If you live in the north, what's your household income and are you comfortable?

[CarrotMilk]

We love up north with a household income of £43k , 3 kids , mortgage on a small house and still feel skint. I budget well but just never seem to have any money left over for savings, unexpected costs. Anyone else like this?

i live in the north west. 160k after tax between us. No mortgage, nothing on finance, no debt etc.

2 primary aged children.

Well £43k between you is low, it's like earning £21k each which is entry level salaries. Unless you have a low mortgage it's going to feel tight.

We're bouncing between 70 to 90k. 1 child. North (but not cheap). But low mortgage/no debt makes us feel comfortable.

43k is a low joint income. Median salary in the UK is around 29k and most people have fewer than 3 children. Even though you might live in a cheap area of the UK, I can see why you are struggling. Kids are expensive.

we have only two kids and live in the south east so not really comparable but our joint income is over £100k and I have tried to calculate whether we can afford for me to work part- time next year. We would be ok if I dropped to 4 days a week but couldn’t go any lower. Once our joint income drops under 80k we stop being able to save because those 3-4 days a week in childcare are so expensive.

Household income averages 28k
3 kids
own home
suburb of big northern town
comfortably off, no problem paying for things, have enough for all bills and to save a bit for Christmas, modest holidays.
we don’t have expensive habits
we only have one adult working due to health issues. We are hoping to get back to being a dual income household one day and then we will feel rich
or just have a pension because at the moment we have zilch

North east. Join take home of about 35k. Not rolling in it but get by, 2 primary aged kids. Can afford to live comfortably but not saving anything.

21k take home isn’t an “entry level” salary. It’s 5k above a full time living wage take home, and that’s assuming you qualify for the living wage. Many people don’t, myself included.

what level are you entering at?

West Yorkshire, combined income of around 85k, small mortgage and few other debts. 3dc, 2 still needing childcare. Would say we can afford the essentials and treat ourselves on occasion. Wouldn’t say our lifestyle is particularly lavish but we don’t go without.

I'm NW, SAHM with 2 DC, 1 in primary school. Household income approx £47k, 3 bed house with fairly small mortgage. A few months ago I would have described us as comfortable, but now we need to be quite careful with money as costs keep going up. It's a real worry.

We’re County Durham, detached house, £95K per annum, life is good, we’re lucky.

Co. Durham, married two children, four bed house, joint income c. £250k. We do well but it's not always been like this so we are conservative and save what we can.

Our income is nearer 50, 2 kids and small mortgage. We feel comfortable but do lead a fairly modest life style. We never buy on credit (including cars) which helps.

Blimey - there's some loaded people on here!!! We aren't in the north so haven't answered but we earn about £100k after tax and thought we were pretty well off!

£140k (ish) income. Live in York. In our mid to late 40s, two kids at state school. Big mortgage. Both work, but DH is the major earner. Have a nice life and can generally do what we want to. We are very lucky, but do have risks too, as DH is a partner in a business, so there's so financial risk attached to that.

30k, North East, one child. We’re ok, no debt and recently bought a house but have to manage our money fairly carefully- no holidays or things like that, 15 year old car.

Orkney, something tells me this probably isn't the North you were talking about though 😂 been 50k for a lot of years, but I just got a job so joint income going up to 70k now. No kids, feels a very good quality of life wage wise now.

Greater Manchester 90kish joint income, usually comfortable but still careful. Have just started maternity leave however and took on a bigger mortgage.

West Yorkshire. DH earns £90k, I earn £50k (part time). We are comfortable but don't consider ourselves rich.

We have a large mortgage (because we set it as short a term as possible) and fairly hefty school fees. Were it not for that we would be well off. We don't have tons left at the end of the month as such but that's because we are saving a lot as well. We do go on two or three holidays a year. I know we are very lucky.

What's north? North of where?

Where is "the north"?

To me, "up north" means Durham, Northumberland & Cumbria. Some people consider Cheshire, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire & Lincolnshire to be "north". Scots regard all of these as "south". Nobody knows which part of the country you're referring to.

North of what?

This isn't bloody Game of Thrones you know!

I live in North East Wales. So technically I'm North, East, South or West of everyone. Take your pick!

Nobody knows which part of the country you're referring to.

Only people being deliberately obtuse. When the context is financial it's pretty easy to work out what the OP is meaning.

Nobody knows which part of the country you're referring to.

Mmmmkay.

I always feel bad reading these threads because absolutely everyone earns lots

Lincolnshire

Joint income of £55k with occasional overtime/bonuses

1 child - we use before and after school Clubs a few times a week so about £100 a month. Can manage most school holidays with minimal kids clubs - summer holidays just cost around £300.

We don't have a big house or the latest car and are not bothered by fancy gadgets or the latest decor. But what we have is nice and saved hard for.

One UK holiday a year - usually a cottage. 2-3 weekends away and bigger days out (theme park etc)

We have a relatively small mortgage for our age and our essential bills and food can be paid for with 1 wage so the remaining wage can be saved for short and long term goals and fun stuff.

I feel very very lucky and happy with my lot - not massively ambitious to progress my career in order to have more and neither is my husband. We like our quiet simple life and being able to provide a comfortable childhood for our daughter very similar to our own.