Managers and directors in retail and wholesale salary in the UK
The median full-time salary for managers and directors in retail and wholesale in the UK is £38,447 (ONS, 2025). After tax and National Insurance at 2026/27 rates that is about £2,600 a month.
Pay range for managers and directors in retail and wholesale
This is the ONS occupation group "Managers and directors in retail and wholesale" (SOC 2020 code 1150). ONS figures for 2025 show that one in ten earn less than £25,597, a quarter earn less than £30,000, half earn less than £38,447, a quarter earn more than £52,498 and one in ten earn more than £75,791.
| Point in the pay range | Gross a year | Gross a month | Take-home a year | Take-home a month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10th percentile | £25,597 | £2,133 | £21,949 | £1,829 |
| 25th percentile | £30,000 | £2,500 | £25,120 | £2,093 |
| Median (50th percentile) | £38,447 | £3,204 | £31,201 | £2,600 |
| 75th percentile | £52,498 | £4,375 | £41,006 | £3,417 |
| 90th percentile | £75,791 | £6,316 | £54,516 | £4,543 |
Take-home at England, Wales and Northern Ireland rates. ONS rates the median for managers and directors in retail and wholesale as precise: its sampling error (coefficient of variation) is 2.3%. ONS estimates about 295,000 full-time employee jobs in this occupation. ONS says job counts like this are indicative only.
Where managers and directors in retail and wholesale rank
The median for managers and directors in retail and wholesale ranks joint 145th of 362 occupations on this site, in the upper half, and 23rd of 31 in managers, directors and senior officials. It is £592 (1.5%) lower than the UK median of £39,039 for all full-time employee jobs. ONS change on the previous year: the median for managers and directors in retail and wholesale rose 5.2%, more than the 4.3% rise in the UK median for all full-time jobs.
Jobs with the nearest medians: Road construction operatives (£38,833), Office managers (£38,630), Data analysts (£38,572), Nannies and au pairs (£38,447), Mining and quarry workers and related operatives (£38,301) and Managers and proprietors in agriculture and horticulture (£38,182).
How spread out pay is
The 90th percentile (£75,791) is 3.0 times the 10th (£25,597). That is a narrower spread than for all UK full-time jobs, where it is 3.2 times. The middle half of full-time managers and directors in retail and wholesale earn between £30,000 and £52,498, a gap of £22,498, or 58.5% of the median. That is £2,249 narrower than the £24,747 gap for all UK jobs, and the 46th widest of the 223 jobs where ONS published both figures, one of the wider middle ranges.
The mean for managers and directors in retail and wholesale (total pay divided by the number of employees) is £47,631, which is £9,184 (23.9%) higher than the median. When the mean is above the median, a smaller number of higher salaries are pulling the average up. For all UK full-time jobs the mean is 24.3% above the median, so the gap for managers and directors in retail and wholesale is smaller.
Managers and directors in retail and wholesale and related jobs
Among these 4 jobs in the same or nearby ONS occupation groups, this one has the lowest median. The highest median among them is £83,447 (directors in logistics, warehousing and transport) and the lowest £38,447 (managers and directors in retail and wholesale).
| Job | SOC code | Median salary | Take-home a month |
|---|---|---|---|
| Directors in logistics, warehousing and transport | 1140 | £83,447 | £4,913 |
| Functional managers and directors n.e.c. | 1139 | £75,711 | £4,539 |
| Senior police officers | 1162 | £66,690 | £4,103 |
| Managers and directors in retail and wholesale | 1150 | £38,447 | £2,600 |
Take-home pay against all jobs
At the median, managers and directors in retail and wholesale take home about £2,600 a month, against £2,636 on the UK median for all jobs. Scotland has its own income tax bands, so take-home pay on the same salary is different there.
| Group | Median a year | Take-home a month | Take-home a month in Scotland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Managers and directors in retail and wholesale | £38,447 | £2,600 | £2,596 |
| All full-time employee jobs, UK | £39,039 | £2,636 | £2,631 |
Related pages
All jobs in the Managers, directors and senior officials table, average salary by area, the take home pay calculator, salary to hourly calculator and pay rise calculator.
How this is worked out
Pay: ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE), 2025 provisional, SOC 2020 unit group 1150. Take-home: 2026/27 rates, tax code 1257L, no pension or student loan. How to read these figures.
Sources
- ASHE Table 14: earnings by occupation (4-digit SOC), 2025 provisional (ONS)
- ASHE Table 7: earnings by place of work, local authority, 2025 provisional (ONS)
- SOC 2020 Volume 1: structure and descriptions of unit groups (ONS)
- Income Tax rates and Personal Allowances (GOV.UK)
- Scottish Income Tax (GOV.UK)
- National Insurance: how much you pay (GOV.UK)
Figures checked on 12 October 2026. ONS plans to publish its next ASHE figures on 22 October 2026. Read how we calculate or tell us about a mistake.
Frequently asked questions
On the median full-time salary of £38,447, take-home pay is about £2,600 a month (£31,201 a year) after 2026/27 income tax and National Insurance, with tax code 1257L and no pension or student loan. In Scotland, where income tax is different, it is about £2,596 a month.
ONS figures for full-time jobs (2025) show that one in ten earn less than £25,597, a quarter earn less than £30,000, half earn less than £38,447, a quarter earn more than £52,498 and one in ten earn more than £75,791.
No. The median for managers and directors in retail and wholesale is £38,447, which is £592 (1.5%) lower than the UK median of £39,039 for all full-time employee jobs (ONS, 2025). It ranks joint 145th of 362 occupations on this site.