Cost of living comparison: London and the North

Most people throw around the terms that "oh aye you'll live like a king on 22k a year up north" etc and so what is an actual equivalent to the London salary.

For example, if I were to make £25k a year in Newcastle, how much more would the equivalent in London be based on having same amount of disposable income and what not.

Reply 1

sr90

Volunteer Team

The majority of sales in Newcastle Upon Tyne during the last year were terraced properties, selling for an average price of £173,351. Semi-detached properties sold for an average of £176,918, with flats fetching £133,162.

Most of the sales in Greater Manchester over the past year were terraced properties which on average sold for £125,517. Semi-detached properties had an average sold price of £178,571 and flats averaged at £139,647.

Most of the sales in London over the past year were flats which on average sold for £570,525. Terraced properties had an average sold price of £839,604 and semi-detached properties averaged at £973,622.

There you go.

Reply 2

TrojanH

Well I just wanted to know how much would a 25k salary be equivalent to in London. I know rent is a lot more...

Reply 3

TrojanH

Original post by J-SP

What you are asking for doesn't really exist, and where comparisons could be made it would vary massively between sectors/roles.

Posted from TSR Mobile

It exists. There are lots of website col comparisons for the US.

I just wanted to know if I had a 25k job in Ncl and was offered a role in London, how much more would it have to be for it to be worth while in wage alone

Reply 4

ckfeister

Original post by TrojanH

You'll be able to afford your own flat/home so no high price renting, be warned there are a lot of trouble up there. In London, you could live in Essex and use train to London, as wages are far higher in London it will be affordable and still better off than living up in North were wage are far lower.

Reply 5

Rakas21

Original post by TrojanH

I se from your replies that you were getting a bit confused. So essentially the thing to remember is that compared to the rest of the country only rent and transport are really a bit more expensive.

I live in Leeds and if i was getting ~£21k per year (~£1500 per month) i'd probably spend it something like..

£600 - Rent
£200 - Household and personal bills
£100 - Food and toiletries
£100 - Transport (less actually but we'll assume i go around a lot for our purposes)
£300 - General Spending
£200 - Savings/Investment

So in London the first thing to be halved would be savings because transport increases to £200. The second thing that happens is that because house prices are 3-4 times higher for a modest 2 bed apartment (i assumed in my calculations there'll be a friend) that you'll probably pay at least twice the level of rent, hence your spending pattern looks like like this..

£1200 - Rent
£200 - Transport
£300 - Bills, food, toiletries
£300 - General spending

Total: £2000

Hence, just to maintain my lifestyle you'll have to earn £700 more per month before you can start saving and investing. To match my level of savings you'll more or less have to earn £2.5k per month.

*Note that you can reduce costs via spareroom ect.. but the moral of the story is that living outside London is probably worth about £10k.

Also found a cool map..

Reply 6

Fullofsurprises

Original post by TrojanH

Well I just wanted to know how much would a 25k salary be equivalent to in London. I know rent is a lot more...

One thing is which sector you work in. For example, public sector salaries tend to be a little higher in London ('London weighting') but not hugely higher, so if you work in many public sector jobs, salaries outside London tend to offer a better net standard of living, given the big disparity in housing costs.

Some very well paid jobs tend to be concentrated in London, especially professional and 'new industry' jobs like the tech sector, but of course you also need the skills for those types of work, so it's hard to compare. Most 'higher end' jobs like that in London offer higher pay rates than similar ones in the 'provinces', although they also attract good salaries across the South East and out to places like Bristol and Birmingham.

I would hazard a very general guess that your £25K in Newcastle would be equivalent to £35K in London, but if you want a true cost of living comparison, for Inner London, you would probably need more like £50K to have the same standard of living as in the North East.