In 2023/24 households in the United Kingdom spent approximately 113.3 British pounds a week on housing, fuel & power, making it the category which the average household spent the most on in that year, with transport being the second-highest spending category at 88.2 pounds a week.

In October 2025, 63 percent of households in Great Britain reported that their cost of living had increased in the previous month, compared with 72 percent in April. Although the share of people reporting a cost of living increase has generally been falling since August 2022, when 91 percent of households reported an increase, the most recent figures indicate that the Cost of Living Crisis is still ongoing for many households in the UK. Crisis ligers even as inflation falls Although various factors have been driving the Cost of Living Crisis in Britain, high inflation has undoubtedly been one of the main factors. After several years of relatively low inflation, the CPI inflation rate shot up from 2021 onwards, hitting a high of 11.1 percent in October 2022. In the months since that peak, inflation has fallen to more usual levels, and was 2.5 percent in December 2024, slightly up from 1.7 percent in September. Since June 2023, wages have also started to grow at a faster rate than inflation, albeit after a long period where average wages were falling relative to overall price increases. Economy continues to be the main issue for voters Ahead of the last UK general election, the economy was consistently selected as the main issue for voters for several months. Although the Conservative Party was seen by voters as the best party for handling the economy before October 2022, this perception collapsed following the market's reaction to Liz Truss' mini-budget. Even after changing their leader from Truss to Rishi Sunak, the Conservatives continued to fall in the polls, and would go onto lose the election decisively. Since the election, the economy remains the most important issue in the UK, although it was only slightly ahead of immigration and health as of January 2025.

This statistic shows the estimated minimum outgoings required to live in London, United Kingdom (UK) for six months in 2014. The cost of rent is estimated to be, at its lowest, ***** British pounds over the six month period, with bills at ***** British pounds. It is worth noting that the estimated rent is for a shared property.

Real household disposable income per person in the United Kingdom is expected to have grown by ***** percent in 2024/25, with disposable income growth slowing from that point onwards. In 2022/23, disposable income fell by *** percent, after falling by *** percent in 2021/22, and *** percent in 2020/21.

**Student Data Description: ** The dataset contains data representing the financial and personal information of 200 students.

Name: The full name of the student, combining the first name and last name. Names are generated based on the gender of the student.

Age: The age of the student, randomly generated between 18 and 30 years.

Gender: The gender of the student, randomly assigned as "Male" or "Female".

Current Educational Level: The current educational level of the student, randomly assigned from "High School", "Undergraduate", or "Graduate".

Monthly Income: The monthly income of the student, randomly generated between $500 and $3000.

Rent/Room Accommodation: The monthly expense for rent or room accommodation, randomly generated between $200 and $800.

Utilities: The monthly expense for utilities, such as electricity and water, randomly generated between $50 and $200.

Groceries: The monthly expense for groceries, randomly generated between $50 and $200.

Dining Out/Eating Outside: The monthly expense for dining out or eating outside, randomly generated between $20 and $150.

Public Transportation: The monthly expense for public transportation, randomly generated between $20 and $100.

Fuel/Car Maintenance: The monthly expense for fuel and car maintenance, randomly generated between $20 and $100.

Tuition Fees: The monthly expense for tuition fees, randomly generated between $1000 and $5000.

Books and Supplies: The monthly expense for books and supplies, randomly generated between $20 and $200.

Online Courses/Subscriptions: The monthly expense for online courses and subscriptions, randomly generated between $10 and $100.

Clothing/Shoes: The monthly expense for clothing and shoes, randomly generated between $20 and $150.

Entertainment: The monthly expense for entertainment, randomly generated between $10 and $200.

Health Insurance/Medical Expenses: The monthly expense for health insurance and medical expenses, randomly generated between $20 and $200.

Gym Memberships/Physical Activities: The monthly expense for gym memberships and physical activities, randomly generated between $10 and $100.

Mobile Phone/Internet Bill: The monthly expense for mobile phone and internet bill, randomly generated between $20 and $100.

Other Miscellaneous Expenses: The monthly expense for other miscellaneous items, randomly generated between $10 and $150.

Savings/Investments Amount: The amount of money saved or invested by the student, randomly generated between $0 and $1000.

Final Monthly Expense: The calculated total monthly expense for the student, which is the sum of all individual expenses.

The dataset is intended to be used for analysis and exploration of student financial behaviors and patterns.

Renting an apartment in Cambridge cost on average ***** British pounds per month in July 2025. This made it one of the most expensive cities for renters in the UK after London. In London region, the average rent amounted to ***** British pounds. According to the source, this figure shows the asking rent, adjusted for achieved rents. A comparison of the rent prices of different London boroughs shows that costs may vary by several hundred and even over a thousand British pounds. Looking at the regional prices, Northern Ireland, Wales, and the Northeast emerged as the regions with the most affordable rents.

Update 29-04-2020: The data is now split into two files based on the variable collection frequency (monthly and yearly). Additional variables added: area size in hectares, number of jobs in the area, number of people living in the area.

Context

I have been inspired by Xavier and his work on Barcelona to explore the city of London! 🇬🇧 💂

Content

The datasets is primarily centered around the housing market of London. However, it contains a lot of additional relevant data: - Monthly average house prices - Yearly number of houses - Yearly number of houses sold - Yearly percentage of households that recycle - Yearly life satisfaction - Yearly median salary of the residents of the area - Yearly mean salary of the residents of the area - Monthly number of crimes committed - Yearly number of jobs - Yearly number of people living in the area - Area size in hectares

The data is split by areas of London called boroughs (a flag exists to identify these), but some of the variables have other geographical UK regions for reference (like England, North East, etc.). There have been no changes made to the data except for melting it into a long format from the original tables.

Acknowledgements

The data has been extracted from London Datastore. It is released under UK Open Government License v2 and v3. The underlining datasets can be found here: https://data.london.gov.uk/dataset/uk-house-price-index https://data.london.gov.uk/dataset/number-and-density-of-dwellings-by-borough https://data.london.gov.uk/dataset/subjective-personal-well-being-borough https://data.london.gov.uk/dataset/household-waste-recycling-rates-borough https://data.london.gov.uk/dataset/earnings-place-residence-borough https://data.london.gov.uk/dataset/recorded_crime_summary https://data.london.gov.uk/dataset/jobs-and-job-density-borough https://data.london.gov.uk/dataset/ons-mid-year-population-estimates-custom-age-tables

Cover photo by Frans Ruiter from Unsplash

Inspiration

The dataset lends itself for extensive exploratory data analysis. It could also be a great supervised learning regression problem to predict house price changes of different boroughs over time.

Data are shown by region, age, income (including equivalised) group (deciles and quintiles), economic status, socio-economic class, housing tenure, output area classification, urban and rural areas (Great Britain only), place of purchase and household composition.

Detailed breakdown of average weekly household expenditure on goods and services in the UK. Data are shown by place of purchase, income group (deciles) and age of household reference person.

Average weekly earnings for the whole economy, for total and regular pay, in real terms (adjusted for consumer price inflation), UK, monthly, seasonally adjusted.

The effects of direct and indirect taxation and benefits received in cash or kind on household income, across the generations and by age.

This data is estimated by combining multiple years of the Living Costs and Food Survey from 1978 to financial year ending March 2017 and the Household Finances Statistics, from financial year ending 2018 to financial year ending 2021 with the exception of 1979 and 1981. All financial amounts are adjusted for inflation using the Consumer Prices Index including owner occupiers’ housing costs (CPIH) excluding Council Tax, to their financial year ending March 2018. For example, the mean disposable income for those aged 35 and born in the 1970’s (£35,752) is estimated by taking the average (in real terms) of the household disposable income for these people across the combined dataset.

Between 2019 and 2023, people living in households in the Asian and ‘Other’ ethnic groups were most likely to be in persistent low income before and after housing costs

The Fast-Food Franchises industry has been influenced by changing consumer preferences and the convenience of online food ordering. Although demand for cheaper, on-the-go food is boosting sales, fast-food establishments have had to adapt to changing consumer tastes and rising health consciousness by introducing healthier options and vegetarian and vegan offerings to capture mounting demand. The boom of delivery services has also fed revenue growth, as many opt for fast-food for its convenience and digital ordering has made it easier to receive meals. Revenue is expected to rise at a compound annual rate of 3.6% over the five years through 2025-26 to £13.1 billion. Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, fast-food franchises faced escalating operating costs, with soaring food and energy prices hitting profitability. Lingering supply disruptions continue to pressure food costs, with the price of beef in particular surging. Additionally, hikes in the National Living Wage are worsening these cost rises, due to the industry’s reliance on low-skilled labour. This is prompting franchises to streamline operations by integrating new technology like self-service kiosks to cut down on labour expenses. Intense competition and these heightened operating costs are weighing on profit, although it’s still higher than it was five years ago due to the pandemic. However, financial pressures have also brought opportunities. Cost-of-living pressures are continuing, with inflation reaching 3.8% in the 12 months to August 2025. This is driving more low-income consumers towards cheap fast-food restaurants, though many others are also cutting out discretionary spending on eating out, restricting revenue growth to just 0.1% in 2025-26. Revenue is forecast to climb at a compound annual rate of 3% over the five years through 2030-31 to reach £15.2 billion. The convenience and low prices offered by fast-food outlets will continue to drive demand. Fast-food franchises that provide clear nutritional information, source ingredients responsibly, provide healthier options and continuously innovate their menus with new and exciting flavours will stand out in this competitive market. Additionally, expansion plans by the industry’s biggest names provide a bright outlook for revenue, while AI should help brands optimise production and boost their performance.

Expenditure on rent by renters and mortgages by mortgage holders, by region and age from the Living Costs and Food Survey for the financial year ending 2022. Data is presented as a proportion of total expenditure and a proportion of disposable income.

The average agreed rent for new tenancies in the UK ranged from *** British pounds to ***** British pounds, depending on the region. On average, renters outside of London paid ***** British pounds, whereas in London, this figure amounted to ***** British pounds. Rents have been on the rise for many years, but the period after the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated this trend. Since 2015, the average rent in the UK increased by about ** percent, with about half of that gain achieved in the period after the pandemic. Why have UK rents increased so much? One of the main reasons driving up rental prices is the declining affordability of homeownership. Historically, house prices grew faster than rents, making renting more financially feasible than buying. In 2022, when the house price to rent ratio index peaked, house prices had outgrown rents by nearly ** percent since 2015. As house prices peaked in 2022, home buying slowed, exacerbating demand for rental properties and leading to soaring rental prices. How expensive is too expensive? Although there is no official requirement about the proportion of income spent on rent for it to be considered affordable, a popular rule is that rent should not exceed more than ** percent of income. In 2024, most renters in the UK exceeded that threshold, with the southern regions significantly more likely to spend upward of ** percent of their income on rent. Rental affordability has sparked a move away from the capital to other regions in the UK, such as the South East (Brighton and Southampton), the West Midlands (Birmingham) and the North West (Liverpool, Manchester, Blackpool and Preston).

Over the five years through 2025-26, the festivals industry's revenue is projected to expand at a compound annual rate of 59.9% to £3.8 billion. Immense volatility hit revenue growth due to unfavourable operating conditions during COVID-19, which resulted in a substantially lower base year and a much higher compound annual growth rate than normal. Profitability in 2025-26 is expected to improve as Brits return to festivals and are more willing to pay higher prices for tickets. On-site services, including food and drink sales, have proved a key revenue stream as festivals expand their services and overall experience. Moreover, the industry has continued to reduce its environmental impact by cutting its carbon emissions and using single-use plastics at festivals. In 2025-26, revenue is anticipated to climb by 1%. Festivals have diversified their offerings and expanded their capacities to accommodate domestic music enthusiasts and the rising influx of international tourists. However, festivals are grappling with rising operational costs, particularly a hike in energy prices, weighing on the average profit margin. Escalating cost-of-living pressures have notably burdened grassroots events, leading to numerous cancellations due to escalating expenses, which calls for more significant government financial support. Over the five years through 2030-31, industry revenue is forecast to jump upwards at a compound annual rate of 4.1% to reach £4.6 billion. Moderating inflation and the introduction of new festivals will support this growth. Additionally, the average industry profit margin is likely to inch upwards, driven primarily by rising sales volumes. Environmental improvements will remain a focal point, with festivals adopting various strategies to mitigate waste and reduce emissions. The growth of VIP services at festivals will raise sales value and drive revenue. Parallel to this, festival culture is shifting to incorporate more solo attendees and families. A broader target audience will drive sales volume and support industry growth.

In 2023/24, the average household in the United Kingdom spent around 70.5 British pounds a week on food and non-alcoholic drinks, compared with 80.9 pounds in 2001/02.

In 2020, the West Midlands was the most affordable region of Great Britain for skilled construction and building tradespeople, when the average salary for this type of job is divided by the regional cost of living. The South East of England was the least affordable region for this type of worker, according to this particular metric.