Python Contract Job Trends
Python
UK
The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs requiring Python skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 20 October 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.
| 6 months to 20 Oct 2026 |
Same period 2025 | Same period 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | 15 | 10 | 11 |
| Rank change year-on-year | -5 | +1 | +1 |
| Contract jobs citing Python | 5,739 | 4,493 | 4,139 |
| As % of all contract jobs in the UK | 10.42% | 13.54% | 11.17% |
| As % of the Programming Languages category | 39.36% | 41.61% | 34.84% |
| Number of daily rates quoted | 3,729 | 2,909 | 2,788 |
| 10th Percentile | £375 | £358 | £363 |
| 25th Percentile | £440 | £425 | £463 |
| Median daily rate (50th Percentile) | £538 | £525 | £575 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +2.38% | -8.70% | -0.86% |
| 75th Percentile | £650 | £638 | £700 |
| 90th Percentile | £750 | £750 | £838 |
| UK excluding London median daily rate | £500 | £500 | £508 |
| % change year-on-year | - | -1.48% | -3.33% |
| Number of hourly rates quoted | 126 | 84 | 97 |
| 10th Percentile | £35.63 | £28.78 | £20.12 |
| 25th Percentile | £44.50 | £36.00 | £27.00 |
| Median hourly rate | £60.81 | £50.00 | £60.00 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +21.62% | -16.67% | -4.76% |
| 75th Percentile | £77.50 | £62.50 | £70.00 |
| 90th Percentile | £91.06 | £82.75 | £75.00 |
| UK excluding London median hourly rate | £63.14 | £50.00 | £64.00 |
| % change year-on-year | +26.27% | -21.88% | +2.40% |
All Programming Languages
UK
Python 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.
| 6 months to 20 Oct 2026 |
Same period 2025 | Same period 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contract vacancies with a requirement for coding skills | 14,580 | 10,797 | 11,879 |
| As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK | 26.48% | 32.54% | 32.05% |
| Number of daily rates quoted | 9,493 | 7,051 | 7,737 |
| 10th Percentile | £363 | £343 | £350 |
| 25th Percentile | £425 | £413 | £425 |
| Median daily rate (50th Percentile) | £525 | £508 | £525 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +3.45% | -3.33% | -4.55% |
| 75th Percentile | £625 | £625 | £649 |
| 90th Percentile | £725 | £729 | £765 |
| UK excluding London median daily rate | £500 | £475 | £489 |
| % change year-on-year | +5.26% | -2.86% | -2.20% |
| Number of hourly rates quoted | 572 | 302 | 314 |
| 10th Percentile | £21.25 | £29.00 | £25.26 |
| 25th Percentile | £44.50 | £41.68 | £40.75 |
| Median hourly rate | £65.00 | £57.50 | £63.25 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +13.04% | -9.09% | +1.20% |
| 75th Percentile | £70.00 | £67.44 | £70.00 |
| 90th Percentile | £79.00 | £78.18 | £75.00 |
| UK excluding London median hourly rate | £65.00 | £65.00 | £65.00 |
Python Job Vacancy Trend
Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Python relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.
Python Daily Rate Trend
Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Python.
Python Daily Rate Histogram
Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Python over the 6 months to 20 October 2026.
Python Hourly Rate Trend
Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Python.
Python Hourly Rate Histogram
Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Python over the 6 months to 20 October 2026.
Python Top 17 Contract Job Locations
The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Python within the UK over the 6 months to 20 October 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| England | -5 | 4,869 | £550 | +4.76% | 7,496 |
| London | -5 | 2,902 | £575 | - | 4,407 |
| UK excluding London | -9 | 2,183 | £500 | - | 3,373 |
| Work from Home | -8 | 1,600 | £530 | -2.49% | 3,170 |
| North of England | -2 | 752 | £500 | +5.26% | 817 |
| South East | -11 | 439 | £550 | +10.00% | 746 |
| Yorkshire | -3 | 370 | £500 | - | 227 |
| Scotland | -1 | 321 | £467 | -6.60% | 360 |
| North West | -5 | 307 | £525 | +20.69% | 454 |
| South West | -5 | 275 | £550 | - | 410 |
| Midlands | -19 | 247 | £475 | -5.00% | 363 |
| West Midlands | -16 | 213 | £483 | -3.40% | 238 |
| East of England | -16 | 139 | £475 | -5.71% | 461 |
| North East | -5 | 84 | £425 | -14.14% | 138 |
| East Midlands | -18 | 34 | £438 | +6.71% | 125 |
| Wales | -8 | 31 | £530 | +17.78% | 87 |
| Northern Ireland | +4 | 21 | £463 | -21.28% | 152 |
Python Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities by Category
The table below expands on the one above by listing co-occurrences one category at a time. It covers the same employment type, locality and period, with up to 20 co-occurrences in each category.
Programming Languages
| Rank | Skill | Share | Job Ads |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | SQL | 32.6% | 1,873 |
| 2 | Bash | 14.1% | 807 |
| 3 | PowerShell | 13.5% | 772 |
| 4 | Java | 13.2% | 758 |
| 5 | JavaScript | 7.7% | 443 |
| 6 | TypeScript | 6.3% | 359 |
| 7 | C# | 5.5% | 314 |
| 8 | Go | 3.8% | 220 |
| 9 | Shell Script | 2.8% | 163 |
| 10 | Bicep | 2.6% | 151 |
| 11 | R | 2.3% | 132 |
| 12 | C++ | 2.2% | 125 |
| 13 | Scala | 1.9% | 107 |
| 14 | Perl | 1.8% | 105 |
| 15 | Data Analysis Expressions | 1.2% | 66 |
| 16 | Groovy | 1.0% | 59 |
| 17 | Rust | 0.9% | 50 |
| 18 | T-SQL | 0.8% | 48 |
| 19 | C | 0.8% | 47 |
| 19 | PL/SQL | 0.8% | 47 |