126 (21.65%) Microsoft
2 88 (15.12%) Oracle
3 56 (9.62%) Databricks
4 28 (4.81%) Google
5 25 (4.30%) SAP
6 22 (3.78%) ServiceNow
6 22 (3.78%) Splunk
7 12 (2.06%) Alteryx
8 10 (1.72%) IBM
9 9 (1.55%) Teradata
10 8 (1.37%) UiPath
11 7 (1.20%) CyberArk
11 7 (1.20%) Informatica
11 7 (1.20%) OpenAI
12 6 (1.03%) Centrify
12 6 (1.03%) Sybase
13 5 (0.86%) Adobe
13 5 (0.86%) Remedy
13 5 (0.86%) Salesforce
13 5 (0.86%) SYSPRO