Southampton tops SalaryLeaks’ estimated 2025/26 Championship wage-bill ranking at £32.7 million; Sheffield Wednesday is bottom at £7.8 million. These are publisher estimates, not audited, club-confirmed totals, so the season and source matter when comparing the figures.
2025/26 Championship wage-bill ranking
The figures below are SalaryLeaks estimates published on 10 December 2025. They are annual amounts, rounded to the nearest £0.1 million in the source. The ordering reflects that source’s estimates, not a harmonised set of club accounts.
| Rank | Club | Estimated annual wage bill |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Southampton | £32.7m |
| 2 | Leicester City | £31.8m |
| 3 | Ipswich Town | £26.1m |
| 4 | Sheffield United | £22.5m |
| 5 | West Brom | £21.4m |
| 6 | Birmingham City | £19.6m |
| 7 | Hull City | £19.1m |
| 8 | Norwich City | £18.4m |
| 9 | Middlesbrough | £18.1m |
| 10 | Stoke City | £17.1m |
| 11 | Watford | £16.8m |
| 12 | Wrexham | £16.8m |
| 13 | QPR | £14.7m |
| 14 | Coventry City | £14.4m |
| 15 | Swansea City | £13.8m |
| 16 | Preston | £13.8m |
| 17 | Millwall | £13.4m |
| 18 | Bristol City | £13.0m |
| 19 | Oxford United | £12.6m |
| 20 | Derby County | £12.2m |
| 21 | Blackburn Rovers | £12.1m |
| 22 | Charlton Athletic | £10.3m |
| 23 | Portsmouth | £9.8m |
| 24 | Sheffield Wednesday | £7.8m |
Source: SalaryLeaks, “EFL Championship Club’s Wage Bills 2025/26 (Ranked),” 10 December 2025. Watford and Wrexham are both shown at £16.8m; Swansea City and Preston are both shown at £13.8m. The rounded figures do not establish a meaningful difference within either pair.
Why another season’s ranking can look very different
SalaryLeaks’ database page labelled 2026/27 lists a different set of clubs and a substantially different range of estimates. It puts Wolverhampton Wanderers at £67.8m, West Ham at £61.2m and Burnley at £60.9m among its top three; its bottom three are Lincoln City (£6.6m), QPR (£5.9m) and Millwall (£4.5m). The page says it is updated daily, but does not provide a common audited definition for the club totals. Treat it as that publisher’s current database estimate, not as a like-for-like continuation of the 2025/26 ranking.
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League membership and squads change from season to season, and the 2026/27 page includes clubs that are not in the 2025/26 table. SalaryLeaks also presents player-level contract information, with some salary details described as reported from public sources; that does not turn its aggregate club estimates into audited totals. SalaryLeaks 2026/27 database.
What a “wage bill” measures—and what it does not
A player-wage estimate is not automatically comparable with the “staff costs” reported in a club’s statutory accounts. Staff costs can include non-playing employees, while clubs’ accounts cover different financial years. Salary Sport says it has filed accounts for 24 of 24 clubs but reports wage-bill information for 20, and its entries show different latest financial years. Those figures should not be sorted as though they describe the same season and the same playing-wage category. Salary Sport’s Championship data.
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Published rankings based on compiled wage estimates should be read as estimates rather than precise financial statements. For example, Planet Football’s 2024/25 ranking says its figures came via Capology, calls them industry estimates, and notes that the transfer window could still change them. That earlier list is not a substitute for the 2025/26 figures above. Planet Football’s 2024/25 ranking.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Wages in context: spending relative to revenue
The club with the largest estimated wage bill does not necessarily have the greatest wage burden relative to its income. Absolute spending and wages as a share of revenue answer different questions: the first measures estimated outlay, while the second compares wage costs with the money a club brings in.
A UK Parliament impact assessment drawing on Deloitte’s Annual Review of Football Finance reported an average Championship wage-to-revenue ratio of 126% in 2020/21. In 2021/22, wages exceeded revenue at 15 of the 19 Championship clubs for which information was available. These are historical league-level measures, not current figures for the clubs in the 2025/26 ranking. The assessment says the Championship average ratio has regularly exceeded 100%. UK Parliament impact assessment.
League-average salary figures published by different sources are also not a reliable time series unless their definitions match. One 2025/26 article gives an estimated average player salary of £10,500 per week, while SalaryLeaks’ 2026/27 database reports £16,700 per week. They are differently scoped publisher estimates, not official league averages that can be compared as a year-on-year change. Published league-average salary estimates.
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