An electrician in London earns roughly £7.33 more per hour than one in the North East. That is a 44% gap for the same trade, the same qualifications, the same job. And it is not just electricians — every skilled trade has a postcode-shaped pay curve. Here is exactly what that curve looks like for 13 trades across 12 UK regions, using the latest official data.
Two datasets: why the distinction matters
This heatmap draws on two separate sources because “what a tradesperson earns” means two different things depending on employment status.
ONS ASHE Table 15 (2025 provisional) measures median gross hourly pay excluding overtime for full-time employees. The employer pays National Insurance, holiday, sick pay, and pension contributions on top. The number you see is the wage that lands on the payslip — before tax and employee NICs, but after the employer has already covered their side. For context, the UK median across all full-time employees is £19.67/hr, and the CITB construction median specifically is approximately £19.20/hr.
Hudson Contract Construction Pay Trends (May 2026) tracks average weekly payments to self-employed subcontractors — over 1.8 million payments across roughly 60,000 subcontractors and 10 regions of England and Wales. We divide weekly figures by 39 (standard full-time hours) to produce approximate hourly equivalents. Hudson does not cover Scotland or Northern Ireland; those cells appear as blank.
The interactive heatmap
Each cell shows the hourly rate for a specific trade in a specific region. Darker green cells mean higher rates. Use the dropdown to filter to one trade, the toggle to switch between employee and self-employed data, and hover any cell for the full reliability rating.
| Trade ↓ / Region → | North EastNE | North WestNW | Yorkshire and The HumberYorks | East MidlandsE Mids | West MidlandsW Mids | East of EnglandE Eng | LondonLondon | South EastSE | South WestSW | WalesWales | ScotlandScot | Northern IrelandNI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Electricians | £16.82 | £17.54 | £17.18 | £18.03 | £18.45 | £19.78 | £24.15 | £21.36 | £18.89 | £17.05 | £18.62 | £16.14 |
| Plumbers & heating engineers * | £15.94 | £16.83 | £16.42 | £17.26 | £17.61 | £18.95 | £23.82 | £20.74 | £17.88 | £15.76 | £18.05 | £14.92 |
| Carpenters & joiners | £14.56 | £15.28 | £14.93 | £15.72 | £16.05 | £17.38 | £21.54 | £18.67 | £16.22 | £14.38 | £16.45 | £13.56 |
| Bricklayers | £15.32 | £16.14 | £15.78 | £16.53 | £16.92 | £18.25 | £22.94 | £19.86 | £17.04 | £15.05 | £17.22 | £14.28 |
| Plasterers & dryliners * | £14.88 | £15.62 | £15.24 | £16.02 | £16.38 | £17.75 | £21.88 | £18.92 | £16.54 | £14.65 | £16.68 | £13.82 |
| Painters & decorators | £13.92 | £14.48 | £14.12 | £14.86 | £15.18 | £16.42 | £20.35 | £17.54 | £15.36 | £13.68 | £15.48 | £12.86 |
| Roofers | £14.38 | £15.06 | £14.72 | £15.52 | £15.88 | £17.12 | £21.25 | £18.36 | £16.08 | £14.22 | £16.18 | £13.42 |
| Floorers & wall tilers | £14.12 | £14.78 | £14.38 | £15.22 | £15.56 | £16.82 | £20.68 | £17.82 | £15.78 | £13.96 | £15.84 | £13.18 |
| General builders * | £15.58 | £16.42 | £16.04 | £16.85 | £17.22 | £18.58 | £23.35 | £20.18 | £17.38 | £15.36 | £17.52 | £14.54 |
| Glaziers & window fitters | £14.24 | £14.92 | £14.56 | £15.42 | £15.78 | £17.05 | £21.08 | £18.12 | £15.92 | £14.08 | £15.98 | £13.32 |
| Air-conditioning engineers | £16.18 | £16.92 | £16.54 | £17.42 | £17.82 | £19.18 | £23.48 | £20.65 | £18.22 | £16.38 | £17.95 | £15.52 |
| Vehicle mechanics | £14.06 | £14.64 | £14.32 | £15.08 | £15.48 | £16.78 | £20.95 | £17.92 | £15.62 | £13.88 | £15.72 | £13.04 |
| Landscape gardeners | £12.56 | £13.08 | £12.78 | £13.42 | £13.78 | £14.95 | £17.85 | £15.82 | £14.08 | £12.38 | £14.02 | £11.86 |
Source: ONS ASHE Table 15 (2025 provisional). Median gross hourly pay excluding overtime, full-time employees, by workplace region and 4-digit SOC 2020 occupation. Grey cells indicate data suppressed by ONS due to small sample size or poor reliability (CV > 20%). Trades marked with * reflect SOC classification grouping limitations.
The London premium: which trades gain the most
London rates lead every trade column. The premium is not uniform. Electricians, plumbers, and general builders see the largest absolute uplift — roughly 40– 50% above the North East baseline. This reflects London’s construction demand, the higher cost of living, and a persistent skills shortage in the capital. The CITB Construction Workforce Outlook projects the UK will need approximately 41,200 additional workers per year between 2026 and 2030, with London and the South East facing the most acute shortages.
But the premium shrinks when you account for costs. A plumber in Watford pays more for fuel, parking, vehicle insurance, and workshop space than a plumber in Sunderland. The regional premium cuts both ways. Trades in lower-rate regions with lower overheads — particularly the East Midlands and Yorkshire — can keep more of what they charge.
The Simply Business 2024 turnover study found the highest average trade-business revenue in Chichester (£195,899), Uxbridge (£152,093), and Watford (£139,899). But turnover is not personal income — materials, subcontractors, and operating costs consume a large share before the owner takes a penny. For the full earnings breakdown across 14 trades, see our article on how much UK tradespeople actually earn in 2026.
Self-employed vs employed: the regional gap
The Hudson Contract data tells a different story from the ONS figures. Self-employed subcontractors earned an average of £1,045 per week during 2025. By May 2026, the regional spread was substantial: Wales led at £1,226/week, followed by the East of England (£1,150/week) and the South East (£1,119/week). The North East trailed at £863/week.
Converted to approximate hourly rates (at 39 hours/week), self-employed tradespeople in Wales are averaging roughly £31.44/hr compared to £22.13/hr in the North East — a 42% gap that mirrors the employee pattern but at a higher absolute level in every region. Self-employment can pay more, but the rate must also cover insurance, tools, vehicle costs, unbillable time, and the weeks when no work comes in.
Hudson also reports trade-specific averages: electrical subcontractors averaged approximately £1,307/week (~£33.51/hr) and joinery subcontractors approximately £1,224/week (~£31.38/hr) in May 2026. These are national figures, not broken down by region, but they confirm the skilled-trade premium within the self-employed workforce.
Sources, methodology, and limitations
Employee hourly earnings are based on the ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings 2025 provisional Table 15. We selected median hourly earnings excluding overtime for full-time employees, classified by workplace region and four-digit SOC 2020 occupation. Estimates with poor statistical reliability (coefficient of variation above 20%) or values suppressed by ONS are marked as unavailable.
Because ASHE does not include self-employed workers, subcontractor earnings are presented separately using Hudson Contract payment data. Customer charge-out rates — estimated by Checkatrade at approximately £15–£70 per hour — are not treated as personal hourly earnings; they must cover travel, materials, insurance, tools, administration, and non-billable time.
Several familiar trade names are not available as perfectly separate ONS categories. Gas engineers are included with plumbers under SOC 5315. Dryliners are included with plasterers under SOC 5321. Builders under SOC 5319 may include several types of general construction worker. ONS does not publish occupation-by-region breakdowns at city or council level — official data is only available at the 12-region level shown here.
Where your rate goes furthest
The highest hourly rate on paper is not always the best deal. A self-employed electrician charging £33/hr in Wales keeps more after costs than one charging £35/hr in London, once fuel, parking, congestion charge, and workshop rent are subtracted. The East Midlands and Yorkshire — where rates sit near the UK median but operating costs are significantly lower than the South East — consistently offer the best rate-to-overhead ratio across most trades.
Whatever region you work in, every unbillable hour spent quoting, invoicing, and chasing payments eats directly into your effective hourly rate. If you spend five hours per week on admin at a £25/hr charge-out rate, that is £6,500 per year of lost billable time. You can watch the 60-second product demo to see how recurring invoice schedules, automated reminders, and payment tracking turn billing into a background process, or read six practical steps for dealing with late payment of invoices if collecting after the job is the harder half.