What is a good salary in UK at present?

all depends on what you do .. from shop worker to suit in an office .. what area level of job .. single married ?? refine your question ..
 
flea.rider said:
all depends on what you do .. from shop worker to suit in an office .. what area level of job .. single married ?? refine your question ..
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Got a mate who's single without kids living in Central Scotland on about 45K, he's minted. Multiple holidays a year, lives in a wee studio flat near the centre of the city and doesn't even need a car, just rents one if he decides to do a trip.

How you use your money, especially in your 20s is key. He has no mortgage as he paid it off in his 30s. Clever guy - which I'd done that :)
 
Orangeade said:
For me, no money would be worth it in the UK as even though London has a lot going on.....I just don't like the aggressive people and (lack of) culture.

For me a good salary is one where you can buy everything you want without thinking about it, saving a large amount a month and having at least one house paid off.

So for London as single person I'm presuming 150k as the tax is insane and property price high. Even then are you really getting ahead or just more comfortable than most?

Up north I'd just kill myself. Grey, miserable weather, surrounded by miserable unhealthy people. Wouldn't do it for a million a year.
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Raumarik said:
Got a mate who's single without kids living in Central Scotland on about 45K, he's minted. Multiple holidays a year, lives in a wee studio flat near the centre of the city and doesn't even need a car, just rents one if he decides to do a trip.

How you use your money, especially in your 20s is key. He has no mortgage as he paid it off in his 30s. Clever guy - which I'd done that :)
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fair play to him .. i'm married house car bike and we earn about that take home between us .. up in the nw uk .. wages are crap but cost of living is easier
 
Raumarik said:
Got a mate who's single without kids living in Central Scotland on about 45K, he's minted. Multiple holidays a year, lives in a wee studio flat near the centre of the city and doesn't even need a car, just rents one if he decides to do a trip.

How you use your money, especially in your 20s is key. He has no mortgage as he paid it off in his 30s. Clever guy - which I'd done that :)
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I’ve got a buddy that’s similar. Single, very smart, doing a pretty trivial job by his standards for good money. 6 mile commute 4 days a week. Does what he wants, when he wants with decent cash reserves. Lots of free time and plenty of cash to enjoy it. Nice house paid for by 30~
 
potatolord said:
Data from ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, Oct 2022 (latest, gross) https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentan...ts/placeofresidencebylocalauthorityashetable8



And, just for you Gucci belt wearers: top decile earners. Huge spread between London and the rest here.

Uk £56,810
London £71,749
South East £62,712
East £60,054
East Midlands £51,438
West Midlands £53,315
South West £52,858
North East £49,722
Yorkshire and Humber £52,140
Scotland £53,924
Wales £53,315
Northern Ireland £51,823

Top decile will cover a huge range of earnings, so take that one with a pinch of salt.
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tom_e said:
What I'm earning now would have been a dream wage 5 years ago...I'm still basically skint.
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I feel this, apparently wife and I are top decile earners but doesnt feel crazy high money, but suppose we've not been on these salaries for a long period (<3 years)

I don't even have a gucci belt :(

After the point were at though I do feel that money becomes less of a concern for most things. Just can't afford ludicrous cars or holidays.
 
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I live in London(albeit Zone 6 with a Kent address but London borough :confused:)with combined income of 62k, and its pretty comfortable to be fair.

I find it funny when people say London like its one small place where everything's super expensive.
 
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potatolord said:
Data from ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, Oct 2022 (latest, gross) https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentan...ts/placeofresidencebylocalauthorityashetable8

I just did a quick and dirty pivot table of the weekly, and multiplied by 52.

Only London, East and South East are above the UK median.
Median
Uk £27,582
London £33,582
South East £29,577
East £28,533
East Midlands £26,265
West Midlands £26,842
South West £26,384
North East £25,511
Yorkshire and Humber £25, 968
Scotland £27,487
Wales £26,254
Northern Ireland £25,901

At 75th centile, London, East, South East are above UK figure. Variation between regions is greater here.
75th centile
Uk £40,840
London £49,868
South East £44,200
East £42,692
East Midlands £37,975
West Midlands £39,270
South West £44,200
North East £36,233
Yorkshire and Humber £37,440
Scotland £40,942
Wales £37,440
Northern Ireland £38,464

And, just for you Gucci belt wearers: top decile earners. Huge spread between London and the rest here.

Uk £56,810
London £71,749
South East £62,712
East £60,054
East Midlands £51,438
West Midlands £53,315
South West £52,858
North East £49,722
Yorkshire and Humber £52,140
Scotland £53,924
Wales £53,315
Northern Ireland £51,823

Top decile will cover a huge range of earnings, so take that one with a pinch of salt.
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lol .. i find it very funny that the nw is not mentioned in any of those .. but i do love to be beside the seaside :P
 
my take home is about £2700 a month (pension is already covered before my pay) . (complicated system means i am not sure my actual salary - similar to a diplomat (but no immunity ;) ). i dont think its a wild salary but its ok. My wife earns similar (actually a little bit more) so combined we have no issues, we have ok holidays and i have a (to me at least) nice car which is reliable.....

Personally i think the notion of 1 working adult and one stay at home house person is long over. we both work, and we both muck in with the home chores as well...... school holidays are expensive, we make a lot of use of holiday clubs and afterschool clubs, but i think our lad thrives in them and i think is possibly more beneficial than just being at home with one of us.

of course when we ARE at home with him then we have to make the most of that time as it is a lot less than what i had with my mum when i was his age for instance.

(both sets of grandparents are a ways away so cant count on family for help).

this is a few miles outside of cambridge. but it really is location dependant. Also the mortgage we have is now pretty small.
 
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Median salary in this country is around £33k (average is something like 37-38k), so if you're earning above that, you're doing better than half the country already. That said, I earn close to £50k but feel it'd be getting close to uncomfortable if I was single, even up here in the North West with its cheaper housing.
 
I have found that no matter how much your pay increases each year, your expenses expand to fit it. In my case, a big part of that is because I pay more into my pension each year. If there hadn't been this hike in interest rates, I'd feel a lot more comfortable. But as an adult, I can't remember when I last felt financially comfortable.
 
If I had to pick a salary benchmark as being Good, I'd go with £50k (net around £3k/month?)

Nothing changes though.
You go from worrying about getting the cheapest deals in the supermarket, to worrying about paying bills, to worrying about paying a large mortgage, to worrying about a nice holiday for the kids, not saving enough for retirement or a career change you promised yourself.
 
I'm paraphrasing someone who I forget but a good salary is when you earn enough to be able to pay people to make your problems go away. Obviously you need to cover all your basic needs, but to then have enough to be able to pay people to sort your garden, clean your house, do all the DIY jobs you don't want to do etc. So being in a position where you can throw thousands at things and not have to think about it.

According to the list above, I'm in the top decile category. I live alone, I'm very frugal (I grew up having little money, it's ingrained in me to save) but I still have an endless todo list and can't justify paying people to sort most of the things out.

So I don't know.. maybe £100k/year to give that flexibility.
 
413x said:
You'd be renting forever!
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Actually mate, I already have been renting for over 30 years. I moved in with a young piece of skirt in my youth and got a mortgage and she screwed me over and smashed my credit score so I had to adapt to a new way of (insecure) life. Swings-n-roundabouts though...
 
413x said:
Managed to keep my outgoings fairly similar.
The big one is I don't really want an expensive house. So I don't expect my mortgage to have to grow. Holidays will improve though. As no point dieing rich!
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We held back on our house as well, it's just about big enough for the 4 of us. And it will be plenty when it's again just the two of us.
It's cheaper to heat, cheaper to maintain, and the mortgage is relatively cheap. It just made so much sense.
 
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