Revealed: How much spending money people in your part of the UK have
Key Points
- Households in Westminster and City of London had £84,292 per person to spend or save in 2024, five times the £16,786 in Leicester.
- The UK average was £25,965 per head, with only London, the South East and the East of England above it.
- Cash incomes rose 6.2% per head, but growth drops to 3.1% once inflation comes out.
- ONS has produced regional inflation-adjusted income figures for the first time in this release.
- Twelve of the 15 English combined authorities with elected mayors sit below the UK average.
The Office for National Statistics published figures on Wednesday (19 August) showing household disposable income ranged from £84,292 per person in Westminster and City of London to £16,786 in Leicester in 2024.
The data, which tracks until the end of 2024, measures gross disposable household income. This is the income that people have left to spend or save after direct and indirect taxes, and after any benefits they receive.
It covers everyone living in an area, including children and pensioners, and it includes the earnings of self-employed people. ONS measures it by where people live rather than where they work, so commuting does not distort the local figures.
UK households held £1.80 trillion between them in 2024, 7.4% more than in 2023. England accounted for 86.3% of that total, Scotland 7.5%, Wales 3.8% and Northern Ireland 2.4%. The UK average worked out at £25,965 per head, a rise of 6.2% on the previous year.
Inflation removed most of that increase. Real household disposable income per head grew 3.1% across the UK, less than half the cash figure. Northern Ireland recorded the strongest real growth at 4.1%, followed by Scotland at 3.7%, while the North East recorded the weakest at 2.2%.
| Country or region | Income per head | Cash growth per head | Real growth per head |
|---|---|---|---|
| London | £36,487 | 6.4% | 2.5% |
| South East | £29,577 | 6.0% | 3.1% |
| East of England | £26,795 | 6.0% | 2.9% |
| United Kingdom | £25,965 | 6.2% | 3.1% |
| South West | £25,924 | 5.8% | 2.9% |
| Scotland | £24,283 | 7.2% | 3.7% |
| East Midlands | £22,761 | 6.5% | 3.0% |
| North West | £22,523 | 6.1% | 2.5% |
| Northern Ireland | £22,258 | 7.7% | 4.1% |
| West Midlands | £22,064 | 5.8% | 2.3% |
| Yorkshire and The Humber | £21,913 | 5.6% | 2.4% |
| Wales | £21,469 | 7.0% | 3.4% |
| North East | £20,562 | 5.4% | 2.2% |
Only three regions came in above the UK average:
- London at £36,487 per head
- The South East at £29,577 per head
- The East of England at £26,795 per head
London households held 140.5% of the UK average, while North East households held 79.2%. England was the only UK country above the average, at £26,490 per head.
Where the gaps are widest
Local areas show a far wider spread than regions. All five areas with the highest income per head fall inside London, and Westminster and City of London topped the list at more than three times the UK figure. The five lowest all sit in the Midlands or the north of England.
| Local area | Region | Income per head | Compared with UK average |
|---|---|---|---|
| Westminster and City of London | London | £84,292 | 324.6% |
| Kensington & Chelsea and Hammersmith & Fulham | London | £80,152 | 308.7% |
| Camden | London | £72,346 | 278.6% |
| Wandsworth | London | £49,715 | 191.5% |
| Haringey and Islington | London | £41,415 | 159.5% |
| Kingston upon Hull, City of | Yorkshire and The Humber | £17,731 | 68.3% |
| Blackburn with Darwen | North West | £17,707 | 68.2% |
| Nottingham | East Midlands | £17,696 | 68.2% |
| Sandwell | West Midlands | £17,273 | 66.5% |
| Leicester | East Midlands | £16,786 | 64.6% |
London contains both the widest range and the highest figures, running from £84,292 per head in Westminster and City of London down to £24,489 in Barking and Dagenham and Havering.
Wales varies far less, with Monmouthshire and Newport at £23,081 and Neath Port Talbot at £19,910.
Readers can check their own local authority against every year back to 1997 using the ONS map published with the release, which leaves out the City of London and Kensington and Chelsea as outliers.
How the mayoral areas compare
Only three of the 15 English combined authorities with elected mayors reached the UK average. York and North Yorkshire led at £26,911 per head, ahead of the West of England at £26,417 and Cambridgeshire and Peterborough at £26,146. The West Midlands came last at £19,688.
| Combined authority | Income per head | Real growth per head |
|---|---|---|
| York and North Yorkshire | £26,911 | 2.6% |
| West of England | £26,417 | 2.3% |
| Cambridgeshire and Peterborough | £26,146 | 2.7% |
| Devon and Torbay | £25,494 | Not available |
| Greater Lincolnshire | £22,478 | Not available |
| East Midlands | £22,364 | 3.1% |
| Greater Manchester | £21,730 | 2.4% |
| Hull and East Yorkshire | £21,707 | Not available |
| Lancashire | £21,545 | 2.3% |
| Liverpool City Region | £21,536 | 3.1% |
| West Yorkshire | £21,158 | 2.3% |
| North East | £20,785 | 2.1% |
| South Yorkshire | £20,556 | 2.3% |
| Tees Valley | £19,921 | 2.3% |
| West Midlands | £19,688 | 2.1% |
It should be noted that the ONS can only produce inflation-adjusted growth for the 12 combined authorities that match its subregional boundaries. Among those, the East Midlands and Liverpool City Region grew fastest in real terms at 3.1%, while the North East and West Midlands grew slowest at 2.1%.
The 2024 estimates are provisional, and national figures have not been through full balancing. ONS produced the regional inflation-adjusted figures for the first time in this release, using regional spending patterns forecast from 2023 alongside national price measures, and it will revise them when the next regional spending statistics arrive in early 2027.
