To ask if £30k is a low FT salary these days?

DD graduated last summer and her starting salary was 30k plus car. She'd had two small payrises within 5 months. She's a civil engineer, but the most junior one on the project.

I find that as I’ve moved up I’m in meetings with different people. I’m often the lowest earner in meetings despite me advising those earning considerably more. After 20 years (with some time out when babies were little) I have reached £50k. The next step will be out of the area so would mean a commute so I’ll settle for now.

It's low. How old
Are you and
What is
Your
Profession?

It depends on context.

For someone with a few years experience I think it's pretty good.

For a full time, specialist role with 6/7 years under their belt it feels a bit low.

For someone with 10+ years in a specialist role it's definitely low.

Similar to my wage and I have a very modest lifestyle and only £500 in savings. I have no idea how those on minimum wage cope.

agree - you've pretty much answered yourself! bearing in mind London salaries considerably bring up the average, if you look at statistics by region £30k is the lower end of average - also that covers people who have been working a lot longer than you (so you'd assume would be higher up the ladder), but also those without degrees (which we were all told would increase our earning potential significantly, not sure if it's true tbh!).

Also bear in mind that the more you earn the more deductions come out of your pay, (student loan goes up particularly noticeably once you're over the threshold) so sometimes it doesn't seem worth it if the extra salary also comes with a lot more work/responsibility!

It's interesting that the private sector jobs you've seen seem to be paying less - historically it was usually the case you'd get paid less in the public sector in exchange for a good pension (which probably adds thousands onto the salary by itself) and better working conditions.

I work full time in a job where I'm unlikely to ever earn £30k. It's a notoriously low paid profession (health care related).

DS2 however is on more than £30k at 21 so I would think it's more that my wage is very low rather than £30k is high.

DH earns around £40k but is one of life's coasters, never having wanted to go for promotion, management positions etc.

The private sector jobs offering £24k with 3 years experience are hugely out of touch if they are jobs that require a degree though, the public sector overtook that a while ago (teachers starting salary is £30k for example), and lots of private sector grads starting at £28-30k.

Well it's all relative.

I remember earning well under £30K and then £30K seemed like a lot.

I now earn quite a lot more so £30K doesn't seem like a lot.

It also depends on the role as some jobs are seen as higher salary roles even if they are not.

It’s low for a professional job that requires a degree of you have 9 years experience. It’s a good graduate starting salary though, and obviously above minimum wage.

£25k is the real living wage and £27k is the real living wage in London. (For 40 hour week)

So £30k isn't really that high

In my workplace the most junior staff are on £25-30k

I think it’s average. Slightly lower side of average if anything.

Low for London, def more like average for the north

I think it used to be a really high salary and it should still be,nowadays with the cost of living I know people on twice that struggling.
congratulations on finally reaching your goal though, I remember when I finally reached 30k i felt like a superstar!

You've really covered this in your OP, to be honest. £30k is lower than average but considerably higher than minimum wage.

No I don't think it is low, it is middling I would say.