Ireland and the UK sit side by side, share a Common Travel Area, and workers move between them constantly, so "would I keep more of my salary in Dublin or London?" is a genuinely useful question, and the honest answer is: it depends which salary you mean. On a modest wage Ireland keeps more; at €40,000 a single worker takes home 83.9% here against 80.8% in the UK. On a high one it reverses, and the UK keeps the bigger share. This page is about that flip: where it sits, why it happens, and what it means if you are actually weighing an Irish offer against a British one.
One important note on method. Irish figures are in euro at 2026 Irish rates, from the IrishPAYE calculator. UK figures are in pounds, at the UK's 2025/26 tax year, the only UK year verified anywhere on this site. That means this page compares the same headline number (€70,000 vs £70,000) across two systems in two different tax years, not the same twelve months in two currencies. Both sides are a single employee on standard allowances, with no pension contribution or other adjustment.
Ireland vs UK: take-home compared (2026 / 2025-26)
| Salary | Ireland net (€) | IE kept | UK net (£) | UK kept |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 40,000 | €33,572 | 83.9% | £32,320 | 80.8% |
| 60,000 | €44,925 | 74.9% | £45,357 | 75.6% |
| 70,000 | €50,201 | 71.7% | £51,157 | 73.1% |
| 90,000 | €59,756 | 66.4% | £62,757 | 69.7% |
| 100,000 | €64,532 | 64.5% | £68,557 | 68.6% |
Ireland: single employee, aged 35, standard 2026 credits, computed live by the IrishPAYE engine. UK: single employee, the UK's 2025/26 income tax and employee National Insurance rules only. Neither side includes pension contributions, student loan repayments, childcare costs, or any other adjustment.
Why Ireland is kinder at the bottom and tougher at the top
At modest salaries, Ireland's tax credits and gentle opening USC bands keep the effective rate low, which is why €40,000 keeps 83.9% here against 80.8% in the UK. The UK's tax-free personal allowance (£12,570) does the same job at the very bottom of its own scale, but employee National Insurance starts at 8% immediately above it, a heavier opening rate than Ireland's lowest USC band. If you want the mechanics of how Irish bands and credits apply, the PAYE guide covers them properly; this page only uses the parts of that picture that explain the Ireland-UK gap.
Higher up, Ireland gets more expensive for two structural reasons, and both are visible in the row-by-row jump in the table above:
- The 40% band starts earlier. A single person hits the higher rate at €44,000 in Ireland, against £50,270 in the UK. More of a good Irish salary is taxed at the top rate before the UK equivalent has even crossed its own threshold.
- USC stacks on top of income tax and PRSI. At €100,000 the combined Irish marginal rate on the next euro is 52% (40% tax, up to 8% USC, plus PRSI). The UK's equivalent band is 40% income tax plus a further 2% National Insurance above £50,270, a combined 42%. That roughly ten-point gap compounds on every euro earned above the higher-rate threshold, which is why the UK pulls ahead as pay rises.
Where exactly does the advantage flip?
The table only samples five salaries, so the crossover cannot be pinned to the euro, but it can be bounded tightly. At €40,000, Ireland is still ahead: 83.9% kept here against 80.8% in the UK. By €60,000 it has already flipped: 75.6% kept in the UK against 74.9% in Ireland. So the crossover sits somewhere inside that €20,000 band, not at some single memorable number, and nothing published on either side lets us narrow it further without assuming a salary this page does not compute.
What drives the flip is the same mechanism as the section above, just visible at the exact point it bites. At €40,000 the Irish marginal rate on the next euro is 27%, comfortably inside the standard band once credits are accounted for. By €60,000 it has jumped to 47%, because the whole slice of income between €44,000 and €60,000 is now taxed at 40% plus USC plus PRSI rather than 20%. The UK crosses its own higher-rate threshold later, at £50,270, so a bigger share of the same £60,000 is still taxed at the UK's lower opening rates while Ireland has already moved a much larger share of €60,000 onto its top rate. The crossover, in other words, is the point at which Ireland's earlier 40% band has cost more than Ireland's larger tax credits saved.
What the headline comparison misses
Two years, not one. The Irish column is 2026; the UK column is the UK's 2025/26 tax year, because that is the verified UK data this site holds. Both are current for their own country right now, but they are not the same twelve months, and a comparison across two tax years is a real limitation of this page, not a rounding error to wave away.
One filing status, one age, no pension. Every row above is a single employee, aged 35, on standard allowances in both countries, with no pension contribution, no student loan repayment and no other adjustment on either side. Irish pension contributions attract income tax relief at your marginal rate (see the tax credits guide), which would narrow the Irish side of every row above. This page does not model that, or its UK equivalent, because doing so honestly needs UK figures this site does not hold.
Same headline number, not the same spending power. €70,000 and £70,000 are compared here as numbers, not converted at an exchange rate and not adjusted for what either salary actually buys where you would be living on it: rent, healthcare, childcare and general cost of living all differ between the two countries, and none of that is priced into this table. Take-home is one input to an Ireland-versus-UK decision, not the whole of it.
Standard credits, not your own certificate. Every Irish figure on this page uses the standard single-person credits and cut-off for 2026, not a personal certificate of tax credits, which can carry a different total if you have extra credits, a different cut-off, or a certificate from a previous Irish employer. If you already have Irish payslip figures to work from, run them through the calculator with your own cut-off and credits rather than reading them off this table; there is no UK equivalent worth building because this site holds no UK certificate-style data to build it from.
Worked example: two offers at the same headline number
Say two offers land on the same day: a Dublin role at €90,000, and a London role at £90,000. Same headline figure, same seniority, and the instinctive move is to treat them as equivalent because the number matches. They are not equivalent once each is run through its own tax system. The Dublin offer takes home €59,756 a year, about €4,980 a month (66.4% kept). The London offer takes home £62,757 a year, about £5,230 a month (69.7% kept).
On the tax comparison alone, the UK offer keeps a larger share of the same headline number, which is exactly the "UK pulls ahead at higher salaries" pattern from the sections above: €90,000 sits well past the point where the earlier section shows the advantage has already flipped. That does not make the London offer better, only better on this one axis. The useful next step is not to compare the two net figures directly (they are in different currencies, and there is no sanctioned exchange rate on this page), but to convert each into what it needs to cover, in the currency you would actually be paid and spending in. A salary that keeps a bigger percentage in an expensive city can still leave less spare than one that keeps a smaller percentage somewhere cheaper. This page answers the tax half of that question exactly; it does not, and cannot, answer the other half, because that half is about where you would actually be living, not about how either country taxes you.
What people get wrong comparing Ireland and the UK
Assuming the direction is fixed. "The UK taxes you less" and "Ireland taxes you less" are both true, just at different salaries. Quoting either one without a salary attached is the single most common mistake on this topic, and the crossover section above shows why: the answer flips inside a fairly ordinary salary range, not at some extreme most people never reach.
Treating the headline number as an exchange rate. €70,000 is not "the same as" £70,000 by any currency measure, and this page never claims it is. Matching the headline number is a deliberate choice to compare how each tax system treats one salary, nothing more.
Forgetting the two columns are different tax years. It is easy to read a side-by-side table as "right now, right now" when one side is Ireland's 2026 rates and the other is the UK's 2025/26 rates. Both are the latest verified figures this site holds for each country; they are not the same twelve months.
Reading the average rate when a marginal decision is what matters. If what you are actually deciding is whether to take a raise, a bonus, or overtime in either country, the marginal rate at your current salary is the relevant number, not the average "kept" percentage in the table above. The two can point in different directions, especially close to either country's higher-rate threshold.
Thinking of moving to Ireland?
If Ireland is the destination, see what an Irish salary actually pays, whether €60k-€100k is a good salary in Dublin, and the Critical Skills permit thresholds if you need a work permit. Once an Irish offer is actually in hand, your first Irish payslip and payroll admin covers what changes once tax residency starts, including the emergency tax most new arrivals hit. For your exact Irish figure, use the take-home pay calculator.
Frequently asked questions
Do you take home more in Ireland or the UK?
It depends on the salary. At €40,000, Ireland keeps more: 83.9% here against 80.8% in the UK. At €100,000 it is reversed: the UK keeps 68.6% against Ireland's 64.5%. See the crossover section above for where the switch happens.
At what salary does the advantage flip from Ireland to the UK?
Somewhere between €40,000 and €60,000. Ireland is still ahead at €40,000 (83.9% vs 80.8%), but the UK has moved ahead by €60,000 (75.6% vs 74.9%). This page only computes five salary points, so it cannot narrow the crossover further than that band.
Why is take-home lower in Ireland at higher salaries?
Two structural reasons. Ireland's 40% income tax band starts at €44,000 for a single person, against £50,270 in the UK, so higher-rate tax applies earlier. And USC stacks on top of income tax and PRSI: the combined Irish marginal rate at €100,000 is 52%, against roughly 42% (40% tax plus 2% National Insurance) on the equivalent UK band.
Is this comparison in the same currency?
No. Irish figures are in euro and UK figures in pounds sterling. The comparison holds the headline number constant (for example €70,000 vs £70,000) to compare how each tax system treats the same salary, not the exchange-rate value between the two.
Do I keep more of €70,000 in Ireland or the UK?
On €70,000 you keep about €50,201 (71.7%) in Ireland; on £70,000 you keep about £51,157 (73.1%) in the UK. The UK keeps a slightly larger share at this level.
Why is my marginal rate so high in Ireland?
Because USC and PRSI stack on top of income tax. Above roughly €70,044 the combined marginal rate reaches 52%. See how much tax you pay at every salary for the full Irish breakdown.
Are these figures exact?
The Irish figures are computed live by our engine at 2026 rates. The UK figures use the UK's 2025/26 income tax and employee National Insurance rules for a single employee, before pension contributions, student loan repayments or other adjustments. The two sides are also two different tax years, which is a real limit of this comparison, not a rounding issue.
Should I decide between an Irish and a UK job offer on take-home pay alone?
No. Take-home pay is the one part of the decision this page can actually compute, but rent, healthcare, childcare and general cost of living all differ between the two countries and none of that is priced in here. Use the table above for the tax half of the comparison, and price your own likely costs in each place separately.