# Highest and lowest paid places in South West (2025)

Forest of Dean was the highest paid of South West’s 26 councils in 2025 (median full-time pay £42,326).

North Devon was the lowest paid (£32,682). The middle council, Stroud, had £38,608.

1 council has no figure, and it is listed at the end with the reason.

| Rank | Area | Median full-time pay | Note |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | [Forest of Dean](https://openindex.co.uk/forest-of-dean) | £42,326 | – |
| 2 | [Cheltenham](https://openindex.co.uk/cheltenham) | £41,399 | – |
| 3 | [Cotswold](https://openindex.co.uk/cotswold) | £41,267 | ONS says to use this figure with caution because its sampling error is large (coefficient of variation over 10%). |
| 4 | [South Gloucestershire](https://openindex.co.uk/south-gloucestershire) | £40,731 | – |
| 5 | [Bath and North East Somerset](https://openindex.co.uk/bath-and-north-east-somerset) | £40,448 | – |
| 6 | [East Devon](https://openindex.co.uk/east-devon) | £40,087 | – |
| 7 | [North Somerset](https://openindex.co.uk/north-somerset) | £39,969 | – |
| 8 | [Bristol](https://openindex.co.uk/bristol) | £39,509 | – |
| 9 | [Tewkesbury](https://openindex.co.uk/tewkesbury) | £39,236 | – |
| 10 | [Swindon](https://openindex.co.uk/swindon) | £38,900 | – |
| =11 | [South Hams](https://openindex.co.uk/south-hams) | £38,638 | – |
| =11 | [West Devon](https://openindex.co.uk/west-devon) | £38,638 | ONS says to use this figure with caution because its sampling error is large (coefficient of variation over 10%). |
| 13 | [Stroud](https://openindex.co.uk/stroud) | £38,608 | – |
| 14 | [Wiltshire](https://openindex.co.uk/wiltshire) | £37,811 | – |
| 15 | [Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole](https://openindex.co.uk/bournemouth-christchurch-and-poole) | £37,493 | – |
| 16 | [Dorset](https://openindex.co.uk/dorset) | £37,462 | – |
| 17 | [Mid Devon](https://openindex.co.uk/mid-devon) | £36,994 | – |
| 18 | [Somerset](https://openindex.co.uk/somerset) | £36,279 | – |
| 19 | [Teignbridge](https://openindex.co.uk/teignbridge) | £35,410 | – |
| 20 | [Plymouth](https://openindex.co.uk/plymouth) | £35,186 | – |
| 21 | [Cornwall](https://openindex.co.uk/cornwall) | £35,002 | – |
| 22 | [Gloucester](https://openindex.co.uk/gloucester) | £34,617 | – |
| 23 | [Exeter](https://openindex.co.uk/exeter) | £34,514 | – |
| 24 | [Torridge](https://openindex.co.uk/torridge) | £34,425 | – |
| 25 | [Torbay](https://openindex.co.uk/torbay) | £33,493 | – |
| 26 | [North Devon](https://openindex.co.uk/north-devon) | £32,682 | – |
| – | [Isles of Scilly](https://openindex.co.uk/isles-of-scilly) | No figure | ONS suppresses this figure as statistically unreliable. |

Source: Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, ONS earnings survey. Covers Great Britain. Period: 2025. Period: 2025.

## Other rankings of this measure

- [Great Britain](https://openindex.co.uk/rankings/median-pay/uk)
- [England](https://openindex.co.uk/rankings/median-pay/england)
- [Scotland](https://openindex.co.uk/rankings/median-pay/scotland)
- [Wales](https://openindex.co.uk/rankings/median-pay/wales)
- [North East](https://openindex.co.uk/rankings/median-pay/north-east)
- [North West](https://openindex.co.uk/rankings/median-pay/north-west)
- [Yorkshire and The Humber](https://openindex.co.uk/rankings/median-pay/yorkshire-and-the-humber)
- [East Midlands](https://openindex.co.uk/rankings/median-pay/east-midlands)
- [West Midlands](https://openindex.co.uk/rankings/median-pay/west-midlands)
- [East of England](https://openindex.co.uk/rankings/median-pay/east-of-england)
- [London](https://openindex.co.uk/rankings/median-pay/london)
- [South East](https://openindex.co.uk/rankings/median-pay/south-east)

- [The map](https://openindex.co.uk/map/median-pay)
- [Source and method](https://openindex.co.uk/sources/median-pay)

## How to cite

Source: Open Index, openindex.co.uk. Link to this page, https://openindex.co.uk/rankings/median-pay/south-west.

Open Index's own text and the figures it works out are licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Source data keeps its publishers' licences, named with each figure. Give each figure's period and source with it.

Snapshot 2026.10.11. The HTML page: https://openindex.co.uk/rankings/median-pay/south-west