What Salary Do You Need to Live Comfortably in London?
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- Опубликовано: 31 июл 2024
- London has gotten seriously expensive in recent years, and with the UK recently announcing that it is now in a recession, it begs the question of how much you need to make to live comfortably in the city.
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Timestamps:
0:00 - Intro
1:27 - Rent
2:45 - Utilities
3:02 - Council Tax
4:38 - Transport
6:05 - Groceries
7:25 - Healthcare
8:09 - Eating Out
9:13 - Drinks
9:37 - Gym Membership
9:57 - Entertainment
10:14 - Subscription Services
10:27 - Savings
11:09 - Income Tax
11:38 - Final Salary
11:55 - Evaluation & Rating 
Развлечения
I actually live in London as a single person, you can call it in zone 2. I am lucky to own a flat and my mortgage is nowhere near the creazy rent prices now. You need MINIMUM 50k to live in London as a singleton in your own place if you have a mortgage (more if you pay rent). That's without any savings and vacations. You do not calculate for any expenses like personal care - toiletries and grooming, clothing, shoes, medical, lunch food, household items like laundry or cleaning products, odd electrical items purchase or small house decor, gifts for friends bdays, pet expenses (but the last one is luxury). Your estimate for month of food is very low - national averare for 2023 for one person is around £150 (inflation since then), in London is a bit more than that. 65k is closer to worry free.
Hi! 65k is comfortable enough to travel around and do a bit of shopping/entertainment?
"personal care, grooming, toiletries" what gen did u hail from? Try Vinted for all your value Gucci lippies, perfumes & "Savers" for the rest LOL
Didn’t include national insurance or student loan! Combined they add nearly another 10-20% marginal tax rate depending on total salary
brilliant, just one missing part - clothing ? we need something to cover ourselves up while running around taking buses
shoplifting mate
@@pani777 yay - seems to be the only option
Living in Lambeth, Southwark or Lewisham is not living your best life 🙄😅
Partly agree. It comes down to what neighbourhood in those boroughs you are and what's your routine, isn't it?
London Bridge was pretty awesome
you deserve more exposure, man. Respect
Amazing, I live in the UK and this is very accurate.
Great video! And very useful - comparison at the end of what you need to earn and what people are actually earning is wild. I’m in a situation where I’m potentially going to move back alone but honestly, the industry I’m in grossly underpays so I’m on the fence… especially as rent has shot up. (Had a one bed in Battersea for £1700pcm a few years back but it’s at least £2k+ now)
Please do a video on Madrid next 🙂
The bus fare for a while now has been £1.75 and not £1.65..
Also, if you live in London, you know that pretty much all grocery shops in zones 1-2 have a premium added on groceries. Eg exactly same thing in similarly sized Morrisons in Camden is 10% more expensive than in Wood Green (zone 3). M&S prices are solid 10% more within London then outside and therefore cheaper to order via Ocado.
I live in London (Z2)on 35k for now. Have one flat mate. Living normally. Wish I made more but wouldn’t say I’m uncomfortable - just living within my means
It's actually £85,000, 65 is just around broke..
Damn these premier league players earn that in a week..
You can live like a millionaire earning £85,000 in other areas of the UK. Honestly shocked people even want to stay there. London is a shithole full of pollution
Great analysis!! I wish there was a clear breakdown in the end for both scenarios as a visualisation that keeps showing the makeup of the final budgets though
Really good video! Very insightful
Thanks!
I like the content! Consider doing this for Luxembourg City!
It would have been a great video, if only was well documented. All the prices are as if the video was made at least 18 months ago, except maybe for groceries.
I pay £1800 for rent, in zone 3, and that's just because I got a discount for staying in the same place for 7 years. The usual rent in my area is at around £2000, or even higher. Council tax is £120/pcm. The bills are over £300 in total. Heating alone this month is an eye-watering £116, electricity £79, phone £46 (for a sim-only plan), internet £35 (only because I changed the provider, Virgin was charging £64 last year for an internet-only plan). Then add water bill every once in a while, and the TV licence tax.
Netflix was probably never £10.99, and now it is £17.99.
I don't buy my groceries at M&S or Waitrose, and I still spend over £350 every month (for one person!). I think I've never been below £300, not even back in 2017.
A pint almost anywhere in zone 1 annd 2 is well above £6, sometimes above £7. Only close to my place in zone 3 I had recently 2 pints at £5.85 a piece.
And the whole calculation doesn't even take into account things like toiletries or clothing and footwear, not to mention that every once in a while you have to change a lightbulb, or you need to buy e.g. a new coffee machine. What about holidays, let's say once a year?
My salary was until recently £65K, and I realised that I started to literally spend 100% of my income. That's why I decided that it's time to leave London, and go back home, where I can have a decent life for less than €2000 per month, which is totally something I can make.
Thank you for your comment Teodor. Most of the prices mentioned in the video are based on averages that I researched online back in January for a single person living alone. Just to clarify on a few of your points:
- While rent might be that high in your area of zone 3, that's not the case for the boroughs that I mention in the video. I've found plenty of 1 bedroom flats going for £1,600 or even lower on Zoopla.
- Like I said in the video, council tax is a tricky one as it varies from borough to borough and flat to flat but generally, single people pay between £100 and £150.
- All utilities mentioned were based on averages from numbeo.com, including phone and internet.
- There are 3 Netflix plans available at the moment. The one mentioned in the video is the standard plan (ideal for people living alone) and does cost £10.99.
- As for groceries, this is another tricky one that depends on lifestyle, like how much you eat, what your diet is, whether you buy mostly frozen or mostly fresh. But it is doable for 1 person to spend £200 a month at M&S or Waitrose.
- As for all the other things you mention like changing a lightbulb, getting a new coffee machine, going on holiday, etc would fall under the 20% savings section of the budget. I kept these kind of things in mind which is why I added it in.
It sucks how expensive London has gotten in recent years and I don't blame you for wanting to leave! I understand that not everyone has the same needs or lifestyle which is why I discuss 2 different salaries in the video, so that people can decide for themselves where they would fall inbetween those 2 salaries.
Again, I appreciate the feedback but just know that I tried my best in my research to get the most accurate numbers possible even though some people might end up spending more or less. 🙂
I live in zone 2 and pay £1,600 for a 1 bedroom apartment in a complex with a concierge. Your rent for zone 3 is crazy.
@@wintersnowowen2254 Would you mind sharing the name of the area? Sounds like a very reasonable price, I might need to check for my next rent. Cheers!
@@alis_volat near Canada Water. Though rents are now around £1,800.
I wouldn’t come to London unless I was earning £60,000+
@@wintersnowowen2254That's a crazy amount ! I'm at max 55k/year (depending of how much I decide to work freelance after my main job) and I live in zone 2 (Kentish Town), currently in a studio but just bought a 1 bed flat next Highbury&Islington (with terrace) and still put minimum £1000 in saving/month.
People really need classes on how to manage their money.
Brilliant video!
A pint on average is £6.
I think food bills you are probably looking at £150-200pm (especially if not veggie and if you include grabbing small bits in the week)
Travel can add up if going out regularly for food/drinks/work. This adds up to £100-£150pm. You did mention the unlimited - which is another option. Or you need to be smart with mixing buses and bikes.
Takeaways using an app is never less than £10. I’d say £15-20 each time. Even fast food can be £15 min.
I never looked at any data but sort of assume 60-65 is what I’d say is comfortable for essentials + left over money. But truly enjoying London is 80+ (if you’re not sharing)
Also if people do want to drive (though I know he mentioned you don’t need a car, which is true). Insurance premiums in London are way higher than a lot of the UK. As an example, my 9 year no claims on a basic ford is £1.1k in London for the year (monthly of course adds up to more) and £750 out + no parking permit costs.
That’s how I see it from personal experience
Either way, it’s a great breakdown and I’m sure the numbers will change a lot in a short amount of time regardless 😄
I know a lot of professionals - lawyers, doctors, etc. who earn a 'good' wage in London. Most are in their 40s and live in student-style flatshares with three to six people sharing a front door. Having a place all to yourself is very tough. The idea of starting a family is almost laughable. You need two people working full time in intense jobs to pay for the basics, which means you need to find some kind of childcare. Childcare can cost more than rent/mortgage. It's a joke.
thats horrible i was thinking to come to uk as a doctor but i guess i will have way better lifestyle in my country :(
It's the cost of brexit right
@@mrash8856 it's not true, i was single mom and my son did fine.
Lmao I was paying £1560pcm for a one bed flat in Notting Hill prior to the lockdown. Same in Pimlico..The lockdowns made the rents go completely insane.
the lack of rent control sent the market insane
@@MrDrepanonit’s not even a rent control issue, the interest rates shooting up meant most lamdlords aren’t actually losing money at the moment, even with the price increases
Rent prices should have went up. London had one of the lowest rental yields in Europe before. Now it is around 5%, which is all around average, even still slightly below average.
I have worked it out already. a single person would need to earn £171,216.00 per annum salary to afford a comfortable life in Central London, not a luxurious life. just a comfortable life.
Great content. But can you make a video for the practical lower class of cost of living 30-45 minute tube commute outside central London.
For incomes above £100k the personal allowance is being tapered away so that you'll pay income tax from the first £ if you earn £150k. The marginal tax within that range is then closer to 65%.
Great video, your only forgetting to add National insurance to the income tax. Also any student loan repayments
This is a good video. If you are looking to live a good and comfortable life in zone 2, you will definitely need about ~£4,000 a month net.
You’ll be living a somewhat comfortable life but certainly not a luxurious life.
The figures of ~£5,000+ aren’t attainable for most people given pension contributions and student loans.
Great content! You should do Barcelona!
Thanks! It's on my list to do at some point :)
It would be better to take an average food shop for a person rather than simple items which is unrealistic. £200 p/m food shop is very Conservative even for working class.
I would't live in Z1 unless it's Chelsea or something like that (which is insanely expensive btw), because it's full of tourists and way too noisy. For the same money you can get a better and larger place in Z2.
£65,000 after tax?
So if two people with mortgage of 1100 per month then how does it work? Both earning 55000 pounds each per year.
We are talking about London right? Not Baghdad..?
How about living just outside London?
Pension payment?
Lmao £5 for a pint? £3 for a coffee? Bro are you in newcastle? All these costs except rent are conservative even on the upper end bracket. Try timsing these figures by 1.2 and you have real costs
You forgot about children. Add extra £15 000 a year per child as a minimum for childcare costs... two children £30 000!
I have a drinking problem would the budget apply to me aswell?
We need an answer to this 😂
Yes. Its an average
Living in Zone 1 is far from ideal, more cramped and noisy and not enough green space in the residential areas - living near the royal parks is not realistic
More restraints in London seem to have 0 star hygiene rating
London is insanely expensive and has more similarities with expensive countries around the world like Dubia than nearby cities in UK like Manchester
10:08 Can’t just buy a ticket for a perimeter league game mate. Need to be a club member
Average price of a beer at £5? You having a larf?!??😂
Recomending living in Lewisham, lol :)
I didn’t for 2 years, it’s not great. Blackheath is nicer but ofcourse it’s expensive
Rather live in Kabul than Lewisham lol
2024 65k it is not enough at all due to inflaton, cost of living, rent and pound collapse ! 2008 46k gbp was good salary, rent was 700-800gbp 1 bed room zone2 and the pound was strong as well, etc.........
Obviously, with brexit the price of goods will skyrocket
@@cliffsofmoher4220 not necessarily, lots of cheap shops, buy in bulk, clearance/ reduce foods, etc
WTF is that Tax?
45% tax
Plus 2% national insurance, so it's actually 47%.
Reed mentioned
Now you need to consider those trying to raise a family on a single income
Imagine some RUclipsr thinks earning £90k can live your best life in London. It's even impossible for after-tax income. Come and take a look!
I am a contractor who earns £500 a day so that is like around £134k a year (though 50% of the salary is slashed into tax) and I live outside London as I cannot do much savings if I live in London. That is the situation of London.
50% tax is tough
You must have insanely high spending then, if you don't have much savings with that kind of salary, no matter the tax.
@@Minimal444 i know try £500p/m on UC.
Congestion charge is £15 a day
New York
Tbh anywhere in London is just overpriced and hella expensive. From zone 1 through to zone 9 - living within the M25 is a myth
I'd double everything in this video and then you're at a more accurate cost amount. Also idk why zone 3-4 are missed so much in these types of videos. They offer speedy routes into London but offer more depth and a more varied type of person. 100% true about houseshares and stuff tho, it drops ur cost SO MUCH.
Zone 2 is nice, yes - but it's so gentrified to the point that it's almost dystopian and zone 1 is tourist/corpo central, you'd not wanna LIVE there. South is great, but north is also gorgeous and very very well connected - I would say more connected than south.
Living your best life MUST include a car and associate costs, otherwise you are basically just stuck in that dump and any other major populated area you can get to on the train at the mercy of the train schedule. The biggest benefit of living in the uk is escaping into the countryside and exploring the historic and cultural sights.
agree
The paradox is that you only get a girlfriend when you make 6 figures.
in my mind living your best life is 100k+ if not 150k+
I make £100K i live in a bedroom in finsbury park 😂 moving to florida soon im outsie....
Tried to get a one bad flat everything started at £1,800 and by the end of bidding up your looking at £2,400.
Even the prices online are just a vague starting point.
So i would point you to £150K maybe!
The taxes are wild 😅😂.
@@robbysimmons9901us is so much better for money ngl
@@robbysimmons9901 😂live in Finsbury park as well how come your moving to florida?
Completely irrelevant but it's not borrow, it's burruh. Same as Edinburgh, it's not Edinbro, it's Edinbruh.
I'm not far from London. I've got no income. I'm surviving quite happily thank you. 😮
i think the London average is ~£45k. UK average is £35k 0:13
Ok who are you people who are going out to eat and drink that much in London? who can afford it!!
65k is not enough.
I need a car and I want to save up to buy at some point. I need 80-90k
You aren't living your best life doing any of this tbh.
Many people especially in London want to keep up with the Jonesses tho