To wonder what a ‘good wage’ is?

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Not really an AIBU but something I’ve been pondering on, and posting here for traffic and opinions.

I often see people mentioning that someone earns ‘a good wage’ or indeed a high wage, but what that means in practice is clearly dependent on many factors, not least the area someone lives in but also their dependents.

I work in an industry where I talk to people on very high wages all the time about their jobs, which I think skews my view of what’s normal. I was involved in a discussion in another forum recently where it was mentioned the average salary at the moment is £27,000. Of course this is a mean average, skewed by a few very high salaries, and most people are below that. But many people were commenting that they didn’t know anyone who earned that much and had never earned anywhere near that themselves.

I’ve also been fascinated by this calculator from the Institute of Fiscal Studies that shows where households fall in the stratification of the country www.ifs.org.uk/wheredoyoufitin/
I think a lot of people would be surprised by it. When DP and I each earned the average salary (no kids) we were still in the top 25/30% ish of households which seems mad, and we live in an expensive area.

I’m wondering - what do you think a ‘good wage’ is, and at one point does something become a high wage?

right, maybe i'm including other taxable benefits and student loan, but just sayin'.

i had no options but to pay full whack for my childcare due to hours i needed. i also had no family around so my kids couldn't go to a charity run 9-3pm nursery where its 2.85 per hour - i needed to leave for work at 7.3o and stay til 5pm, no childminder could pick ups. yes i agree, we are unusual!

I earn a little more than 100k. With one child and a low earning spouse we only come out as top 10%. So not rare at all.

I am not inventing the £2k a month for a baby at a full time nursery near work in central London full time or whatever it is.

Here is a different one £1800 a bit further out so wiould not work as easily as if you were needing one right near your work in the City.
www.clownsnursery.co.uk/registration-fees/fees/ NW11

As we had 3 under 4 and then 3 under 5 years it was cheaper to pay someone to come to our house to look after all 3 together.

I am not saying most people around the country pay £20k per baby full time in nursery a year but for these City of London high paid jobs they often have to do that and if they have 2 children it is x 2.

I pay £90 a day for our nearest nursery!

Definitely subjective and relative. Most of the world lives of less than 2K per year remember. I recently spoke to someone who felt they were struggling financially on 100k a year (In the North West by the way). Lifestyle inflation obviously the issue.