In March 2025, the top one percent of earners in the United Kingdom received an average pay of over 16,000 British pounds per month, compared with the bottom ten percent of earners who earned around 800 pounds a month.

In 2024, the average annual full-time earnings for the top ten percent of earners in the United Kingdom was 72,150 British pounds, compared with 22,763 for the bottom ten percent of earners. As of this year, the average annual earnings for all full-time employees was 37,430 pounds, up from 34,963 pounds in the previous year. Strong wage growth continues in 2025 As of February 2025, wages in the UK were growing by approximately 5.9 percent compared with the previous year, with this falling to 5.6 percent if bonus pay is included. When adjusted for inflation, regular pay without bonuses grew by 2.1 percent, with overall pay including bonus pay rising by 1.9 percent. While UK wages have now outpaced inflation for almost two years, there was a long period between 2021 and 2023 when high inflation in the UK was rising faster than wages, one of the leading reasons behind a severe cost of living crisis at the time. UK's gender pay gap falls in 2024 For several years, the difference between average hourly earnings for men and women has been falling, with the UK's gender pay gap dropping to 13.1 percent in 2024, down from 27.5 percent in 1997. When examined by specific industry sectors, however, the discrepancy between male and female earnings can be much starker. In the financial services sector, for example, the gender pay gap was almost 30 percent, with professional, scientific and technical professions also having a relatively high gender pay gap rate of 20 percent.

In 2022 the top one percent of earners in the United Kingdom accounted for around 10.2 percent of the overall national income of the UK. The share of national income earned by the top one percent increased from 6.8 percent in 1980 to a peak of 14.8 percent in 2007.

In the 3 years to March 2021, black households were most likely out of all ethnic groups to have a weekly income of under £600.

75% of households from the Bangladeshi ethnic group were in the 2 lowest income quintiles (after housing costs were deducted) between April 2021 and March 2024.

Households in the bottom decile in the United Kingdom earned, on average, ****** British pounds per year in 2022/23, compared with the top decile which earned ******* pounds per year.

In 2022/23 approximately *****million taxpayers in the United Kingdom earned between 20,000 and 29,999 British pounds in this tax year, the most of any income level, while approximately *******taxpayers in the UK earned over one million pounds.

The median annual earnings in the United Kingdom was 37,430 British pounds per year in 2024. Annual earnings varied significantly by region, ranging from 47,455 pounds in London to 32,960 pounds in the North East. Along with London, two other areas of the UK had median annual earnings above the UK average; South East England, and Scotland, at 39,038 pounds and 38,315 pounds respectively. Regional Inequality in the UK Various other indicators highlight the degree of regional inequality in the UK, especially between London and the rest of the country. Productivity in London, as measured by output per hour, was 26.2 percent higher than the UK average. By comparison, every other UK region, except the South East, fell below the UK average for productivity. In gross domestic product per head, London was also an outlier. The average GDP per head in the UK was just over 37,000 pounds in 2023, but for London it was almost 64,000 pounds. Again, the South East's GDP per head was slightly above the UK average, with every other region below it. Within London itself, there is also a great degree of inequality. In 2023, for example, the average earnings in Kensington and Chelsea were 964 pounds per week, compared with 675 pounds in Barking and Dagenham. Wages continue to grow in 2025 In March 2025, weekly wages in the UK were growing by around 5.6 percent, or 1.8 percent when adjusted for inflation. For almost two years, wages have grown faster than inflation after a long period where prices were rising faster than wages between 2021 and 2023. This was due to a sustained period of high inflation in the UK, which peaked in October 2022 at 11.1 percent. Although inflation started to slow the following month, it wasn't until June 2023 that wages started to outpace inflation. By this point, the damage caused by high energy and food inflation had led to the the worst Cost of Living Crisis in the UK for a generation.

Annual estimates of paid hours worked and earnings for UK employees by sex, and full-time and part-time.

Average weekly earnings at sector level headline estimates, Great Britain, monthly, seasonally adjusted. Monthly Wages and Salaries Survey.

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.

In the three months to May 2025, average weekly earnings in the United Kingdom grew by five percent, while pay including bonuses also grew by five percent, when compared with the same period leading to April 2024. In the same month, the inflation rate for the Consumer Price Index was 3.4 percent, indicating that wages were rising faster than prices that month. Average salaries in the UK In 2024, the average salary for full-time workers in the UK was 37,430 British pounds a year, up from 34,963 in the previous year. In London, the average annual salary was far higher than the rest of the country, at 47,455 pounds per year, compared with just 32,960 in North East England. There also still exists a noticeable gender pay gap in the UK, which was seven percent for full-time workers in 2024, down from 7.5 percent in 2023. Lastly, the monthly earnings of the top one percent in the UK was 15,887 pounds as of November 2024, far higher than even that of the average for the top five percent, who earned 7,641 pounds per month, while pay for the lowest 10 percent of earners was just 805 pounds per month. Waves of industrial action in the UK One of the main consequences of high inflation and low wage growth throughout 2022 and 2023 was an increase in industrial action in the UK. In December 2022, for example, there were approximately 830,000 working days lost due to labor disputes. Throughout this month, workers across various industry sectors were involved in industrial disputes, such as nurses, train drivers, and driving instructors. Many of the workers who took part in strikes were part of the UK's public sector, which saw far weaker wage growth than that of the private sector throughout 2022. Widespread industrial action continued into 2023, with approximately 303,000 workers involved in industrial disputes in March 2023. There was far less industrial action by 2024, however, due to settlements in many of the disputes, although some are ongoing as of 2025.

This is the proportion of children aged under 16 (0-15) living in families in absolute low income during the year. The figures are based on the count of children aged under 16 (0-15) living in the area derived from ONS mid-year population estimates. The count of children refers to the age of the child at 30 June of each year.

Low income is a family whose equivalised income is below 60 per cent of median household incomes. Gross income measure is Before Housing Costs (BHC) and includes contributions from earnings, state support, and pensions. Equivalisation adjusts incomes for household size and composition, taking an adult couple with no children as the reference point. For example, the process of equivalisation would adjust the income of a single person upwards, so their income can be compared directly to the standard of living for a couple.

Absolute low income is income Before Housing Costs (BHC) in the reference year in comparison with incomes in 2010/11 adjusted for inflation. A family must have claimed one or more of Universal Credit, Tax Credits, or Housing Benefit at any point in the year to be classed as low income in these statistics. Children are dependent individuals aged under 16; or aged 16 to 19 in full-time non-advanced education. The count of children refers to the age of the child at 31 March of each year.

Data are calibrated to the Households Below Average Income (HBAI) survey regional estimates of children in low income but provide more granular local area information not available from the HBAI. For further information and methodology on the construction of these statistics, visit this link. Totals may not sum due to rounding.

Data is Powered by LG Inform Plus and automatically checked for new data on the 3rd of each month.

One of the most common complaints people tend to have about their jobs is related to salary and not being paid what they deserve. That’s why in February 2023 we surveyed 2,104 UK adults using the marketing research company YouGov.

Salaries for the same role can differ vastly from one city or region to another, depending on a wide range of factors.

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.Next Steps (also known as the Longitudinal Study of Young People in England (LSYPE1)) is a major longitudinal cohort study following a nationally representative group of around 16,000 who were in Year 9 attending state and independent schools in England in 2004, a cohort born in 1989-90.The first seven sweeps of the study were conducted annually (2004-2010) when the study was funded and managed by the Department for Education (DfE). The study mainly focused on the educational and early labour market experiences of young people.In 2015 Next Steps was restarted, under the management of the Centre for Longitudinal Studies (CLS) at the UCL Faculty of Education and Society (IOE) and funded by the Economic and Social Research Council. The Next Steps Age 25 survey was aimed at increasing the understanding of the lives of young adults growing up today and the transitions out of education and into early adult life.The Next Steps Age 32 Survey took place between April 2022 and September 2023 and is the ninth sweep of the study. The Age 32 Survey aimed to provide data for research and policy on the lives of this generation of adults in their early 30s. This sweep also collected information on many wider aspects of cohort members' lives including health and wellbeing, politics and social participation, identity and attitudes as well as capturing personality, resilience, working memory and financial literacy. Next Steps survey data is also linked to the National Pupil Database (NPD), the Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), the Individualised Learner Records (ILR) and the Student Loans Company (SLC). There are now two separate studies that began under the LSYPE programme. The second study, Our Future (LSYPE2) (available at the UK Data Service under GN 2000110), began in 2013 and will track a sample of over 13,000 young people annually from ages 13/14 through to age 20.Further information about Next Steps may be found on the CLS website.Secure Access datasets:Secure Access versions of Next Steps have more restrictive access conditions than Safeguarded versions available under the standard End User Licence (see 'Access' section).Secure Access versions of the Next Steps include:sensitive variables from the questionnaire data for Sweeps 1-9. These are available under Secure Access SN 8656. National Pupil Database (NPD) linked data at Key Stages 2, 3, 4 and 5, England. These are available under SN 7104.Linked Individualised Learner Records learner and learning aims datasets for academic years 2005 to 2014, England. These are available under SN 8577.detailed geographic indicators for Sweep 1 and Sweep 8 (2001 Census Boundaries) - available under SN 8189 and geographic indicators for Sweep 8 (2011 Census Boundaries) - available under SN 8190. The Sweep 1 geography file was previously held under SN 7104.Linked Health Administrative Datasets (Hospital Episode Statistics) for years 1998-2017 held under SN 8681.Linked Student Loans Company Records for years 2007-2021 held under SN 8848.When researchers are approved/accredited to access a Secure Access version of Next Steps, the Safeguarded (EUL) version of the study - Next Steps: Sweeps 1-9, 2004-2023 (SN 5545) - will be automatically provided alongside. SN 5545 - Next Steps: Sweeps 1-9, 2004-2023 includes the main Next Steps survey data from Sweep 1 (age 14) to Sweep 9 (age 32).Latest edition informationFor the seventeenth edition (September 2024), data and documentation for Sweep 9 (Age 32) have been added to the study. Main Topics: The content of the Next Steps Sweep 9 (Age 32 Survey) covers the following topics: Household relationship - Module includes information on: current relationship, previous cohabiting relationships, children (previously reported and new to household), childcare, non-resident children, non-resident parents, other household members (previously reported and new to the household).Housing - Module includes information on: current and previous housing, homelessness.Activities and employment - Module includes information on: activity history, current activity, current employment, employment at age 25, employment details for first job after full-time education, second job, prospective employment, employment support, work attitudes, and partner employment.Finance - Module includes information on: current pay/salary main job, pay/salary from second job, debt, income from other sources, partner's salary, benefits, other income, household income, pensions, savings and investments, subjective disposable income and attitudes to debt/saving/pension and future planning.Educational qualifications - Module includes information on: current education, educational qualifications, fees paid while in education, partner educationHealth - Module includes information on: general health, height and weight, illness/disability, exercise, sleep, diet, Covid-19.Identity, attitudes, and social and political participation - Module includes information on: attitudes, ethnic group, leisure, national identity, partner ethnicity, politics, social networks and social support, trust.Self Completion - Module includes information on: age at menarche, cognitive assessment, crime, difficult events, domestic violence, drinking, drugs, financial circumstances, financial literacy, gender identity and sexual orientation, health, loneliness, mental health, migration, personality, pregnancy history, relationship quality, school, sexual behaviour, smoking and well-being. The content of the Next Steps Sweep 8 (Age 25 Survey) covers the following topics: Household relationships: This module included information on current relationship, previous cohabiting relationships (dating back to September 2006), children, childcare, non-resident children, non-resident parents, and other household members.Housing: This module covered current and previous housing (summary data is collected about the different addresses the study members have lived in since they were 16, if other than the parents' home).Employment: Included information about current activity, current employment, second job, prospective employment (for unemployed), activity history, employment details for first job after September 2006 (aged 16), employment support, work attitudes, and partner employment. Data on current economic activities and activity history was obtained back to the time of the last interview and no earlier than September 2006.Finance: This module captured current pay/salary main job, pay from second job, income from other jobs, partner's income, benefits, income from other sources, household income, pensions, and debt. Education and job training: The module included job training, education since previous interview/September 2006, current education, fees, and partner's education.Health and wellbeing: Included information on general health, height and weight, exercise, sleep, diet, accidents and injuries. Identity and participation: This module provided information on young people's ethnicity and religion, measures of trust, risk, patience, meritocratic beliefs, adult identity, leisure, politics, social networks and social media participation.Self-completion module: The self-completion module included data on gender identity, locus of control, overall life satisfaction, mental health, self-harm, crime and harassment, drinking and smoking behaviour, drugs, bullying, sexual behaviour, and pregnancy history. A key component of the Age 25 Survey sweep is data linkage to administrative records held about individuals by government departments. At Sweeps 1-4 information was gathered on: the young person's family background;parental socio-economic status;personal characteristics;attitudes, experiences and behaviours;attainment in education;parental employment;income and family environment as well as local deprivation;the school(s) the young person attends/has attended;the young person's post-16 plans. The questionnaires at Sweeps 5-7 consisted of two modules: Household Information Module: included questions on the young person's household situation details of any persons living with themYoung Person Module: topics included demographics, attitudes to local area, activity history and current activity, jobs and training, qualifications being studied, higher education, attitudes to work and debt, childcare and caring responsibilities, young people Not in Education Employment or Training (NEET), Apprenticeships, information, advice and guidance, risk behaviours, relationships and sexuality, and own children. The additional 'Monthly Main Activity' dataset takes responses to the Activity History section of the questionnaire at Sweeps 4-7 and synthesises this information into variables that represent a monthly time series running from September 2006 (two months after the respondents completed compulsory education) until May 2010 (the first month of interviews for Sweep 7). For each of the 45 months in this period, this file contains the respondent's derived 'main' activity which is classified as one of Education, Employment, Apprenticeship/Training or Unemployed/Inactive (NEET). Multi-stage stratified random sample Telephone interview Self-administered questionnaire: Computer-assisted (CASI) Face-to-face interview

At the turn of the twentieth century, the wealthiest one percent of people in the United Kingdom controlled 71 percent of net personal wealth, while the top ten percent controlled 93 percent. The share of wealth controlled by the rich in the United Kingdom fell throughout the twentieth century, and by 1990 the richest one percent controlled 16 percent of wealth, and the richest ten percent just over half of it.

The number of high net worth individuals (HNWIs) in Europe has grown steadily over the past decade. This trend reflects broader wealth accumulation patterns across the continent, with the richest segments of society gaining an increasingly larger share of total wealth. Despite this concentration at the top, recent years have seen some positive signs in terms of overall income inequality reduction in Europe. Wealth concentration at the top From 1995 to 2021, the wealthiest one percent in Europe increased their share of wealth from 22 percent to over 26 percent. During this same period, the bottom 90 percent saw their collective share shrink. This concentration of wealth at the top aligns with the growth in HNWIs observed in countries in Europe. The top 10 percent of wealthy Europeans now own more than the remaining 90 percent combined, highlighting the significant wealth disparity that persists despite the overall increase in HNWIs.

Signs of improving income equality While wealth concentration has increased, there are indications that income inequality in the European Union has been improving in recent years. The Gini coefficient, a measure of income inequality, has been declining in both the EU and Eurozone since 2014, reaching new lows of 29.6 and 29.8 respectively in 2023. Additionally, the income ratio between the top 20 percent and bottom 20 percent of earners in the EU has fallen from 5.22 in 2015 to 4.74 in 2022. These trends suggest that despite the growth in HNWIs, efforts to address income disparities may be having some positive effects across the broader population.

In July 2024, the BBC released annual information regarding employees’ salaries. Sports presenter Gary Lineker was the highest paid BBC employee, with an approximate income of 1.35 million British pounds. This was followed by radio presenter Zoe Ball, with her pay below the billion-pound mark. Ken Bruce – the power of loyal fans In mid-2023, after 30 years of employment at BBC, Ken Bruce, one of the highest-earning presenters of the company, left to work at a rival radio station. Bruce is known for his mellow presenting style and a trademarked Popmaster music quiz. He took both to his new employer. Even though BBC Radio 2 remains the leading radio station in the UK by audience numbers, Bruce’s departure meant a loss of a million listeners for the BBC between the first and second quarters of 2023. It is reported that these fans followed Bruce to his new mid-morning show on Greatest Hits Radio. In general, the BBC runs national UK radio stations, as well as multiple regional and local radio services. The share of all BBC radio stations in the total listening time in the UK is just over 50 percent. BBC Radio 4 has always taken up the largest share of the corporation’s spending on radio programming, while Radio 5 live and Radio 2 follow suit. BBC – sources of income The majority of BBC’s income comes from the license fee. It is a tax which must be paid by each household in the UK in order to receive live television programming, stream online TV via the internet, or watch BBC programs on iPlayer. In 2023 the cost of the fee was 159 British pounds. More than 65 percent of the company’s income is attributed to this funding. The remainder of BBC income and revenue consists of commercial (mainly BBC Worldwide) income and Grant-in-Aid for World Service income. In total, BBC’s revenue from TV business and offerings surpassed 20 billion British pounds in 2022.