The historic pay gap between Northern Ireland the rest of the UK has reached the lowest point on record, official government wage data indicates.
Analysis by The Irish News also points to the wage gap with middle earners in the Republic at a record low in the modern era.
Median monthly earnings in the north reached £2,443 in January 2026, representing a 6% annual increase, or twice the rate of inflation in the UK, which rose by 3% over the same period.
The figure is based on HMRC’s pay as you earn (PAYE) data, i.e. payrolled employees, meaning it does not include people who are self-employed.
While that remained below the UK average of £2,588 for last month, the gap has narrowed to 5.6% for middle earners, which is the closest in percentage terms since statisticians began using the HMRC payroll data in mid-2014.
In 2014, the monthly pay gap between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK stood at 10%.
The official data shows the average wage for employees in the north has increased by around £1,000 per month over the past decade – from £1,444 in January 2015, to £2,443 in January 2026.
Adjusted for inflation, the difference is closer to a real terms monthly increase of just below £400 per month over the past 11 years.
Analysis suggests the north gained significant ground on the rest of the UK over the past two years, during a period when unemployment was at a record low and well below the rate in Britain.
A key factor has been the increase in the National Living Wage, which has had a greater impact on Northern Ireland due to the higher density of workers in the retail, hospitality and manufacturing sectors.
In fact, when comparing the lowest earners, the ‘Irish Sea pay gap’ is virtually non-existent.
But while the median pay gap has almost halved over the decade to 5.6%, official data indicates the gap among the highest earners remains stubbornly high at around 10%.
The chasm between those in the top 10% highest earning bracket in Northern Ireland and Britain actually widened between 2015 and 2022 to 12%, before narrowing back to just over 10% last year.
The monthly average for those in the top 10% stood at £5,625 in the north last month, compared to £6,280 in Britain.
The GB wage data is skewed by London, where the city’s top 10% earners receive £8,400 per month on average.
The gap between the top 1% of earners in Northern Ireland (around £14,500 per month) and the UK (£16,210) is around 11.8%.
The median monthly earnings for payrolled employees increased by 6% last year to £2,443, government figures show.
However, the gap between the north and London, where the average top one percenter earns £31,650 per month, stands at more than 118%.
When comparing wages with the Republic of Ireland, the ‘north-south pay gap’ can often be overstated because of the favoured use of a mean figure to estimate the average weekly pay across the border.
Unlike the median figure, which better captures the reality for middle earners in the labour market, the mean average is typically skewed by ultra-high earners in the Republic’s pharma and tech sectors.
But, the Republic Central Statistics Office (CSO) does publish median weekly wage data once a year, with the latest release putting the weekly median earnings at €730.89 for 2024.
That put the median monthly wage across the border at €3,167 or £2,762 at current exchange rates) in 2024, around 21% above the monthly median in the north at the end of that year (£2,291).
While longer range estimates are skewed by currency fluctuations, the pay gap has considerably narrowed over the past decade from as wide as 40%.
Based on recent wage growth projections in the Republic and the acceleration of wage inflation since 2024 in Northern Ireland, the north-south pay gap is understood to be at its narrowest in the modern era.