What’s a ‘good salary’ these days?

[Falalaalalalalaaaah]

inside and outside London?

When I was younger, I always thought 50k+ was a ‘good salary’, finally made it up there and I feel money slips through my fingers faster than when I earned half that.

dont get me wrong, high interest rates, inflation and cost of living, children and lifestyle inflation have all played a role. But it got me thinking, as the term ‘good salary’ is used quite loosely, what do people mean with that broadly? And what’s the difference inside and outside London.

disclaimer to say I’ve worked In London, but never lived in London.

My benchmark is 35k. Not in London.

I think it very much depends on where you live, not just London and outside London, and what your household income is. I’m in the southeast but not London, I think our household income is good at £115k but if our household income was just my salary of £60k I wouldn’t think it was good. You really need £80k plus household income where I am to be comfortable, unless you’re old enough to have bought a house 20 plus years ago a lot cheaper of course.

Probably over 70k

yes of course and how many children to have etc.

im not based down south, our income is comparable (can go a bit higher with bonuses) and whilst I don’t for a second doubt that I’m fortunate and blessed. I certainly don’t feel flush, in fact I feel more stretched than ever

I guess there might be a distinction between a good salary and a ‘high salary’ maybe at least for me, and I think high for me is, close to as you say 75k

I think it depends on what you classify as good & your lifestyle, but I also do think the more you earn the more you spend because you just adjust your lifestyle accordingly so it often doesn’t actually feel like you have much extra money.

E.g. If you earned 25k and had a 100k mortgage, your meals out were a McDonalds and you had a 7k car on finance, then went onto 50k and kept that 100k flat, the same meals out and the same car, you’d notice you had a lot of extra money. But what actually happens is your salary increases to 50k so you decide actually I can afford a nicer/bigger house now, so now you have a 200k mortgage, you’re on more money now so instead of McDonald’s it’s Nando’s, and you can afford a nicer car so you trade in your 7k finance for a 20k finance. Suddenly actually you have no extra money.

As your wage increases you tend to change your lifestyle accordingly, even almost accidentally sometimes.

I also think it depends if you’re single/have a partner and kids. I’d say 50k is a decent salary but if it’s the only salary supporting a household plus a couple of kids then it won’t go far, whereas if you have a partner and both earn 50k then 100k household income makes a huge difference.

Thats a salary in the range of the top 10% of the UK population.

TBF I think 70K household income is a good household income, so two people earning 35k or a single high earner.

I think MN mean that a good salary is £80k+. However in my poor WC northern town, anything over £30k is considered a good wage. DH and I both earn around £40k and this is more than a good income for us here. If we moved to Alderley Edge and sent our kids to private school however, I'm sure it wouldn't go far.

I've no idea any more.

Salaries haven't kept pace with inflation. I see lots of jobs around here paying the same as they were twenty years ago.

I’m seeing the same thing, well not twenty years ago but same as they used to pay 6+ years ago

It depends.

As a single person living in London, and all the 'single person tax' that goes with it, I didn't feel comfortable until my pay reached ~£85k.

I now live in an even more expensive city (hard to fathom, I know) and I would not have moved here for less than the equivalent of £150k p.a.

Everyone's a lot worse off than they used to be. If you were earning 35k in, say, 2012, when the Olympic were in London, that's worth almost 50k now.

I can't look at the inflation calculator. It's too depressing. Adjusted for inflation, I'm barely earning more than I was in 2018, but I'm working double the hours with ten times the responsibility.

I'm a single parent. My income is about 65k a year. It doesn't feel a lot.

I'm the same. Inside London. Currently on about £50k, just got back up there after a big drop after having kids.

Before I felt extremely comfortable, even wealthy on that (8 years ago)

Now money disappears before it even drops. Admittedly I have nursery fees now, but it's everything else too - food, bills, mortgage is double what it was

Should add that's only half of household income. But that doesn't make it any less comfortable. Housing and bills, food plus much higher council tax and nursery fees takes most of it

Intrigued to know the city that’s more expensive than London

6 figures outside of London, £250K + inside of London.

I'm not sure how many are more expensive than London, but know Dublin is more expensive than London. I remember my husband laughing at his SIL who at the time owned a house worth over £1m in London, saying she might not be able to afford a house in Dublin (she earns A LOT), and both SIL and I swiftly informed him of house prices in Dublin! He was shocked.

Switzerland?

I want people in this country to want more for themselves, £35k is not a good salary regardless of where you live, salaries are awfully low in the uk compared to European counterparts. This is another reason nothing changes in this country because people except low standards

£70k is a good salary and anything over £90k in London

I'n in the rural South West and 40k is a decent salary here too, especially as well one half of a couple. We're too far out to realistically commute into London. Totally agree that MN makes you feel like shit if you are on less than 80k though.

On MN it's 100k.

In general, anything above minimum wage these days.

I agree with the principle that our standards in this country are too low and we have this roll over and accept it attitude BUT I think your delivery is off and saying 35k isn’t a good salary no matter where you live, could be pretty hurtful to someone who’s grafted to get there and feels proud of what they achieved.

equally no everyone can or should be on a high wage etc

When I bought my first house we had combined income of £20k and I thought if I earned £18k myself I'd be doing really well. This was in the 90's

I'm now on a smudge over £40k as a single income and I get by but that's it.

I'd like to be on £60k but that's not achievable now in my industry as I'm barely above basic admin duties and outer London