Money Mood · UK · 2026
How the UK really feels about money
How does the UK feel about pay and tax?
Money is the thing everyone thinks about and no one talks about. This is the UK's anonymous money mood — vote on the questions below (no signup, nothing saved about you) and see how the country answers. Underneath the feelings sit the real numbers: the median full-time salary is £39,039, yet most people take home far less than their headline pay once tax and National Insurance come out.
Verified 12 August 2026
Vote: how are you feeling?
Do you feel financially secure right now?
Did your last pay rise actually change how you live?
How do you feel when you see the tax on your payslip?
What would make the biggest difference to you right now?
The real numbers behind the mood
Feelings are one thing; here's what's actually true about UK pay in 2026, verified against official sources:
- The median full-time salary is £39,039 (ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) 2025) — half of full-time workers earn less than this.
- On that salary, a chunk goes to income tax (20% above the £12,570 personal allowance) and National Insurance (8%), so take-home is well below the headline figure — see exactly how much on the take-home calculator.
- A pay rise is taxed at your marginal rate, not your average — which is why raises feel smaller than expected. Between £100,000 and £125,140 the effective rate hits about 62%. See how much of your next £1 you keep.
- The UK's official relative poverty line is 60% of median household income — around £22,000 a year for an equivalised household (DWP).
See where you personally stand
The mood is collective; your position is personal. These tools put real numbers on where you actually sit:
Votes are anonymous and stored only on your own device — we don't collect anything about you. Baseline results are seeded to illustrate the feature while the community grows.