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Original poster

What would you consider a "high", "medium" and " low" salary for where you live?

187 replies

SnowyPaws · 20/12/2016 09:35

DH has just been offered a new job- great! I think it's a good offer he doesn't seem as impressed. He is more driven than money by me though. Would be interested to know other people's perceptions of salaries.

OP posts:
ChazsBrilliantAttitude · 21/12/2016 08:05

Araminta
The OP asked about our area. In my bit of London (not the most expensive) 1 bed flats cost £300k+ so that skews the income levels.

MargeryFenworthy · 21/12/2016 08:34

Both DH and I are in the top 1% of earners. We have friends from all sorts of backgrounds though, doesn't matter what they earn.

treaclesoda · 21/12/2016 08:42

Where I am, anything over 35k would be considered a really good salary. Anything over 50k would firmly put you in the bracket of having 'a really well paid job'. I really don't know very many people at all who would be in the latter category, despite having loads of friends and acquaintances who have 'professional' jobs. Salaries are very low where I am, and the proportion of highly educated people is comparatively high.

MontePulciana · 21/12/2016 08:49

Manchester. Round here generally £40k would be peak of many careers police nursing etc. My brother has a masters and is on £27k he's only 29 though. DB in London on
£75k+ he's 34 so a huge contrast. DH is 30 and cleared £80k last year but he has to weekly commute for that salary, there aren't too many jobs that would pay him that locally.

cornflowerblu · 21/12/2016 10:59

In London 2 sets of school fees, a mortgage of 3-400k (small here), cleaner or aupair, 2 decent cars and a couple of holidays a year plus still being able to put a bit in savings you'd need a minimum of £150-200k. With that you would be comfortable and not worrying about anything but not able to live extravagantly.

alltouchedout · 21/12/2016 11:06

^2 sets of school fees... cleaner or aupair, 2 decent cars and a couple of holidays a year plus still being able to put a bit in savings"

But that is living extravagantly! How can anyone think that private schools, decent cars, multiple holidays and savings doesn't constitute living extravagantly?!

EnormousTiger · 21/12/2016 11:13

It's all relative. The secret is always to live within your means whatever those means are and realise high earnings are possible so if you want them and not everyone does women can aim for and get them as can your daughters. You don't need a penis to earn a lot in the UK in 2016.

JimJamJem · 21/12/2016 11:13

I'm a very senior professional. Live 1.5 hours from London but work there.

My salary is approx £100k. Comparable roles in London pay £80-£120k

If I took a similar job in my local city it would pay £55-£65k. So I can see where your DH is coming from.

That said, the 'local' salary is OBVIOUSLY way above average anywhere in the country... it's just not high for that job in that area when the same person could double it by travelling to London for work.

SecretSeven · 21/12/2016 11:29

I suppose your wage really depends on the cost of housing.

I would say where I work(London), I am on a medium wage.

However, where(North Derbyshire), I am very well off. I have a house and two flats, and none have a mortgage; if I sold them both I would still struggle to afford a house where I work.

Likewise, my car isn't worth much. If I chose to drive, say, an Audi, my income would effectively be reduced.

So I think you need to factor in things like that too.

Greenleave · 21/12/2016 12:20

I have never thought of budgetting our weekly spending and now I have. Raising children in London is so much more expensive. We "downgraded" to nursery and still have to pay £1750/month. Our elder child goes to state school however her monthly activities, clubs, out of hours care cost another £800. Travelling cost us more than £300/month. Council tax £300/month. Just this 4 basic extra cost of living in London cost us total more than £3k(and on the income after tax). I could see why salary is lower outside London when these costs are much lower. We love London though. We are foreigners and in London we always feel like home. Our pay is on education and experience, service we receive depends how much we pay, it doesnt matter if we are man or woman or mixed, where we are coming from, our belief(we dont even have a belief).

EastMidsMummy · 21/12/2016 12:51

Assuming house was mainly paid for as wedding gift from in law

!!! That's a hell of an assumption, isn't it?!

FunkinEll · 21/12/2016 12:59

I'd say high would be £150k +. Outer London borough. If we had a household income of that we'd be very comfortable. Still wouldn't cover private school fees but we do have 4 kids.

I'm not sure where I'd place low and medium, I think just those two categories are too simplistic.

EnormousTiger · 21/12/2016 13:09

(Yes I was also surprised with the wedding present of a house suggestion - super rich yes but even there they tend not to want to spoil the children; most of us, even well off professionals - no except if we can afford it bit of help towards deposit on first one bed flat and I and plenty others had no help from parents even with that).

BiscuitCapitalOfTheWorld · 21/12/2016 13:14

Live in a part of Scotland with affordable housing (Flats start about £70k and houses about £80k) and fairly high employment (85%).

Here low salary would be £15-20k, medium would be £25-30k (think average is £27k), high would be anything over £40k.

A couple both working full-time in minimum wage jobs can buy a house, run a car and have children- it takes a bit of being careful but there would still be good quality of life. Couple earning £50k or more between them have a lot of choices here about where they live and what their lifestyle is.

FeedMyFaceWithJaffaCakes · 21/12/2016 14:48

The answer is I don't know.
There are too many variables.
But we live SE.
I earn 28,000 as a nurse
And DP earns 39,000 working in London in IT for a big bank. Pays a fortune to commute though!
We can cover mortgage, bills, pets and everything else but only have a small bit left for savings.

kaputt · 21/12/2016 15:43

"I wish more teenage girls would get out of their low paid head bubble and realise what many women earn in higher paid jobs in London though... if anyone is in a bubble it is those who are never exposed to women and careers where women earn a lot."

I agree with this - not just for girls, though I think it does apply to women more.

I lived for ten years in London on very little money (no benefits but also no kids) -

Araminta99 · 21/12/2016 16:10

ChazsBrilliantAttitude so everyone in your area owns? I live in an expensive part of London but not many people own, they rent with roommates. I don't think the house prices in an area reflect earnings very well.

Madbengalmum · 21/12/2016 16:14

East mids.

Low less than 20k
Medium up to 90k
High 150k+

EnormousTiger · 21/12/2016 16:52

(yes kaputt. It is an issue in the NE where I am originally from some children just never meet anyone who earns much even whereas go to a London comprehensive in Central London and they see every day City workers and others going to work. However I suppose they mostly have access to the internet so could look things up so perhaps I am over emphasising a problem that is not there)

ChazsBrilliantAttitude · 21/12/2016 16:54

Araminta
There are a reasonably high proportion of owner occupiers in the immediate area (quite a family part of London). Where we used to live nearer the centre there was a much higher proportion of renters.

SoDownSoGone · 21/12/2016 16:59

We live in the South Midlands. Our friends all earn salaries in the region of £60-£500k + The careers are mixed GPs Consultant Doctors, HR professionals (sit on boards), lawyers, Directors of their own companies etc. We are probably the lower earners my DH is 80-90k I'm a SAHM we could probably do with me returning to work soon mainly to fund holidays.

SoDownSoGone · 21/12/2016 17:01

PS those on the £400k+ salaries are equity partners in law firms or accountancy firms and generally commute to London

m0therofdragons · 21/12/2016 17:03

Some people are putting the uk average salary as low. Considering the average is so high due to extreme salaries £100k plus then you think more than half the population is on a low salary? Confused

tigerdriverII · 21/12/2016 17:11

enourmous : couldn't agree more, lack of aspiration/positive role models plus the spectre of high university fees and student loans are a killer to social mobility. I think the whole low, medium, high salary thing is completely subjective to regions and job types. But the idea that there is a level beyond which 'people like me' can't aspire is crushing and retrograde.

EnormousTiger · 21/12/2016 17:21

People are right about averages being skewed higher by high earners. Median is probably a better measure.

(And lots of lawyers don't earn huge amount by the way either)

Getting back to the thread if the wife is really pleased with her husband's pay rise that's really nice and may be she can go out there and earn double his earnings (or 10x as I did - it's even nicer when women out earn their men and earn their own money). 2017 NY resolution for all female mumsnetters could be
"2017 the year I render my husband's salary a "pin money" figure compared to mine"

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