Average UK salary. How you getting on?

[RedSquirrel111]

Thought it would be interesting to hear off the average, and not the mumsnet six figures- can't afford to live

Average UK salary for full time workers 2021 was £31,285

I'm very slightly higher on £33k with potential end of year bonus up to £2k

• live in North West
• insurance broker
• no partner or children
• own home (with mortgage)
• comfortable but a bit worried about increased cost of living.

Generally I feel quite lucky. I can't afford luxuries, but I don't worry about basic necessities - don't really budget for food costs etc.

How does your average wage look? What's the job sector? Do you struggle? What area?

What job earns 5 x average salary!?

@Bettybantz

Can someone verify what the UK average salary is? I thought it was around £28k so OP asking for the £25-£35 bracket seems fair.

Why brag other than to make others feel inadequate? I don’t know why anyone would.

I guess I don’t mix in those kind of circles and I’m glad of that. Money can’t buy humility it seems.

I think 28k is average, then 31k is average full time. It differs according to what data you're looking at - I posted this up thread, seems the best indicator :)

<a class="break-all" href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=ifs.org.uk/tools_and_resources/where_do_you_fit_in&ved=2ahUKEwjbi5aN3qD1AhUXQUEAHbqkCG4QFnoECDEQAQ&usg=AOvVaw38wsS79zJv42a_UGdM-mvy" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=ifs.org.uk/tools_and_resources/where_do_you_fit_in&ved=2ahUKEwjbi5aN3qD1AhUXQUEAHbqkCG4QFnoECDEQAQ&usg=AOvVaw38wsS79zJv42a_UGdM-mvy

I am jealous of the people who live in areas where £30k allows you to own a home and have a nice life. I understand that when you are in that situation it seems unfathomable that someone on a multiple of that salary might struggle, but I also know what it means to live in London and spend the equivalent of a 30k a year salary on renting a not very large apartment in a not very nice area.

When I lived in Glasgow on £30k a year, I seemed to have a roughly equivalent standard of living to my friend who lived in London, and was earning £54k py. We were both single and home owners with small mortgages, so all other things being equal in that sense.

I imagine living in London or the South East on the 'average' salary, especially with a family, must be challenging.

I earn approx 25k full time. Get some tax credits which takes it up to 30k. Partner just started work approx 12-15k so tax credits will stop. 3 kids. My wage covers all bills with not much left over. Credit cards relied on when partner was out of work but hope to pay off now he’s working. Bills always seem to be going up and cost of school uniform etc bit of a juggle at times but get by

OP has pent up hostility towards high earners.

I earn about 8k.5k last year due to lockdown. Cleaner. Lone parent of one. I expect to be shamed also for posting as I do not earn the average national wage.

Full time carer £3,515.20 pa. Used to be on more than 10x that salary!

I know this isn’t the point of the thread but DP earns £40k and I’m building a business £10k pa for the last 2 years. We’ve found it a struggle (but we’ve invested massively into a ‘doer upper’ house). I worry about money constantly.

I think the figures for next year will look very different I’m not going to be too outing because my profession is generally lambasted on Mumsnet but suffice to say I have known people get £11 grand pay rises in the last three months who weren’t even worth their initial salary.

If you’ve got a review coming up I would put salary increase pay rise at the top of your agenda the market is hot hot hot

@blueshoes really? I got the sense op just wanted a space to discuss without the invasion of high earners that always seems to happen

Sorry I didn’t RTFT and misunderstood

I do earn higher than the average but there’s only me supporting one child at uni and the other at primary school so we’re not as well off as those in dual income families. I was raised on benefits and it’s taken a long time and a lot of hard work to get to this point. I’ve seen what it’s like to really struggle and I’m just grateful that I don’t have to lie awake at night worrying about how to pay the gas bill or buy new school uniform anymore like I did when my eldest was small.

@Frazzled2207

£45k ish in recruitment industry, would be more if i hadn't taken a few years off while the kids were younger. I'm in the NW and i think probably about average around here for people at our stage in life (early 40s). Most people I know are teachers or nurses of similar.

we're extremely fortunate in that my dh earns about double what I do. If he earned the same as me we would be fine day to day but I would worry about saving for the future.

I have many friends who live in london on properly stupid salaries. However I'm not sure that their quality of life is meaningfully better than ours. Yes they have posher nights out but mostly have ginormous mortgages and pay shit loads of tax. I'm very happy to be in the north.

It's not at all. 40's is the age group that has the highest earnings, but its still around £35,000. As that's the UK average I would suppose in the NW it's much less. Not being arsey, but just a lot of people on here don't seem to understand average wage :)

standout-cv.com/pages/average-uk-salary

250k. Lawyer. They get their money's worth.

I am SAHM with a disabled child. But my husband is on £22,570 per annum, South West, Warehouse Supervisor, 42 hours per week. We are fortunate to have a council house (which we pay full rent for) and I receive £67 per week carers' allowance and some CTC but no WTC so we still pay for prescriptions, school meals etc.

We are now comfortable and manage to save money each month.

We don't have any major financial worries.

Crazy to me that some of you are on such high salaries yet lack basic comprehension ??

Doctor full time (in training)
£55,000
DH earns about £80k but this does fluctuate a little
We live in the east of England. Property prices on the high side but not as bad as London. We are comfortable but have a fair amount of outgoings. High mortgage as we bought later in life due to my longer medical training, private ed for our daughter

Overall feel very very lucky

[quote forcedfun]@blueshoes really? I got the sense op just wanted a space to discuss without the invasion of high earners that always seems to happen[/quote]
yes really. Nobody owns a thread, not least the OP.

[quote forcedfun]@blueshoes really? I got the sense op just wanted a space to discuss without the invasion of high earners that always seems to happen[/quote]
But there has been an invasion of the LOW earners just as much as the HIGH earners and only the high earners have been attacked. I suspect that's what Blueshoes is referring to.

Ravetastic
👏👏👏

@Goldrusher

250k. Lawyer. They get their money's worth.

Lol.

Gird your loins.

Apologies didn’t realise it was meant to be average salary only commenting. I do think though that your salary is only as important as your outgoings. If you buy early and before property prices increased, have help with childcare and no student loan I think your quality of life would be far better than some

I'm 40k nhs podiatrist. Single, own my own home outright. Have to be careful with money as I'm saving every last penny for retirement.

Butchy: But there has been an invasion of the LOW earners just as much as the HIGH earners and only the high earners have been attacked. I suspect that's what Blueshoes is referring to.

Good point. I saw you made it earlier and I agree with you.

50k, single in 30s. Renting london one bedroom flat; bloody expensive (£1500 for basic) plus bills.
Save a little each month and consider myself careful with money.
Definitely worried about rising cost of bills, especially when it’s just myself.

Those who say they’re comfortable; what do you have left after tax and rent/mortgage to live off?

I aim to buy somewhere outside of london in a year (or when the market stops being crazy) as I can’t justify london prices of living.