The best-paid UK jobs with below-average AI exposure

Occupations in the bottom half of our index for AI exposure (exposure score of 50/100 or below), ranked by median full-time pay. Pay figures are from 2020, so treat them as a comparison between jobs rather than today’s salaries.

#	Occupation	AI exposure	Index rank	SOC skill level	Median FT pay (2020)	Employee jobs
1	Police officers (sergeant and below)	30/100 (Low)	#84 of 100	Level 3	£41,641	221,000
2	Fire service officers (watch manager and below)	22/100 (Low)	#88 of 100	Level 3	£35,885	69,000
3	Electrical and electronic trades n.e.c.	27/100 (Low)	#86 of 100	Level 3	£34,941	115,000
4	Electricians and electrical fitters	33/100 (Low)	#81 of 100	Level 3	£33,657	134,000
5	Metal working production and maintenance fitters	14/100 (Very low)	#92 of 100	Level 3	£32,934	293,000
6	Large goods vehicle drivers	8/100 (Very low)	#97 of 100	Level 2	£30,820	200,000
7	Vehicle technicians, mechanics and electricians	18/100 (Very low)	#91 of 100	Level 3	£29,125	126,000
8	Carpenters and joiners	10/100 (Very low)	#95 of 100	Level 3	£28,473	75,000
9	Bus and coach drivers	34/100 (Low)	#80 of 100	Level 2	£27,015	99,000
10	Construction operatives n.e.c.	10/100 (Very low)	#94 of 100	Level 2	£26,418	86,000
11	Sports coaches, instructors and officials	47/100 (Medium)	#70 of 100	Level 3	£24,849	68,000
12	Stock control clerks and assistants	35/100 (Low)	#79 of 100	Level 2	£23,895	73,000
13	Sales supervisors	47/100 (Medium)	#71 of 100	Level 2	£23,562	69,000
14	Chefs	40/100 (Medium)	#76 of 100	Level 3	£22,851	178,000
15	Van drivers	13/100 (Very low)	#93 of 100	Level 2	£22,654	258,000
16	Elementary process plant occupations n.e.c.	5/100 (Very low)	#98 of 100	Level 1	£22,385	88,000
17	Assemblers and routine operatives n.e.c.	23/100 (Low)	#87 of 100	Level 2	£22,296	91,000
18	Elementary storage occupations	32/100 (Low)	#83 of 100	Level 1	£22,236	462,000
19	Caretakers	39/100 (Low)	#77 of 100	Level 2	£22,034	70,000
20	Food, drink and tobacco process operatives	21/100 (Low)	#89 of 100	Level 2	£21,714	140,000
21	Nursing auxiliaries and assistants	27/100 (Low)	#85 of 100	Level 2	£21,514	391,000
22	Laboratory technicians	50/100 (Medium)	#69 of 100	Level 3	£21,159	69,000
23	Senior care workers	44/100 (Medium)	#72 of 100	Level 2	£21,123	76,000
24	Packers, bottlers, canners and fillers	4/100 (Very low)	#99 of 100	Level 1	£20,257	94,000
25	Care workers and home carers	41/100 (Medium)	#74 of 100	Level 2	£19,945	671,000

How this ranking was made

Filtered to occupations with an exposure percentile of 50 or below (DfE 2023 AIOE, percentile across 365 UK occupations), then sorted by ONS ASHE 2020 Table 14 median gross annual pay for full-time employees, highest first.

Index rank: 1 = most exposed of the 100 occupations. Exposure measures how much a job's abilities overlap with current AI applications; it is not a forecast of job losses. Sources: Department for Education (2023), The impact of AI on UK jobs and training; ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings 2020, Table 14. Full methodology · Compare jobs

More rankings: The 25 UK jobs least exposed to AI · The 25 UK jobs most exposed to AI · Lower AI-exposure UK jobs that don’t usually need a degree