COBOL Job Trends in the South East

COBOL
England > South East

The table below provides summary statistics and salary benchmarking for jobs advertised in the South East requiring COBOL skills. It covers permanent job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 27 November 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
27 Nov 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 266 - 258
Rank change year-on-year - - +187
Permanent jobs citing COBOL 3 0 12
As % of all permanent jobs in the South East 0.031% - 0.16%
As % of the Programming Languages category 0.18% - 0.41%
Number of salaries quoted 3 0 9
10th Percentile - - £42,400
25th Percentile - - £48,900
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 - £55,100
Median % change year-on-year - - -15.23%
75th Percentile - - £61,300
90th Percentile - - -
England median annual salary £67,500 £65,465 £61,000
% change year-on-year +3.11% +7.32% +2.48%

All Programming Languages
South East

COBOL falls under the Programming Languages category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all permanent job vacancies requiring coding skills in the South East.

Permanent vacancies with a requirement for coding skills 1,630 3,665 2,920
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the South East 17.11% 32.62% 39.38%
Number of salaries quoted 1,267 2,190 2,225
10th Percentile £32,500 £36,250 £35,000
25th Percentile £41,250 £45,000 £43,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £56,500 £59,313 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year -4.74% +7.84% -4.35%
75th Percentile £70,000 £75,000 £70,000
90th Percentile £83,750 £85,000 £82,500
England median annual salary £62,500 £65,000 £65,000
% change year-on-year -3.85% - -

COBOL
Job Vacancy Trend in the South East

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings citing COBOL relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised in the South East.

COBOL job vacancy trend in the South East

COBOL
Salary Trend in the South East

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the South East citing COBOL.

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the South East citing COBOL

COBOL
Job Locations in the South East

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing COBOL within the South East region over the 6 months to 27 November 2025. 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
Permanent
IT Job Ads
Median Salary
Past 6 Months
Median Salary
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
Buckinghamshire - 3 £60,000 - 1
Thames Valley - 3 £60,000 - 1
COBOL
England

COBOL
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the South East 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:

General
1 3 (100.00%) Finance
Job Titles
1 3 (100.00%) C Developer
1 3 (100.00%) C# Developer
1 3 (100.00%) COBOL Developer
1 3 (100.00%) Developer
1 3 (100.00%) Full-Stack C# Developer
1 3 (100.00%) Full-Stack Developer
Processes & Methodologies
1 3 (100.00%) Full-Stack Development
Programming Languages
1 3 (100.00%) C
1 3 (100.00%) C#