Healthcare · South West
Physiotherapist salary in Bristol, 2026
Source: ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, 2025, adjusted for the South West regional pay differential. Updated 2026-04-21. Methodology.
Physiotherapist salary by experience in Bristol
That headline median masks a wide spread once you split Bristol physiotherapists by years of experience. The four bands below reflect what each tier typically commands in Bristol — local figures, not UK averages, with each step usually triggered by a level change rather than an annual increment.
| Experience level | Salary range | Median |
|---|---|---|
| Entry (0-2 yrs) | £26,712 – £34,132 | £30,422 |
| Mid (3-5 yrs) | £34,238 – £44,308 | £39,273 |
| Senior (6-10 yrs) | £52,470 – £67,045 | £59,758 |
| Lead (10+ yrs) | £69,231 – £94,738 | £81,985 |
Gross figures only tell half the story — what actually lands in your bank account depends on tax, NI, student loan and pension. Run your own number below.
Take-home pay calculator · 2024/25
Physiotherapist, Bristol
£31,071/yr · £598/wk · effective rate 22.9%
| Gross salary | £40,280 |
| Pension (5%) | −£2,014 |
| Income tax | −£5,139 |
| National Insurance | −£2,056 |
| Net take-home | £31,071 |
Earn more as a Physiotherapist
Get a free, expert CV review from TopCV — the UK's largest CV writing service. Applicants with a professionally written CV receive 2× more interview invitations.
Pay ranges and take-home are the planning numbers; what you can actually move into right now is a different question. Live physiotherapist vacancies in Bristol are below.
Open vacancies · via Reed
8 live Physiotherapist jobs in Bristol
Live listings refresh daily. View the full set on Reed.
See all Physiotherapist jobs in Bristol →It's also worth seeing how Bristol stacks up — both against the UK average and against other cities physiotherapists commonly relocate between.
Physiotherapist pay: Bristol versus UK average
Physiotherapist pay across other UK cities
NHS Agenda for Change vs private-sector pay for Physiotherapists in Bristol
For NHS-employed staff in particular, the published pay tables only describe the basic-band figure; the true take-home includes layers the median figure can't capture.
For NHS-employed Physiotherapists in Bristol, pay follows Agenda for Change bands rather than market rates. That puts the median around £40,280, with the High Cost Area Supplement adding 5–20% on top inside the London commuter belt. Specialist add-ons, on-call rotas and unsocial-hours premia can lift effective annual pay by 15–30% above the headline band.
Private-sector and locum work is where pay flexes. Locum Physiotherapists in Bristol can clear the upper quartile (£50,880) on annualised earnings, but with no NHS pension accrual, no sick pay, and a heavier admin load. The pension calculation matters more than most Physiotherapists realise — the NHS scheme alone is worth roughly 20% of salary in employer contribution, which a private-sector base needs to clear before it's actually a pay rise.
Physiotherapist salaries in cities near Bristol
If Bristol doesn't quite work for the role — commute, rent, partner's job — the same role in nearby cities tells you what the trade-off looks like in £ terms. The four comparisons below show how pay shifts within the same region — multipliers come from the ONS regional median pay differential, so the figures already account for the regional gap.
Other healthcare jobs in Bristol
Adjacent healthcare roles often pay differently to physiotherapist for similar skill profiles, which is useful when you're choosing what to specialise in next. Salaries for closely related healthcare roles in Bristol are below — useful when comparing routes into or out of the Physiotherapist track.
Roles with overlapping skills
Common questions about physiotherapist pay in Bristol, answered with the underlying figures from the same dataset used above.
Frequently asked questions
What is the average Physiotherapist salary in Bristol?
£40,280 per year is the median Physiotherapist salary in Bristol, drawn from ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings data adjusted for the regional pay differential. Lower quartile sits at £31,800; upper quartile at £50,880.
How much does a Physiotherapist earn per month in Bristol?
About £3,357 gross, which works out at roughly £2,417 take-home after income tax and National Insurance for the 2024/25 tax year (assuming no student loan and a 5% pension contribution). Use the calculator above for a number that matches your own circumstances.
What is the starting salary for a Physiotherapist in Bristol?
Entry-level Physiotherapists in Bristol typically start between £26,712 and £34,132. Pay then steps up at the 3-year and 6-year marks — mid-level practitioners earn £34,238–£44,308, with senior roles reaching £52,470–£67,045.
Is Bristol a good place to work as a Physiotherapist?
Yes — strong on both pay and labour-market tightness. Bristol pays 6% above the UK Physiotherapist median, with major local employers including Airbus, Lloyds Bank, Hargreaves Lansdown. Cost of living runs at 94 on the UK-100 index, so £40,280 here has the real purchasing power of £42,851 at the national average. Unemployment of 3.9% gives a useful read on how tight the local labour market is — under 4% generally favours candidates on pay.
What skills do Physiotherapists need to earn more?
Reaching the upper-quartile £50,880 band tends to come down to depth in Musculoskeletal assessment, Rehabilitation, HCPC registration, plus a track record that lets you credibly take on senior or lead-level scope. Career outlook for the role is medium, so the speciality areas worth doubling down on are Manual therapy.
Salary base figures: ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (2025), with regional adjustment from ONS regional median gross pay tables. Live job counts (where shown): Reed Jobseeker API, refreshed daily. Take-home calculations apply 2024/25 UK tax-year thresholds for England, Wales and Northern Ireland.