How much income is considered good income in U.K. ?

[novembeer]

Hi Guys

Just wanted to know - How much income is consider as good income if you are living in London for couple?

Where you can eat out once a week, have holiday once a year etc .. not too posh lifestyle just medium lifestyle.

I would say 50/55k no children. 70k with children.

I think it depends what you mean by good income? Like what kind of lifestyle is good to you? Is it running two cars, saving, eating out every week, buying new clothes when you want?

Me and my DP currently earn around £50k between us not in London but in another city (rent £950) and whilst we are comfortable I wouldn’t say we are well off or earn a particularly good combined wage (I’d say that would be combined income of around 70k) so I’d say 100k for London combined to be a good wage?

We would struggle to get a mortgage on a decent house on our combined income as it is right now so I wouldn’t say that’s a good wage.

I earn 50k in greater London. Single parent (to an 19 Yr old).

Nice life style but low outgoings and no debt.

Well London students on £12k a year can probably manage a Nando's or Spoons curry each week plus a weeks camping in the UK!

So £12k a year each

I understand that for an MP, £81,000 is considered insufficient.

metro.co.uk/2021/10/06/tory-mp-asks-for-payrise-as-living-on-81k-a-year-can-be-really-grim-15371935/

[quote PigletJohn]I understand that for an MP, £81,000 is considered insufficient.

metro.co.uk/2021/10/06/tory-mp-asks-for-payrise-as-living-on-81k-a-year-can-be-really-grim-15371935/[/quote]
😟🤐 they are never happy £81k is more theN enough I think 💭 🤔

A year ago me and my dp were on £23k each before kids and we managed to live comfortably, could saved about £500 a month each and didn't worry about spending..
But we've had some changes in circumstances,. My dp is on £25k and me on £20k, we have childcare costs which is taking most of our costs it's not enough. Working out bills, we could be comfortable on an extra £5k each but happy with £10k each.

I would say a household of £60k-80 is good. Anything else is just a bonus.

I don’t think you could do it in less than £80k. That’s what we have as a gross household income and occasionally it’s tight.

I would say we have this lifestyle, however we rent a 1 bedroom flat. Next year we will buy a 3 bedroom house but will be about a 40 minute drive outside of central London as there’s just no way we can afford the house we want in London.

We both take home roughly £60-65k pre tax.

We are on £74k as a small family in mid wales. It is plenty! Especially as not paying childcare. This buys a good sized detached house, two cars and a couple of foreign holidays every year plus nice days out. If I went full time it would also stretch to school fees for one child but never two.

I disagree that you couldn’t do it on less than 80k. We do it on about 70k between us with a child in a two bedroom house, so with no children and a 1 bedroom flat you might be able to manage on 50k. I don’t think you’d be eating out very often though.
Saying that, a ‘good’ income to me sounds like someone is very comfortable/wealthy, so very different to an income where it’s possible to get by.

Assuming you both work, £50k income probably works out around £3.2k take home pay - depending on your level of pension contributions.

It really comes down to what you spend on housing. If you rented a 2 bed flat in Zone 3, then you’d easily spend £1.8k on rent and bills - so £1.4K left for everything else. That would be doable but not comfortable - strict budget needed. If you lived further out, or rented a 1 bed, then you could cut a few hundred off your rent - which would make things a bit more comfortable. You could rent a 2 bed near Dagenham station for just over £1k, so ~£1.3k inc bills. That would leave £1.9k per month for everything else, which suddenly feels more comfortable.

Just for couple I m asking mostly ..

Take home pay for £50k will be around £38k
£2,400 each for travel cards = £4,800
Will you run a car?
Rent for 1 bedroom flat in Brixton £18k
Council tax and utilities £3.6k
Food £5k
Eating out once a week £2.6k
£333 a month for everything else - savings, holidays, presents, clothes, haircuts, medical dental and optical, entertainment, running a car

I would say £70k without kids and £100k with kids. I live in cambridge with income £70k with 2 kids. We live comfortably, have our own 4 bedroom semi, have day out but still some months cant safe money due to unexpected costs (cars broken down, pay for plumber, etc)

The meal out and the annual holiday is the easy part. It's housing and childcare costs if you need them that you will struggle with. Plus transport if you live further out, although if you don't have a car, it's probably cheaper to just have a tube pass than all the costs of buying and running a car.

But £50k pa between you is very low in London for full time workers. NMW is almost £20k pa and even low paid professional careers like nursing and teaching pay around £27/8k pa as a starting salary.