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On this article, I might love to debate whether or not 100k GBP is an efficient wage in London and the UK and the way far precisely does it get you.
Can you might have a luxurious life-style on 100k wage in London? Is 100k a superb family earnings in London? How far does 100k stretch within the UK? I’ll attempt to reply these and lots of different questions on this article and supply examples of three completely different life and family combos: life on 100k in London alone, with a working associate and with a SAHP (keep at residence associate) and two youngsters.
Right here’s what you possibly can anticipate finding on this put up:
Is London a superb place to reside when you’re a excessive earner?
When you’re a excessive earner or HENRY (excessive earner not wealthy but), London is a tremendously good place to reside. It’s not stunning that plenty of billionaires have their second (and typically even first) houses in London – town has all of it. It has great secure and leafy districts in shut proximity to Central London (Hampstead, Highgate, Fulham), plenty of wonderful eating places, museums, theatres, concert events – you by no means get bored in London.
London could be irritating when you’re residing from wage to wage and don’t have any financial savings and household to depend on, nonetheless, when you’re a excessive earner, you possibly can benefit from the metropolis lots!
When you’re exploring choices past London, ExpressVPN’s weblog put up means that locations like Dubai, Singapore, and Berlin are value contemplating for career-driven people, as they rank among the many prime places for formidable professionals
Jobs that pay 100K and extra in London
Despite the fact that London is an costly metropolis, there aren’t THAT many roles that pay 100k and extra. Common salaries in London are literally fairly reasonable, I composed a information to the common salaries in London by career and years of expertise, so when you’re curious, be at liberty to test it out right here!
Therefore, when you have been supplied 100k GBP, it’s nice, congratulations! You’ll be a lot better off that plenty of different Londoners. When you’re looking for a job in London that pays over 100k, it’s often managerial jobs that pay a lot (e.g. Head of Individuals, Director of Gross sales), senior tech jobs (Senior Product Supervisor, Senior Software program Developer), Authorized and Medical jobs and, after all, Finance jobs (particularly those who pay a hefty fee).


How far does 100k GBP in London get you? Life-style you possibly can afford
London could be very costly metropolis. After all, plenty of cities within the US (and even Canada) are a unique league, however in Europe, London is among the many most costly cities and its property costs are among the many highest on the planet.
So, think about, you’ve been supplied 100k wage in London. That’s, after all, earlier than taxes, so let’s calculate, how a lot will probably be after taxes. For wage calculations, I often use this calculator because it lets you add your pension contribution. Most firms, will subtract 3% out of your wage to your pension contribution, nonetheless, if you would like, you possibly can improve it to five%. With 3% pension deductions, you’ll pay £250 a month to your pension pot.
After taxes, on a 100k wage within the UK, you’ll be left with £5437 GBP per thirty days. In London, that’s an excellent wage. Outdoors London, it’s a tremendous wage and you’ll reside very comfortably.
Nonetheless, to estimate the extent of consolation you might need and consider all of the spending (and glued prices), let’s have a look at three completely different situations:
- You reside alone and don’t have anybody relying on you (not even a pet)
- You reside with a associate who additionally works full-time
- You may have two youngsters, and your associate is a keep at residence guardian
After all, everybody’s scenario is completely different, however on this article, I wished to particularly give attention to these three situations, as they’re most likely the commonest ones.

Life-style 1: You earn 100k in London and reside alone
Alright, let’s take into account the primary life-style state of affairs, the place you reside alone on 100k in London. As we talked about earlier than, your after-tax wage is round £5440 a month.
With this earnings, you possibly can reside in a really good space. You’ll be able to lease a one-bedroom flat in a new-built home with a health club and swimming pool. It won’t be a mansion, however you possibly can positively reside someplace in Canary Wharf or Canning City or White Metropolis / Ealing space. That may value round £2100-2500 a month plus payments (one other £300-350 a month on gasoline, electrical energy and council tax). New builds often are very nicely insulated, so that you gained’t spend an excessive amount of on heating in winter, which is a giant plus! If your own home additionally has a health club and swimming pool, it can save you on a health club membership. These can go as much as £250 a month in London (luxurious ones like Third Area), so it’s a superb saving!
Relying on what number of instances per week you’ll commute to the workplace, you possibly can spend between £80-200 a month on the underground. Nonetheless, when you’re fortunate sufficient to reside near the workplace, you would possibly cycle there and spend nothing on transport.
Now, let’s speak about meals! When you work from the workplace, you’ll, most likely, eat your lunch exterior until your workplace is catered. Every lunch prices round £10-12 lately until it’s an affordable sandwich for £6-7. You’ll be able to simply spend £150-200 per thirty days on lunches when you come to the workplace lots. Groceries can be pricy. Nonetheless, the worth relies upon lots on the place you store – some retailers like Aldi and Lidl are fairly reasonably priced. Another ones (Waitrose and Entire Meals) are tremendous pricy. On common, a single particular person can spend between £150 and £400 a month on groceries. When you like takeaways, add one other £150-300 to that.
Subscriptions (telephone, Netflix, Spotify and so on.) can value you an extra £50 per thirty days.
Going out could be very pricy. Dinner for 2 in a classy restaurant with little or no alcohol prices round £80-120 in London (which is £40-60 per particular person). Cocktails typically value £13 and extra. When you exit twice every week and as soon as every week for drinks, that may simply be one other £500 a month!
Going out, nonetheless, if not important. Let’s calculate how a lot you might have left after mounted prices (condominium, payments, groceries) – round £1800-2200 – you possibly can spend that on going out, purchasing, travelling and saving for the longer term!


Life-style and scenario 2: You reside with a associate who additionally works and earns a wage
On this state of affairs, you make £100K, and you reside with a associate who additionally works. Let’s think about your associate earns round £50K. Your family earnings is now over £8,2K. It is a very sturdy family earnings and I don’t assume you’ll wrestle in any respect. You’ll be able to lease a two-bedroom condominium in a pleasant space. After all, your meals prices, going out prices and transport prices will improve, however not that a lot, so you should have some huge cash left in your financial institution!
You’ll be able to journey lots or get monetary savings to purchase your individual property!
Life-style 3: You may have two youngsters and your associate is a SATP
Lastly, let’s take into account the ultimate state of affairs – the one the place 100k is an efficient wage however your life gained’t be that comfy. That might be the case when you might have two youngsters and a associate who doesn’t work.
£5440 will allow you to lease a three-bedroom home exterior town centre – in zones 3, 4 or 5 or in a commuter city like St. Albans or Stevenage, for instance. You’ll pay round £2400-2500 a month for the home, however the payments might be fairly excessive – one other £400-500 a month (heating this home might be costly).
Your transport will even be costlier, particularly if you could use the trains. Trains within the UK are notoriously costly. It’s good to consider at the least £200-250 per thirty days on journey prices (until you do business from home lots). When you add Web, telephones, Netflix and different subscriptions, that’s one other £100 a month.
Your meals invoice might be round £500-600 a month until you’re tremendous savvy and know the place to save lots of lots on meals.
That’s already circa £3800 per thirty days. You’ll have round £1600 a month left on all of the purchasing, going out, faculty journeys and provides and touring, which isn’t that tight, however requires cautious planning.
Nonetheless, in case your associate begins working, you’ll most likely must pay childcare, which prices some huge cash within the UK until your youngsters already go to highschool. On this case, your associate’s earnings will assist lots!
As you possibly can see, £100K in London is a good wage for a household with two youngsters and a associate, who doesn’t work, nonetheless, it doesn’t stretch that far. Nonetheless, when you have been supplied that and you reside exterior London, it’s really a very good wage for a household of 4. You’ll spend at the least 30% much less on housing and transport and even going out might be cheaper!
Abstract: is 100k a superb wage in London and the UK?
I attempted to interrupt down the wage of 100k into mounted spendings primarily based on the present value of residing in London in 2023. Whereas 100k lets you might have a really comfy life-style when you reside alone and much more comfy life-style when you mix your earnings along with your associate’s earnings. Nonetheless, when you assist a household, 100k gained’t stretch too far and you’ll have to be very savvy to have a superb life-style on that wage in London. Nonetheless, in any state of affairs, 100k is a tremendous wage exterior London!
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Price of residing in London – how a lot do you could reside in London