What does a single person need to earn to live comfortably in the UK in 2025?

[mouseaka]

I know this is another one of those ‘how long is a piece of string’ money questions, so to give some parameters:

Not living in London or an affluent southern area. Just a normal town.
Living alone in a 2-bed home.
No children or pets or other dependents.
Running a small car.

’Comfortable’ living to me means:

• Being able to buy whatever you fancy, within reason, at a mid range supermarket like Tesco, eg being able to get nicer brand versions if you like them better and not relying on yellow stickers.

• Being to replace your clothing when needed at high street shops (even if you prefer vinted for a bargain, you COULD afford M&S or Next if you needed to).

• Not delaying when you put the heating or even thinking about it that much.

• money for socialising and treats -maybe a couple of takeaways or trips to the cinema each month.

• Having a bit left over every month to save for emergencies, and also for a couple of weekends away each year or a decent foreign holiday every few years.

What annual income or monthly take-home pay do you think is needed to live this lifestyle?

Housing is a huge variable. Can you add that?

I would say £50k if your rent or mortgage isnt massive.

Depends on mortgage.

But say UK average 850 a month and rule of 1/3 take home = £2550 net take home .

That's about £41,000 assume 5% pension and student loan deductions

OK well this is exactly my situation, funnily enough.
(I own my small, very old car outright but also have a dog, so I guess it's even)
No student loans, and I put away 9% into my pension. Also manage to save £300 a month on average. I don't shop for clothes/luxuries much though and I'd have to dip into savings for foreign holidays.
I earn 55k. Mortgage is just over £1k.

Thanks, I was thinking it must be around 50k too these days. And that’s a really quite high mid-career professional salary (for most of us, no doubt the people earning six figures would say differently), and it’s well above average. Feels quite out of reach.

Agreed about 50K, but mortgage shouldn’t be more than £800 tops (ideally less).
Not sure where the mortgage can be this small if first time buyer.

I’d say ~£50k (£3k a month).

You are currently looking at ~£1,300 for a £225k mortgage.

It’s amazing how living alone has become so difficult.

I earn 40k ish and can do all those things, I also have a teen dd and pets.

I manage it on around £40k too, with a teenager and a cat. Mortgage is about £500 a month though.

This is me. I earn just over £46k gross. My mortgage is £629. Live very comfortably atm and save about £1k per month after general living costs and spending.

it really is expensive! I’m 40, far too old to be sharing or moving home, and I AM keeping ends together, but it takes effort.

Wow that level of saving is impressive. Any tips?

I'd say at least £40,000+. I live with three pets, shop at Tesco (but don't mind a yellow sticker, as I fill my freezer if I find a lot of reduced items that I like), have a few little luxuries a month (more chocolate and baking ingredients, in my case), and most of what I would save goes on patching up my car or trying to do my house up... very slowly! Some months are a bit financially tricky, but others are easier.

You've pretty much described my life, except I do have pets. And I've paid off my mortgage.

So I'd say between £50k and £60k depending on housing situation.

What's your situation? Are you looking to buy a place?
I decided NOT to stretch myself to buy an expensive home but I was lucky to find somewhere that ticked all my boxes. I wanted to keep the mortgage low and affordable. I moved to a new part of the country in order to do this. I intentionally chose to a buy a house that would not need much maintenance once the cosmetic stuff was done. I also wanted a small, well insulated home to help keep bills low. I'm in Council Tax band A so the cheapest you can get.
I bought a modern-ish 2 bed so that I always have the option of renting out a room if I need some extra income. I chose to live close to town so that I could live without a car if needed. WFH job helps too. I was concerned about not having anyone to fall back on, so it was a very belt and braces approach!

I have a friend who lives like this on just over min wage (know her rough salary because I know what her job is, think checkout worker or similar). But she bought a house over 20 years ago, and we live in a cheap part of the country. If she even still has a mortgage it'll be around £100/month. So that's basically an extra £800/month on most of those buying nowadays, or in expensive parts of the country.

My DS is 37, he lives in a one bedroom flat on his own and earns 27k. He doesn’t have a car and he doesn’t go on holidays because he doesn’t enjoy them. He shops at Lidl and Tesco as they are nearby and buys clothes when he needs them. His bills such as electric and water are fairly low, he doesn’t save anything.

Where you are in mortgage repayment makes a big difference. I’m not where I’d like to be due to divorce but I’m also not in FTB land, which is much more expensive than having a bit of equity in your home.

This describes my situation now following separation and starting over. Earn approx £48K, mortgage just under £900, run a car, house chosen for low bills / upkeep, no dependents at home now. Am naturally frugal and don't have expensive hobbies or holidays, but consider myself relatively comfortable.

Just done some sums and I could manage the OP's list on minimum wage where I live. Living in a major city would be different (forget London in particular but also forget the nicer parts of Manchester), but in other parts of the country living as a singleton isn't expensive, it's kids that start burning holes in your bank account.

https://www.jrf.org.uk/a-minimum-income-standard-for-the-united-kingdom-in-2025

This annual report by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation suggests a single person with no children needs to earn £30,500 per year to have a “minimum acceptable standard of living.”

On a bit over £50k now and tick all your boxes. I can do all that easily, drive a brand new (but small) car, save a lot, few holidays a year etc. 2 bed semi on the outskirts of a biggish city.

When I bought my house 9 years ago I was on £25k and was still fine, don't ever remember struggling for money at the end of the month or anything like that. Of course things have gone up a lot since then so I'd say now probably about £35k if you wanted to afford everything you've listed without thinking about it, £30k if you tightened your belt a bit.

It does make a huge difference if you've got a mortgage on an ok deal though or if you're renting. My neighbour's just moved out and the house (identical to mine) was up for rent for 3xmy mortgage p/m. That would hugely eat into what you could afford to spend on everything else.

I earn £39k and I am struggling.

Why won’t you say how much the mortgage or rent is in this scenario?

A two bedroom terrace here in my bit of the north west costs £1.2K per month to rent. A single person would need to take home £3.5k a month to have a comfortable life such as the one you describe. So pretty much £50k a year.