Wages and Prices in United Kingdom

The United Kingdom pairs a high common-year wage with a below-benchmark Overall index, offering a familiar reference while retaining distinct category and date labels.

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Wage history

How Wages Have Changed in United Kingdom

Explore United Kingdom’s PPP-adjusted annual wage history using a reported range rather than a filled-in series.

PPP-adjusted annual wage (USD)2000–2025 · touch or hover points for the selected range

Price levels

Price Levels in United Kingdom

Compare everyday price levels using the United States benchmark of 100.

Overall

84.30Below U.S.15.7% below U.S.

Food

85.10Below U.S.14.9% below U.S.

Clothing

78.90Below U.S.21.1% below U.S.

Housing

95.40Below U.S.4.6% below U.S.

Health

72.10Below U.S.27.9% below U.S.

Transport

111.00Above U.S.11.0% above U.S.

Recreation

90.20Below U.S.9.8% below U.S.

Restaurants

87.20Below U.S.12.8% below U.S.

How to Read This View

Use 100 as the reference

The United States is fixed at 100 for every category. A value of 84.3 means that United Kingdom’s price level is about 15.7% below the U.S. benchmark, while a value of 111 means it is approximately 11% higher.

Compare categories, not household bills

Each row represents a separate spending category. The values show relative price levels rather than the actual amount a household spends. A higher transport index does not necessarily mean that total living costs are higher by the same amount.

Check the selected year

The year buttons update all displayed categories together. Missing observations are shown as unavailable and are never replaced with values from another year.

Relative context

United Kingdom in Context

See how United Kingdom’s wage and selected price level compare with the OECD median and the United States.

Average Annual Wage

United Kingdom$66,299

OECD Median$60,690

United States$86,977

Selected Price Level

United Kingdom84.30

OECD Median67.25

United States100

Read the placement

United Kingdom’s 2025 PPP-adjusted annual wage is 9.2% above the OECD median. Its 2024 Overall price index of 84.3 is 15.7% below the U.S. benchmark, meaning that it combines a higher wage with a lower price level in this dataset. Wage and price observations refer to separately labelled years and should not be read as a household affordability score.

Country note

Understanding Wages and Prices in United Kingdom

United Kingdom is shown with its current common-year wage and a separate price-year label. The chart exposes the selected historical span without interpolation, while the page avoids converting a measured change into a causal story.

The highest displayed category indices for United Kingdom are Transport at 111.00, Housing at 95.40, and Recreation at 90.20, while the overall index remains below the United States reference. Those measures describe relative prices, not an estimate of a household budget or a recommendation about where to live.