The best and worst paid areas in the UK have been announced, with more than one London borough unsurprisingly taking top spots on the list. Last year, the median annual full-time wage in the UK saw a rise of 5.8 per cent, reaching ÂŁ34,963, while the median weekly salary experienced a 6.2 per cent increase to ÂŁ681. However, these figures vary significantly across the country – and the areas with the highest and lowest average salaries may not be what you would immediately expect.
Scotland boasts a higher median annual pay (ÂŁ35,518) compared to England (ÂŁ35,106), Northern Ireland (ÂŁ32,879), and Wales (ÂŁ32,371). Within England, there’s a clear North-South divide with Londoners earning the highest annual pay (ÂŁ44,370), followed by those in the South East (ÂŁ34,963), and East of England (ÂŁ34,833).
The lowest wages are found in the North East (ÂŁ31,200), trailed by the East Midlands (ÂŁ31,634), and Yorkshire and the Humber (ÂŁ31,920).
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This data, provided by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), is based on the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, which uses a 1% sample of full-time jobs from HM Revenue and Customs’ Pay As You Earn (PAYE) records. It highlights the stark wage differences between the UK’s best and least-paid council areas.
Excluding the City of London banking district – home to a small population mainly working in highly paid finance industry jobs – residents of the London borough of Tower Hamlets earn the most, with a median annual pay of ÂŁ61,984 and a median weekly pay of ÂŁ1,120. However, it’s worth noting that many living and working in London receive higher wages due to the capital’s increased cost of living.
In the affluent Three Rivers area of Hertfordshire, workers earned the highest median annual wage outside London, raking in ÂŁ46,232. This was closely followed by residents of the remote Shetland Islands north of Scotland (ÂŁ44,052), and then those living in Guildford, Surrey (ÂŁ43,380).
The Ribble Valley in Lancashire topped the list for the highest-paid council area in the North of England, with a median wage of ÂŁ41,874. On the other end of the scale, workers in Oadby and Wigston, Leicestershire took home the lowest median wage in the UK, earning just ÂŁ24,337 annually or ÂŁ470 per week.
This was followed by Hastings in Sussex (ÂŁ26,396 annually) and Torbay in Devon (ÂŁ27,116). You can use our interactive map above to check the median wage in your area and see how it compares to the rest of the country.
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