Sorry, but £80k a year in London ^really is^ a large salary

[nickymanchester]

So I was just reading the "Unpopular Opinions" threads and I noticed more than one poster saying that £80k a year really isn't a lot of money in London or the SE.

What with being locked down again and not having much to do I thought I'd have a look at the actual figures as I had no idea which side of that argument is correct.

For full time workers who work in London, the median (average) pay is £39,500 (men £42,700, women £35,800).

If a person is earning £80k a year in London then they are on the 87th percentile. Although, if you're a woman that places you in the top 95%

(87th percentile means that you earn more than 87% of all people - ie you're in the top 13%).

Of course, areas of London are very different so I split London down as shown below.

The practical upshot is that, well, if you work in the City of London then I guess you could argue that £80k isn't necessarily a large salary.

You might even be able to get away with this if you work in Tower Hamlets. But elsewhere - not really.

.............................................75th.......Gender

Area......................Median...Prcnt......Pay Gap
City of London.....57,361....89,492....27.9%
Tower Hamlets.... 49,728....72,254....20.6%
Westminster.........43,597....64,038....15.7%
Southwark............41,948....59,816....11.4%
Camden................39,837....53,950....20.9%
Hammersmith......39,676....54,132....14.9%
Islington................39,312....59,587....8.1%
Lambeth...............37,866....55,458....15.3%
Hackney................36,748....46,540....9.4%
Waltham Forest....35,651....45,552....23.5%
Hillingdon.............35,183....52,390....5.5%
Lewisham.............34,913....46,608....-2.5%
Brent.....................34,866....48,064....8.5%
Hounslow.............34,809....50,528....5.2%
Richmond.............34,726....47,070....25.4%
Kensington...........34,445....47,242....4.4%
Croydon................34,086....45,146....18.8%
Havering...............33,821....46,249....-15.0%
Greenwich............33,181....45,427....6.0%
Kingston...............33,030....49,150....18.7%
Haringey...............32,812....44,840....-11.8%
Newham...............32,292....49,618....-1.8%
Sutton...................32,167....43,898....-2.4%
Wandsworth.........31,938....45,786....7.0%
Bromley................31,777....44,824....10.7%
Ealing....................31,418....45,001....-6.0%
Merton..................30,607....48,381....-11.0%
Barking.................30,482....39,988....13.5%
Redbridge.............30,306....45,157....-5.7%
Barnet...................30,092....47,362....9.3%
Enfield...................29,895....40,586....11.8%
Bexley....................28,174....39,614....11.3%
Harrow...................26,998....43,077....17.3%

And for comparison with people outside of London:-

London.................39,556....57,975
South East............31,647...44,704
Scotland...............30,820....41,855
East.......................29,895....41,449
North West...........29,099....40,820
West Midlands.....28,730....40,186
East Midlands......28,704....40,004
South West...........28,605....39,645
Yorkshire...............28,023....38,865
Wales....................27,966....38,392
Northern Ireland...27,487....37,903
North East............27,113....37,872

All figures are ONS latest 2020 figures extracted from NOMIS. Gender pay gap is for full time employees only.

[quote JonSnowIsALoser]@Chel098 "Do the government not assist you with childcare costs and rent?" What? Who on £80K salary is going to get benefits? Or are you being sarcastic and it doesn't cone across in print too well?

Also, "Is it really worth the childcare fees?" So what do you do if you have 2 kids, live in London and work? Sell one or both children on eBay because childcare fees "are not worth it"?[/quote]
But you literally wouldn’t earn enough money to send two children after earning 80k your monthly wage would be around £4,578. Based on the figure @icedgem85 said her total came to well over that!! It’s not unusual to not want to pay £2,600 in nursery fees is it?.

If you arent comfortable on 80k you have serious spending issues! Probably Probably latest everything needs updating, private schools, labelled clothes, big house and posh car.

Nobody is saying 80K is nothing, but it sure as hell won't give you a luxury champagne and caviar lifestyle. No, you clearly won't starve or count pennies, but a big house and private schools - not a chance.

It's insulting and upsetting to those of us living (ha!) on less than half of 80k a year in the South East. Ugh, these people making such ludicrous claims need to get a grip (if they even actually believe what they're saying).

I agree its a great wage.

There is just me and my toddler, and have a job in London.
The monthly bills are 1200 for mortgage on a 2 bed house £500 for commuting costs (saving at the moment a luxury) £ 270 on bills and £850 on childcare. Add on £300 for food and petrol and phone and i need to make 3120 to break even. I couldn't dream of private education. I feel so fortunate i can cover the bills.

If you arent comfortable on 80k you have serious spending issues! Probably Probably latest everything needs updating, private schools, labelled clothes, big house and posh car.

This is the other extreme on threads like this. Totally unrealistic about how much these things cost. Basic approx numbers would show that this type of luxury lifestyle isn’t possible even on £80k.

£80k = £4586 per month. Say £500 on pension. So approx £4K take home.

2 kids at private school £2k?
Car payments on 2 flash cars £1k?
Bills on a big house fares/petrol/mortgage/CT/utilities etc £2k+
Shopping at posh food shops and eating out £1k
Designer clothes and latest gadgets £1k
2 holidays a year skiing/AI beach £1k

That’s £8k per month at least and my estimates were conservative. There’s no savings or house improvements/maintenance. £80k is a huge salary but it wouldn’t pay for all that.

I’d love to know where the London private schools charging £1k per month per child are - it’s more like £1500 per month in SW, then add on trip, uniforms, instruments, extras.

Our bills and mortgage alone on a small terraced house are not far off the take home of an 80k salary alone (if you account for student loan deductions and a 10% pension contribution).
We choose to live within zone 2 as DH works long hours, with regular client events/dinners and international travel in normal times. With two working parents and one having to occasionally drop everything to collect a sick child from nursery, a longer commute and taxi costs just would not work. COVID may change this long term for some industries, but unlikely for many working in London.

I’d love to know where the London private schools charging £1k per month per child are - it’s more like £1500 per month in SW, then add on trip, uniforms, instruments, extras.

Yes that’s why I said I was being conservative in my approximations. It is possible to have one or 2 of those things on that salary, but not a money is no object life. We have chosen a big house (but it needs a lot of work,) and holidays (but still not 5 star luxury ones). We have one 13 year old Ford and wear high street clothes etc. But I feel very well off and fortunate and understand it’s a big salary by most standards.

I used to work with the super wealthy and that’s the kind of people who have the above lifestyle, not families on £80k.

It's all relative though isn't it. I get 80k my DH gets 25k. If he had 80 as well yes it would be a good salary. One of us supporting most of the other, no it isn't that great. We don't do private schools or dinner out or anything really?!

80 after tax - or before tax?

The fact you're having a bun fight over whether £80k is a good salary, even in London, really says it all about MN.

Anyone who claims that £80,000 is ''not a large salary'', what planet do you live on? The majority of people can only dream of making that amount of money...especially at a time when so many people are losing their jobs.

@stanski

It's all relative though isn't it. I get 80k my DH gets 25k. If he had 80 as well yes it would be a good salary. One of us supporting most of the other, no it isn't that great. We don't do private schools or dinner out or anything really?!

105k as a household income is still very high 👀

Love all the comments about how it doesn’t go far after private school fees 😂

@Viviennemary

Bills and food £600 a month. Surely it would be a lot more than that. What about transport, phone costs etc. You'd be really poor in London on 80k with the childcare and mortgage.,

The mistake you making is presuming everyone in London has a large mortgage or pays a load in rent. Loads of families are over crowded and others refuse to have more than one child to ensure they can have adequate housing.

It's fine.
A lot of people who work in London don't live there.
So, assuming a train season ticket of £4,500 (just chose a random train line and station into London on NRE, may vary), you'd probably save a fair amount on rent and mortgage.
So it's fairly relative. Of course, if you want a 7 bedroom home in Chelsea, it's not enough. It's far above the average wage, and people should be able to live on it even in London.