Chemist salary in the UK (2026)

What does a Chemist earn?

What employers advertise across the UK.

£31,500 per year, median

the midpoint of 163 advertised salaries from 91 employers, collected 26 Aug 2026 – 20 Oct 2026

about £2,600 a month

Low
£26,300
Median
£31,500
Average
£33,700
High
£47,000
Median Average
Low £26,300 High £47,000
The bar leaves out the highest and lowest tenth of advertised salaries; the darker section is the middle half.

Half of the adverts fall between £28,100 and £35,000. “Low” and “high” are the bottom and top tenth of what is advertised, not the single cheapest and dearest advert — one unusual posting should not decide either end.

How this figure was worked out

  • 163 advertised salaries, from 91 different employers.
  • Collected between 26 Aug 2026 and 20 Oct 2026.
  • Stated in the advert as a yearly figure (117), an hourly rate (46). Hourly and monthly figures are converted to a year at 1,950 hours, so they can be compared with the ones stated annually.
  • Figures are rounded to the nearest hundred. Adverts offering part-time only are left out, because a part-time figure is not comparable with a full-time one.

These are advertised salaries, read from the text of employers’ own job adverts. They are not verified with the employer, they are not what anyone is necessarily paid, and they are not a pay survey.

See all
Research Chemist I ICL Group · Daventry · Full-time Offshore Chemist - Zero Hours Intertek · Aberdeen · Full-time Quality Assurance Administrator Pursuit Resources Group Careers · Basildon · Full-time Quality Assurance Officer New Appointments Group Careers · Folkestone · Full-time QC Chemist Carbogen Amcis · Manchester · Full-time Senior QA Chemist (Quality Assurance Specialist) Carbogen Amcis · Manchester · Full-time R&D Scientist - Synthetic Polymer Chemist Element Solutions · Ashby-de-la-Zouch · Full-time Quality Assurance Insight Employment Ltd · Milton Keynes Village · from 14 £/hrFull-time Chemist Merritt Recruitment · Leicester · Full-time Quality Assurance Operations Technician (Sugar Testing - Nights) NFU Cymru · London · from 17 £/hrFull-time Chemist Sherwin-Williams · Bolton · Full-time Senior Chemist ChampionX · Aberdeen · Full-time Polymer Chemist Meritt Recruitment · Chelmsford · Full-time Computational Chemist Hyper Recruitment Solutions · Cambridge · Full-time Quality Assurance - Consultant Hackajob Ltd · Newcastle upon Tyne · Full-time Synthetic Chemist Hyper Recruitment Solutions · Oxford · Full-time Chemical Analyst Omega Resource Group · Newnham · from 14 £/hrFull-time Chemist Merritt Recruitment · London · Full-time Senior Polymer Chemist Merritt Recruitment · London · Full-time Quality Assurance Staffline Operations · Chatteris · 13–17 £/hrFull-time