Programmer Job Trends

Programmer
UK

The median Programmer salary in the UK is £45,000 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 20 December 2025.

The table below compares current salary benchmarking and summary statistics with the previous two years.

6 months to
20 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 475 518 508
Rank change year-on-year +43 -10 +62
Permanent jobs requiring a Programmer 182 203 200
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.31% 0.36% 0.41%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.34% 0.38% 0.43%
Number of salaries quoted 135 111 129
10th Percentile £35,000 £35,000 £23,108
25th Percentile £40,000 £36,250 £24,400
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £45,000 £40,000 £26,000
Median % change year-on-year +12.50% +53.85% -52.73%
75th Percentile £50,000 £47,000 £43,750
90th Percentile £65,000 £55,000 £66,778
UK excluding London median annual salary £45,000 £40,000 £29,994
% change year-on-year +12.50% +33.36% -40.01%

All Permanent IT Job Vacancies
UK

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all permanent IT job vacancies. Most job vacancies include a discernible job title that can be normalized. As such, the figures in the second row provide an indication of the number of permanent jobs in our overall sample.

Permanent vacancies in the UK with a recognized job title 53,277 52,813 46,358
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 90.30% 93.52% 95.24%
Number of salaries quoted 32,837 28,309 35,975
10th Percentile £28,500 £33,000 £31,250
25th Percentile £36,250 £43,750 £42,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £60,000 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year -8.33% - -
75th Percentile £75,000 £77,750 £80,000
90th Percentile £93,750 £97,500 £97,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £48,979 £52,500 £52,500
% change year-on-year -6.71% - -

Programmer
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings featuring 'Programmer' in the job title relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised.

Programmer job vacancy trend in the UK

Programmer
Salary Trend

Salary distribution trend for Programmer job vacancies in the UK.

Salary distribution trend for Programmer job vacancies in the UK

Programmer
Salary Histogram

Salary distribution for jobs citing Programmer over the 6 months to 20 December 2025.

Salary histogram for Programmer in the UK

Programmer
Top 17 Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing Programmer within the UK over the 6 months to 20 December 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
UK excluding London +80 169 £45,000 +12.50% 51
England +59 163 £45,000 +12.50% 53
Midlands +30 44 £45,000 +25.00% 13
South East +49 34 £50,000 -9.09% 12
East of England +44 34 £45,000 - 5
West Midlands +48 33 £45,000 +12.50% 13
North of England +11 32 £45,000 +12.50% 24
North West +29 25 £45,000 +12.50% 12
South West +3 12 £40,000 - 1
East Midlands -10 11 £55,000 +57.14%
Work from Home +39 10 £55,000 +2.33% 14
Wales +6 9 £40,000 -
London +15 7 £115,000 +155.56% 2
Yorkshire -6 4 £30,000 -40.00% 8
North East +10 3 £30,000 -45.45% 4
Scotland 0 2 £57,500 +105.36%
Northern Ireland - 2 £28,000 -

Programmer Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities

For the 6 months to 20 December 2025, Programmer job roles required the following skills and capabilities in order of popularity. The figures indicate the absolute number of co-occurrences and as a proportion of all permanent job ads featuring Programmer in the job title.

1 24 (13.19%) CAD
2 8 (4.40%) Mentoring
3 6 (3.30%) Biometrics
3 6 (3.30%) Fusion 360
3 6 (3.30%) Software Engineering
4 4 (2.20%) Agile
4 4 (2.20%) Computer Science
4 4 (2.20%) Continuous Improvement
4 4 (2.20%) Degree
4 4 (2.20%) DevOps
4 4 (2.20%) F#
4 4 (2.20%) Functional Programming
4 4 (2.20%) Haskell
4 4 (2.20%) Kubernetes
4 4 (2.20%) Linux
4 4 (2.20%) Master's Degree
4 4 (2.20%) Mathematics
4 4 (2.20%) OCaml
4 4 (2.20%) OpenShift
4 4 (2.20%) Pair Programming
4 4 (2.20%) Performance Management
4 4 (2.20%) PhD
4 4 (2.20%) Physics
4 4 (2.20%) Risk Management
4 4 (2.20%) Scala
5 3 (1.65%) Computacenter
5 3 (1.65%) Process Improvement
6 2 (1.10%) Digital Innovation
6 2 (1.10%) Power Management
7 1 (0.55%) ALPHACAM

Programmer Skill Set
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities 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:

Applications
1 6 (3.30%) Fusion 360
2 1 (0.55%) ALPHACAM
Cloud Services
1 4 (2.20%) OpenShift
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (0.55%) UniData
General
1 29 (15.93%) Aerospace
2 27 (14.84%) Manufacturing
3 23 (12.64%) Automotive
4 9 (4.95%) Agriculture
5 5 (2.75%) Pharmaceutical
6 4 (2.20%) Finance
7 3 (1.65%) Electronics
7 3 (1.65%) Military
7 3 (1.65%) Public Sector
7 3 (1.65%) Telecoms
8 2 (1.10%) Games
8 2 (1.10%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 1 (0.55%) Retail
Miscellaneous
1 4 (2.20%) Derivative
1 4 (2.20%) e-Learning
1 4 (2.20%) Robotics
2 1 (0.55%) AS400
2 1 (0.55%) iSeries
Operating Systems
1 4 (2.20%) Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 24 (13.19%) CAD
2 8 (4.40%) Mentoring
3 6 (3.30%) Biometrics
3 6 (3.30%) Software Engineering
4 4 (2.20%) Agile
4 4 (2.20%) Computer Science
4 4 (2.20%) Continuous Improvement
4 4 (2.20%) DevOps
4 4 (2.20%) Functional Programming
4 4 (2.20%) Mathematics
4 4 (2.20%) Pair Programming
4 4 (2.20%) Performance Management
4 4 (2.20%) Physics
4 4 (2.20%) Risk Management
5 3 (1.65%) Process Improvement
6 2 (1.10%) Digital Innovation
6 2 (1.10%) Power Management
7 1 (0.55%) Customer Requirements
7 1 (0.55%) Statistical Analysis
Programming Languages
1 4 (2.20%) F#
1 4 (2.20%) Haskell
1 4 (2.20%) OCaml
1 4 (2.20%) Scala
2 1 (0.55%) RPG
2 1 (0.55%) SQL
Qualifications
1 4 (2.20%) Degree
1 4 (2.20%) Master's Degree
1 4 (2.20%) PhD
Systems Management
1 4 (2.20%) Kubernetes
Vendors
1 3 (1.65%) Computacenter
2 1 (0.55%) Rockwell