R Contract Job Trends
R
UK
The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs requiring R skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 22 October 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.
| 6 months to 22 Oct 2026 |
Same period 2025 | Same period 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | 551 | 399 | 332 |
| Rank change year-on-year | -152 | -67 | +83 |
| Contract jobs citing R | 151 | 168 | 242 |
| As % of all contract jobs in the UK | 0.27% | 0.50% | 0.65% |
| As % of the Programming Languages category | 1.03% | 1.54% | 2.02% |
| Number of daily rates quoted | 91 | 95 | 132 |
| 10th Percentile | £259 | £311 | £297 |
| 25th Percentile | £406 | £413 | £341 |
| Median daily rate (50th Percentile) | £525 | £500 | £470 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +5.00% | +6.38% | -10.48% |
| 75th Percentile | £613 | £600 | £600 |
| 90th Percentile | £660 | £688 | £661 |
| UK excluding London median daily rate | £450 | £505 | £463 |
| % change year-on-year | -10.84% | +9.19% | -11.90% |
| Number of hourly rates quoted | 4 | 6 | 17 |
| 10th Percentile | £28.97 | £24.55 | £20.07 |
| 25th Percentile | £36.05 | £27.19 | £20.12 |
| Median hourly rate | £48.21 | £31.25 | £21.50 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +54.26% | +45.35% | -52.22% |
| 75th Percentile | £58.38 | £37.50 | £23.75 |
| 90th Percentile | £65.35 | £51.25 | £50.75 |
| UK excluding London median hourly rate | £53.00 | £30.00 | £20.24 |
| % change year-on-year | +76.67% | +48.26% | -59.53% |
All Programming Languages
UK
R 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 22 Oct 2026 |
Same period 2025 | Same period 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contract vacancies with a requirement for coding skills | 14,616 | 10,925 | 11,969 |
| As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK | 26.51% | 32.62% | 32.12% |
| Number of daily rates quoted | 9,518 | 7,155 | 7,801 |
| 10th Percentile | £363 | £344 | £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 | £623 | £650 |
| 90th Percentile | £725 | £725 | £763 |
| UK excluding London median daily rate | £500 | £475 | £490 |
| % change year-on-year | +5.26% | -3.06% | -2.00% |
| Number of hourly rates quoted | 575 | 303 | 315 |
| 10th Percentile | £21.25 | £29.00 | £25.26 |
| 25th Percentile | £44.50 | £41.42 | £40.75 |
| Median hourly rate | £65.00 | £57.50 | £62.50 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +13.04% | -8.00% | - |
| 75th Percentile | £70.00 | £67.25 | £70.00 |
| 90th Percentile | £83.15 | £78.10 | £75.00 |
| UK excluding London median hourly rate | £65.00 | £65.00 | £65.00 |
R Job Vacancy Trend
Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing R relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.
R Daily Rate Trend
Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing R.
R Daily Rate Histogram
Daily rate distribution for jobs citing R over the 6 months to 22 October 2026.
R Hourly Rate Trend
Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing R.
R Hourly Rate Histogram
Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing R over the 6 months to 22 October 2026.
R Top 15 Contract Job Locations
The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing R within the UK over the 6 months to 22 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 | -135 | 127 | £500 | - | 384 |
| London | -82 | 88 | £525 | +1.35% | 202 |
| Work from Home | -86 | 49 | £575 | +5.89% | 157 |
| UK excluding London | -127 | 46 | £450 | -10.84% | 194 |
| South East | -69 | 13 | £500 | -4.76% | 43 |
| Midlands | -44 | 8 | £450 | -18.18% | 36 |
| Scotland | -23 | 6 | £194 | -64.66% | 9 |
| South West | -29 | 6 | £475 | -41.09% | 16 |
| East of England | -33 | 6 | £413 | -28.26% | 20 |
| West Midlands | -38 | 5 | £451 | -21.65% | 25 |
| Wales | -12 | 3 | £401 | +6.64% | 4 |
| East Midlands | -15 | 3 | £252 | - | 11 |
| North West | -55 | 2 | £525 | +94.44% | 36 |
| North of England | -74 | 2 | £525 | +31.25% | 58 |
| Northern Ireland | - | 2 | £363 | - | 13 |
R 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 | Python | 84.1% | 127 |
| 2 | SQL | 49.7% | 75 |
| 3 | Java | 6.6% | 10 |
| 4 | C++ | 6.0% | 9 |
| 5 | JavaScript | 3.3% | 5 |
| 6 | Scala | 2.6% | 4 |
| 7 | C# | 2.0% | 3 |
| 7 | Data Analysis Expressions | 2.0% | 3 |
| 9 | Bash | 1.3% | 2 |
| 9 | Cypher | 1.3% | 2 |
| 9 | PowerShell | 1.3% | 2 |
| 9 | SHACL | 1.3% | 2 |
| 9 | TypeScript | 1.3% | 2 |
| 14 | C | 0.7% | 1 |
| 14 | Embedded C | 0.7% | 1 |
| 14 | MATLAB | 0.7% | 1 |
| 14 | Shell Script | 0.7% | 1 |
| 14 | T-SQL | 0.7% | 1 |
| 14 | VB | 0.7% | 1 |
| 14 | VBA | 0.7% | 1 |