Graduate Jobs in London: Salaries, Sectors and Where to Look

London is the biggest graduate job market in the UK, with more employers, sectors and entry-level roles than anywhere else. It also has the highest rents, so the right question is not just "where are the jobs?" but "what will I actually have left each month?".

This guide covers the sectors that hire graduates in London, how London pay compares with the rest of the UK, what London weighting is, what rent and commuting really cost, and where to look. If you want to see what is live right now, open the London graduate jobs page on GradWorx Search, which is free to browse with no registration. For the wider job search, start with our complete guide to graduate jobs in the UK.

Which sectors hire graduates in London?

Professional services, technology, finance, creative industries and the public sector are the biggest graduate employers in London. Professional, scientific and technical services alone is the capital's largest sector.

The Greater London Authority's analysis of employee jobs found that professional, scientific and technical activities employed more than 800,000 people in London in 2022, making it the largest sector, while information and communication accounted for around 8.8% of all jobs in London. London had about 5.6 million employee jobs in total that year.

Here is where graduates typically start, and the kinds of entry-level roles to search for:

Do not overlook small and medium-sized employers. Agencies, consultancies, start-ups and scale-ups hire graduates throughout the year, often without a formal scheme, and many of their roles never reach the big job sites. Our guide to the hidden graduate jobs market explains how to find them.

How much do graduate jobs in London pay?

London graduate salaries are usually higher than elsewhere, but there is no recent official figure for London graduate starting pay alone. The best guides are national graduate medians plus ONS data on how much more London pays overall.

National graduate benchmarks first. The Institute of Student Employers put the median graduate starting salary at £33,000 in 2025, mostly at large employers, while HESA's survey of 2023/24 graduates found a median of £30,000 for those in full-time work in the UK 15 months after graduating.

London pays more across the board. ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings data shows median full-time pay by where people work, for all employees, not just graduates:

The central business districts pull these figures up because they contain many senior finance and legal roles, so do not expect a graduate offer to match them. The useful comparison is the gap: London pay is about 27% above the UK median, and inner London more than that.

The Department for Education's graduate outcomes data (published June 2026) points the same way over a longer horizon: five years after graduating, graduates living in London had the highest median earnings of any English region, followed by the South East and the East of England. For pay by sector and subject, see our UK Graduate Salary Report 2026.

What is London weighting?

London weighting is extra pay some employers add for working in London, to offset higher living costs. It is not a legal requirement, and amounts vary widely, so always check whether an advertised salary already includes it.

Some examples of how it works in practice:

• NHS. NHS staff in London receive a High Cost Area Supplement. For 2026/27 it is 20% of basic pay in inner London (minimum £5,794, maximum £8,746 a year), 15% in outer London (minimum £4,870, maximum £6,137) and 5% in the fringe areas around London.
• Voluntary living wages. The Living Wage Foundation's voluntary London Living Wage is £14.80 an hour, against £13.45 for the rest of the UK (2025/26 rates). The Foundation says its 2026/27 rates will be announced on 15 October 2026.
• The legal minimum is the same everywhere. The National Living Wage is £12.71 an hour for workers aged 21 and over from 1 April 2026, whether you work in Camden or Cumbria.

Many private employers simply set a higher London salary rather than a separate weighting. When you compare offers, compare the total pay for the same role in different places, and ask whether a London allowance is pensionable and whether it continues if you move office.

How much does it cost to live in London on a graduate salary?

Rent is the deciding factor. The ONS put average private rent in London at £2,332 a month in August 2026, against £1,400 across the UK, and the average one-bedroom home at £1,760.

The ONS's private rental affordability analysis shows how stretched that is. In 2024, private renters in London spent on average 41.6% of their household income on rent, against 36.3% across England. The ONS treats an area as affordable when renters spend 30% or less of gross income on rent.

Here is a worked example for a graduate on £33,000 in London, using 2026/27 rates:

• Take-home pay. With the £12,570 Personal Allowance, 20% basic rate Income Tax and 8% employee National Insurance, you keep about £27,280 a year, or about £2,270 a month.
• Student loan. If you are on a Plan 5 loan, you repay 9% of earnings above £25,000 once repayments start, which takes about £60 a month and leaves about £2,210.
• Rent. An average London one-bed at £1,760 would take almost four fifths of that take-home pay.

That is why most London graduates share. The ONS index does not measure room rents in shared houses, but splitting a two or three-bedroom home is how most people make a first London salary work. Remember that workplace pension contributions will also come out of your pay.

Which parts of London are cheapest to rent?

Outer boroughs are much cheaper than central and inner east London, often by hundreds of pounds a month for the same size of home. The trade-off is a longer, more expensive commute.

ONS figures for August 2026 from the Price Index of Private Rents:

On these figures, the average one-bed in Bexley is £772 a month cheaper than in Hackney. Before you choose, check the journey to your office at peak time and price it, because a cheaper area with a two-change commute can cost you in time as well as fares.

How much does commuting in London cost?

If you commute into central London five days a week, a 7-day Travelcard costs between £44.70 and £81.60 depending on how many zones you cross. Transport for London froze Travelcard prices and pay as you go caps from 1 March 2026, while single fares rose.

If you only go in on some days, pay as you go is capped at £8.90 a day for Zones 1 to 2 and £10.50 a day for Zones 1 to 3. A single Tube journey within zone 1 costs £3.10 at peak and £3.00 off peak. Moving from a Zones 1 to 2 weekly Travelcard to a Zones 1 to 6 one adds £36.90 a week, or about £160 a month, which is worth setting against any rent saving.

Two ways to cut the cost:

• Add a railcard to your Oyster card. TfL lets you add a 16-25 or 26-30 Railcard to an Oyster card for a third off off-peak pay as you go fares. A 16-25 Railcard costs £35 a year, so it pays for itself quickly if you travel off peak at weekends and in the evenings.
• Use hybrid working. If your role is in the office two or three days a week, pay as you go with daily caps can be cheaper than a weekly Travelcard. Work out both before you buy.

Where can you find graduate jobs in London?

Start with a jobs board that lets you filter for London, then add a matching app, employer sites and your network. Most London graduates find their role through several channels at once.

• GradWorx Search. The London page on GradWorx Search lists graduate roles, summer internships, work placements and apprenticeships in the capital. It is free, you do not need to register to browse, and you can narrow by job type and sector. You can also jump straight to graduate roles or summer internships across the UK.
• GradWorx Discover. In the free GradWorx app, GradWorx Discover matches you to roles after you build your profile in conversation with Grace, GradWorx's AI, starting from your CV. You see a Match Score with the reasons behind it, and employers can message you directly.
• Employer career sites. Most large employers open graduate scheme applications from September, and some close early once places are full, so bookmark the ones you want and apply early.
• University careers services and events. London universities run employer fairs and networking events throughout the year, and many let recent graduates use their services.
• Direct approaches. London's agencies, start-ups and scale-ups often hire through referrals and speculative applications. A short, specific email to a hiring manager can work better than waiting for an advert.

Before you apply, get your CV into shape with the free AI CV review, which scores it and suggests fixes.

Is London the right place for your first graduate job?

London is a strong choice if you want the widest range of employers and sectors, fast career progression and a big professional network. It is a weaker choice if most of your salary would disappear in rent and travel.

The DfE's longitudinal graduate outcomes data shows both sides. Five years after graduating, graduates living in London had the highest median earnings of any English region, but London also had the lowest share of first-degree graduates in sustained employment or further study. Graduates living in London also reported lower job quality, measured 15 months after graduating, than graduates in other UK regions.

So go in with a plan. If your sector is concentrated in London (some areas of law, media and finance, for example), the capital may be worth the cost early on. If your sector is well represented elsewhere, compare offers in other cities too. Our guide to the best UK cities for graduate jobs outside London compares pay, rent and key sectors in Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, Bristol, Edinburgh, Glasgow and more.