Average incomes

[flabbergastedfinances]

Found out that the average family income is around £30,000 a year and I can not believe it. I don't know a single family on anywhere near this low, lowest is possibly 70k mark between two teachers but majority have two earners pulling in 40+ each or one higher earner on 80/90k+

How on earth is 30,000 even possible in light of minimum wage and benefits/tax credits etc? What is even more shocking is that I used the where do you fit in calculator and we are apparently in top 98% of families in the uk. No chance, absolutely no chance.

We might have a high ish mortgage (still only £1000 so not outrageous) and have slipped into bad spending habits (Uber's, eating lunch out every day, new clothes now and then) but we are hardly excessive. We can't afford to run two cars, can't afford foreign holidays, can't afford the posher shops like Boden or northface new and yet this chart tells me we have it better than nearly everyone else in the country?! What am I missing?!

We have a child in childcare a few days a week, so that and mortgage are biggest expenses but combined that's only £1500 and I see everyone else buying £300 coats, spending 1000s on holidays, children in private schools and I am utterly stumped.

How can the average family income be £30,000? Which families are surviving on that? None I know that's for sure and I just refuse to believe that's an actual reality

Oh my word.... I'm a single parent with 2 Ds and work part time bringing in at most 12k annually. Not on benefits either.
I manage to pay mortgage, bills etc. It's tough some months but kids and I more than happy and never go without.
Just wow OP!!

We dont really struggle...we live within our means I guess.

I was giving you the benefit of the doubt that you really are just very sheltered and a bit dim, until

I understand minimum wage might give an annual salary of around £17,000 but you don't stay on that for very long do you?

I don't know how we struggle to be honest but we do. I now know we are extremely fortunate but the truth is we DO struggle

@flabbergastedfinances

What do you struggle with?

OP, what do you and your oh do for a living? Where in the country do you live?

Thank you to everyone explaining, it's eye opening and I feel like a twat. I really phrased everything awfully and I meant that I didn't understand how that was a national average for families when it feels like we struggle on more and I'm aware of how badly that sounds. Thank you to those who have provided context, it's very appreciated

@sirfredfredgeorge
You could solve both problems at your local adult education centre I'm sure, a night class would let you meet some people with lower incomes and teach you how to make your substantial income go further.

Please please do not suggest she go along & join an adult ed course, in order to mix amongst the poor people like she's participating in a sociology field experiment.

Minimum wage is £8.21 an hour so full time (40hrs a week) would be a take home of £15,148 a year or £1,262 a month.

A single parent earning this with two children and £125p/wk childcare costs would receive £852 from Tax Credits every four weeks however Universal Credit is being rolled out so everyone will eventually be migrated over to that. UC is.... well, google it. It's a deeply flawed system.

A single person with no children earning minimum wage would get no tax credits. I'm not sure what they'd get in UC.

And all that is presuming that someone can get full time hours. Many people in low paid work are on zero hour contracts where some weeks you may have full time hours and other weeks you will have absolutely no hours.

My son earns about £22k a year before tax which s about £18.500 net (no children yet and obviously no benefits). That is £1541 a month after tax.

Lots of people don't earn much.

What does surprise some however is the small difference between net income after thsoe who hev to pay rents without housing benefit and get no tax credits and pay for full time childcare for baby compared to someone who has their rent paid by the state and may be does not have childcare costs. The gap narrows hugely.

we live in the south east, husband works in finance and I'm home with our children

I'm on £18k for a job that views a degree as desirable. The top end of the scale is £18.5k. Every single person in the team has a degree. I earn too much to receive benefits.

It is highly likely that most people you come across in the service industries are vastly over qualified but many of then (myself included) are trapped by the low wage cycle. NMW isn't a starting point, it's the legal minimum employers can get away with paying and if you don't like it there's many more over qualified people ready to take your place.

Unfortunately the general view of the poor is still that of the Victorians. Poor people must have some kind of moral failing (lazy, lack of ambition, poorly educated). Capitalism has succeeded to make us all think that rich = better and despite the glaring evidence to the contrary (homelessness, food bank use, in work poverty) we assume that these poor people have had the same advantages of the rich and just squandered it away. All of our focus is on the 0.5% of benefit fraud and not the 99.5% of genuine need. And yet people still shop at Amazon and Boots despite tax avoidance and modern day slavery.

An Amazon worker lay dead on the warehouse floor for 20 minutes and yet the day before, he was reprimanded in seconds for making a mistake that was seen on cctv.

Where do you live OP?

I can see how people would struggle to live a 'middle class' lifestyle (because that is what you are saying here I think) on 30k down south but it is entirely possible in the North.

I have just gone back to work full time for the first time in 6 years after having DC so now have a fairly decent family income but for the last 6 years we've had a household income of 30k (starting) gradually up to around 35.

We own our house (mortgaged) in a nice area two cars, no huge debt other than a couple of hundred on credit cards and one of the cars on PCP, the other owner outright. We have been on holidays, have a small savings account and have some disposable income for days out and treats. The biggest thing for us is no childcare costs as my mum did it all (while I was PT, there is now I'm FT) and generally living up north where everything is just cheaper!

It depends a lot on who you mix with and quite frankly their education.
Unskilled jobs pay less, of course.

The minimum starting wage for most graduates is around £23K or slightly more. Friends have DCs who got £45K at 21 in London in City jobs.

Even PA/ secretarial roles where I live pay over £20K so for 2 people in work, it's uncommon here in the SE for anyone NOT on the min wage to have under £50K a year.

Rents are very high- £1K for a small 2bed flat (not London) and I know young couples paying £2K a month for London rentals.
Average house price in my area is around £450K for a 3-bed semi or more.

There is a north-south divide and £30K up north goes a lot further than in the south.

Our family of 5s income is 14k. We do get tax credits. The 14k is just wages.

We'd feel very rich if it was 30k!

Our rent is 1000 a month. We still manage.

I agree 30k would be a dream!

HoHoHo, yes reality is pretty shocking, we are on less than 25k a year but survive. Lots of people who work shit jobs get paid shit wages.

‘Only £1000’ 🙄

wow - someone rarely leaves their own bubble

This, exactly

Bloody hell

A couple working on basic minimum wage wouldn't earn 30k so where I live a household income of 30k would be pretty good

I’ll tell you where your money is going, OP. You’re at home with your children, yet you have several days a week of childcare. That’s quite a luxury.

On the bright side, at least you do seem a bit embarrassed at your lack of knowledge.

Wow! We do rather nicely on about £30k jointly. Plenty survive on much less!

I now know we are extremely fortunate but the truth is we DO struggle

You aren't living within your means then. With no childcare costs, it's even more unreasonable.

I'm disabled and my wages don't even surpass my personal allowance for tax.

No reason for this kind of ridiculous ignorance when the rise of food banks are daily news.

If you can get a babysitter and cinema tickets, can I recommend you pop out and see “Sorry We Missed You” for date night?
I think you could do with seeing it.