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Original poster

To think it’s unlikely £300k is the median household wealth in the UK

115 replies

Justacigarette · 16/11/2025 18:09

saw this on Facebook: apparantly the telegraph are saying that median UK wealth is £300k per household.

From who I know personally, i find this so unlikely. Sure; some people do have wealth over this amount; no doubt about it. But I know many many more people who have a lot less

To think it’s unlikely £300k is the median household wealth in the UK
OP posts:
Bellyblueboy · 16/11/2025 19:33

🤣 official national statistics and you think they are wrong because people you know don’t have that much money. Unless you know everyone in the UK and have forensically reviewed their finances how would you possibly know?

Bumblebee72 · 16/11/2025 19:09

I don't think it is that crazy if it includes pensions and property. My pension pot is over £500k alone on paper but that is still a fairly paltry pension when the time comes. Anyone with a defined benefit scheme would have much greater "worth" even it they have a fairly averagly paying job.

WinterHangingBasket · 16/11/2025 19:04

It's the median. Seems pretty accurate to me. I would love to see a proper distribution. I know we are on the upper part, because we are older, live in the SE with mortgage mostly paid and good pension savings, but it would be an interesting exercise to understand exactly where we sit.

Tiswa · 16/11/2025 18:59

Yes I think they very deliberately say median so it isn’t skewed by the really wealthy

SchnizelVonKrumm · 16/11/2025 18:39

GertrudePerkinsPaperyThing · 16/11/2025 18:30

Why do they use median for that?

I’m still surprised though - they are an awful lot of people with no wealth at all.

Because the median prevents outliers at the very top from skewing the figures. If you lined up 99 people in order of their wealth and then gave £10bn to person 99, the median would stay the same because the important figure is what person 50 has.

bottledboot · 16/11/2025 18:38

It's the median. The actual ONS data breaks it down by age group too. There's significant variations obviously.

A lot will be held by older people

TheLurpackYears · 16/11/2025 18:37

That sounds plausible.

bottledboot · 16/11/2025 18:37

When you consider property I thought it would be higher?

Minty25 · 16/11/2025 18:36

I think it's likely accurate if considers equity. I work with older people and often have details of their financial situation and many do have considerable amounts of savings/ shares / second properties as well as their mortgage free homes.

SchnizelVonKrumm · 16/11/2025 18:34

NeverDropYourMooncup · 16/11/2025 18:29

Don't forget that by being slap bang in the middle, this means including the phenomenal levels of wealth held by a very small number of people - somebody with a net worth of £30,000,000 is going to to shift the arrow higher than 6 million people in social housing with fuck all except for a sofa from IKEA and £350 in the bank until payday.

No, that would be if they used the mean. If you lined up every household in ascending order of wealth, the median is the wealth of the household in the middle of the line. It doesn't make any difference to the median figure how much wealthier person 51 is.

ErrolTheDragon · 16/11/2025 18:34

YABU - as others have said it’s probably reasonable and it clearly says ‘less than’Confused

MeridaBrave · 16/11/2025 18:33

It’s median not mean. As it includes equity in property and pensions I think it sounds about right.

HarryVanderspeigle · 16/11/2025 18:30

The average house price in UK is just a shade off £300k. There will be millions who bought at a much lower price and paid off the mortgage. Then add pension, any savings and working income. House and pension equity aren't things people generally consider, as they aren't as accessible.

GertrudePerkinsPaperyThing · 16/11/2025 18:30

Why do they use median for that?

I’m still surprised though - they are an awful lot of people with no wealth at all.

NeverDropYourMooncup · 16/11/2025 18:29

Don't forget that by being slap bang in the middle, this means including the phenomenal levels of wealth held by a very small number of people - somebody with a net worth of £30,000,000 is going to to shift the arrow higher than 6 million people in social housing with fuck all except for a sofa from IKEA and £350 in the bank until payday.

Mirrorxxx · 16/11/2025 18:29

Must be pensions. We are in our mid 30s and together our pensions are probably worth over 500k

Snorlaxo · 16/11/2025 18:28

UK median age = 40
UK median house price = £273k

I would expect the median 40 year old to have accrued a fair chunk of equity, have some pension and perhaps some savings including a possible inheritance or two to make the total 300k

I couldn’t find median savings but estimates seem to be 7-10k ish

Bjorkdidit · 16/11/2025 18:27

You don't need much of a pension for it to be worth the £300k alone, and it would only give around £10-15k pa pension income. Many average earners who have been paying into a pension for a couple of decades will have more than that.

BellRock1234 · 16/11/2025 18:27

Pensions will be a big proportion of this, I imagine. A defined benefit pension of 10k per year is probably valued at 200-250k. Most people will have a smaller pot than that, but most will have something.

Tiswa · 16/11/2025 18:23

The top 10% is 1.2m bottom 10% under 16,500

then there are regional differences SE median is 490 NE 180

Ilovemyshed · 16/11/2025 18:23

I don’t think it is at all wrong if you include equity in property and pension wealth.

IvedoneitagainhaventI · 16/11/2025 18:21

If it includes property then it is so dependent on the area that you live in. I own my property outright and if I use it's value to calculate my wealth then I fall well short of the £300k mark. But I am relatively wealthy in the area I live in by the very fact I own outright a three bedroom property in decent nick.

Bjorkdidit · 16/11/2025 18:19

Probably more likely that the people you know are not typical of the entire population or you don't understand statistics, rather than the data is inaccurate.

BountifulPantry · 16/11/2025 18:19

Sounds about right if you include pensions and equity.

MidnightPatrol · 16/11/2025 18:17

Between houses and pensions this sounds like it is achievable.

£150k in housing and £150k in pensions… probably not that unusual to have accumulated that.

Particularly given how much people have made on property!