The Office for National Statistics has published its latest regional household income figures, and London sits at the top of the table once again. This article explains what the numbers measure, how large the capital’s lead is, and why the regional average conceals some of the widest gaps in the country.
What the ONS actually measured
The release, published on 19 August 2026, covers gross disposable household income (GDHI) for 1997 to 2024. The ONS defines GDHI as the money households have available to spend or save after paying direct and indirect taxes and receiving direct benefits. It includes the income of the self-employed and of residents of communal establishments.
The headline comparison is made “per head”, meaning total household income divided by the resident population. That includes children and retirees, so it is not a measure of what a typical salary looks like. The ONS describes the 2024 figures as provisional.
A second measure is worth knowing: real household disposable income (RHDI), which strips out the effect of price inflation. Nominal figures can rise simply because prices have risen; the real measure shows whether households are genuinely better off.
How far ahead is London?
According to the ONS, London’s GDHI per head in 2024 was £36,487, the highest of the 12 regions. The UK average was £25,965. Simple arithmetic puts London about £10,522 per head above the national figure, or roughly 1.41 times as high. The ONS index value, which sets the UK at 100, puts London at 140.5.
| Area | GDHI per head, 2024 |
|---|---|
| London | £36,487 |
| South East | £29,577 |
| UK average | £25,965 |
| North East | £20,562 |
The South East, the next highest region, sits about £6,910 below London. The North East, the lowest region, is about £15,925 below it. London’s lead over the second-placed region is therefore larger than that region’s lead over the UK average, which is about £3,612.
Has London’s lead been growing?
The 2024 growth rates suggest the lead widened slightly rather than narrowed. London’s GDHI per head grew 6.4% in nominal terms, compared with 6.2% for the UK. In real terms, London’s RHDI per head grew 2.5%, below the UK figure of 3.1%.
That distinction matters. In cash terms the capital pulled marginally further ahead, but once inflation is removed, households elsewhere saw faster real improvement in 2024. The ONS noted that Northern Ireland had the fastest real growth per head, at 4.1%, while the North East recorded the slowest, at 2.2%.
Total GDHI for London was £331,660 million, up 7.4%, matching the 7.4% rise in the UK total of £1,798,886 million. Total growth runs ahead of per-head growth because the population is also rising.
Why does the London average hide so much?
A regional average is only as informative as the spread underneath it. The ONS also publishes figures for smaller local areas, and the London results are strikingly uneven.
| Local area | GDHI per head, 2024 |
|---|---|
| Westminster and City of London | £84,292 |
| Kensington & Chelsea and Hammersmith & Fulham | £80,152 |
| Camden | £72,346 |
| Wandsworth | £49,715 |
| Haringey and Islington | £41,415 |
| Barking and Dagenham and Havering | £24,489 |
Westminster and the City of London, at £84,292, record more than three times the UK average; the precise ratio is about 3.25. At the other end, Barking and Dagenham and Havering, at £24,489, falls slightly below the UK average of £25,965. Within one city, the top local area has about 3.4 times the income per head of the bottom one.
Two cautions apply. These local areas are statistical groupings, so some pair neighbouring boroughs together. And per-head income is measured for people who live in an area, not for those who work there, which is why the figures describe residents rather than the output of a business district.
Is household income the same as economic output?
No, and the distinction is useful for anyone trying to understand how London functions as a business capital. Household income is about what residents receive. Output, usually measured as gross domestic product, is about what an area produces, including the work of commuters who live elsewhere.
On output, an earlier ONS regional release, published in April 2024 and since superseded by a newer one, put London’s GDP for 2022 at £562,179 million out of a UK total of £2,506,170 million, which is about 22.4%. Per head, London’s GDP was £63,407 against £36,844 for the UK, around 1.72 times the national figure.
Comparing the two ratios is revealing. Output per head in 2022 was about 1.72 times the UK figure, while household income per head in 2024 was about 1.41 times. The years differ, so this is an illustration rather than a like-for-like comparison, but the pattern is consistent with a capital whose economic activity is far more concentrated than the incomes of the people who live in it. Output generated in the City, Canary Wharf and the wider business district flows to commuters, to owners and shareholders who live elsewhere, and into profits, not only into the pockets of London residents. For more on how the district itself is evolving, see how London’s financial district is changing.
What high incomes do and do not mean for living costs
Income per head says nothing on its own about what that income buys. The ONS release does not adjust for local living costs, and housing is the obvious difference between London and the rest of the country. A household with 41% more disposable income may still have less left over once rent or a mortgage is paid, depending on the neighbourhood and the household.
That is why readers should treat the figures as a map of where income is received, not a ranking of who is better off after costs. The ONS RHDI measure removes general price inflation over time, but it does not turn one region’s living costs into another’s. Anyone comparing a job offer in London with one elsewhere needs to weigh housing and transport costs alongside the headline salary, a subject covered more fully in this publication’s look at where London’s next wealth concentrates.
Where the money sits: wealth, residents and the global dimension
The local data also fits a broader story about who lives in the capital. Some of the highest-income areas in the table are those with the greatest concentration of prime property and internationally mobile residents, a theme explored in why international wealth still chooses London and in the analysis of prime London property beyond traditional postcodes.
It would be a mistake to draw too much from a single year, however. The 2024 figures are provisional, and a link between high incomes and any one policy, such as changes to residence-based tax rules, cannot be established from this release alone. What the data can say is that, as of the ONS’s August 2026 publication, the gap between London and the rest of the UK remained large, and the gap within London was larger still.
What the figures suggest about London’s position
Three points stand out from the ONS data. First, London’s household income per head is the highest of any region and was about 41% above the UK average in 2024. Second, nominal growth was slightly faster than the national rate, while real growth was slower. Third, the capital’s average conceals a spread of more than £59,000 per head between its highest and lowest local areas in the table, from £84,292 down to £24,489.
For a capital that presents itself as a global business centre, the figures are a reminder that the city’s economic strength and the incomes of its residents are related but not identical. A strong business district supports high-paying jobs, but the benefits are unevenly spread across boroughs, and across the many people who work in London without living in it.
This article provides general information, not personalised financial advice. Statistics are provisional and rules and rates change.
Sources: Office for National Statistics
