Introduction
The cost of living in the UK is soaring high with time. Economic events in the recent half a decade have made things difficult for the Brits. The much-debated decision of Brexit might be attributed to increasing inflation in the country.
COVID-19 added fuel to the fire and completely stagnated the UK economy. During this time, thousands of businesses were constrained to wrap up. Notwithstanding the cold wintry national and global economy, the UK’s overall position still remains stable.
Now that the economy is yawning from hibernation, youth have good hopes of starting their own life as a student, holding jobs, or starting new businesses.
-Do you intend to start your new job in the UK?
The first and foremost thing you must know is the cost of living in the country. This article will discuss the average salary you need to earn for a comfortable stay in the UK.
What’s A Good Lifestyle For You?
The discussion itself will be highly relative, but you need to have an idea of what can be the definition or idea of a good lifestyle. A good lifestyle denotes a standard of living where you can meet your basic needs and preferences.
It constitutes raising the children in a good school, two cars for every household, and replacing the house every five years. It includes holidays of more than two weeks in Europe each year. You must allocate around 1500 BP per person for new clothes and shoes. Other luxury items like weekly restaurants and bottles of wine also come within the periphery of a good lifestyle.
Why Is the UK Getting Expensive?
According to the observation of Statista, around 70% of the people reported that the cost of living has increased from the previous month.
Even cities like London are getting far more expensive compared to other places globally. How many reasons can be attributed to the rise in cost?
According to an August 2022 report that the London Borough commissioned, the average rent in the UK increased by a massive 15.8% higher than the previous year. Hence you can understand the sharp rise in values. Energy prices soared high. Together, these factors contributed to the inflation rising to a massive 10.1%, as recorded in January 2023.
Brexit hit the core sectors in the UK. Previously the UK enjoyed free trade with other European cities when it was under the European Union. But with time, things began to change after Britain exited the union.
Cost of Living
In this section, we will discuss the basic cost that a family needs to bear in the UK to meet the basic requirements of the UK. We will discuss all of them here in this section.
Housing
Rent in the UK is one of the biggest concerns, especially if you’re living in cities like London. The monthly rent for a one-bedroom apartment near London would be around £1,600 a month. But if you choose to live outside the city, you can do it for £1000.
Similarly, renting a family home can cost you around £3000 a month, but staying away from the city will help you manage within £ 19000.
Raising The Children
According to a study by the Child Poverty Action Group, the cost of raising a child until eighteen is a massive £160,692. The cost is indeed high and is skyrocketing with time.
Education costs include basic needs like books, exercise books, laptops, and other general needs. The average monthly cost of raising one child in the UK is around £8927. With two children, the values seem to be increasing.
Transportation Cost
Transportation is another important component of a good lifestyle. Many components can integrate into one. The travel cost in the UK is fairly expensive. The average cost of a one-way ticket is around 2.60 GBP. If you are commuting from one city to another for jobs or other needs, the monthly pass can rotate around 150 GBP.
So you can understand that the train fare is pretty heavy there. The normal charge for a Taxi is around £ 4.0. Therefore you can understand that transportation is quite expensive if you talk about the UK in general and London in particular.
General Living Expenses
The general living expense for a single person in the cities like London would be around £ 1500 and £12000 in Manchester.
If you aggregate it to find yearly expenses, it becomes £ 18000 a year. How many things can come under the living expenses? It can be flooding, community expenditure, leisurely activities e, education, and learning. The component can vary according to the individual.
What Is The Average Salary You Need To Earn In The Uk
The economic pedestal of the country is stable, and that’s why people from across the world search, earning the average salary in the UK, to hope for a bright future there. But again, we can tell you that a good lifestyle is completely relative. It can be more or less according to your convenience.
According to a study, it is observed that the average cost of living in the UK is £27000 annually. With this you can earn your living but not so comfortably in the UK. Furthermore, with this income, living in top cities like London and Manchester would be extremely difficult.
We discussed a fairly lump-sum idea of what can come with a comfortable lifestyle for living in the UK or cities like London. According to an overview, it might seem that you need to earn around £70000. But looking at the present circumstances, you have to earn more than the particular amount. Because of deductions like Tax, pension contributions, and national insurance, you have to earn much more than this to earn a really comfortable living in London or, say, in the UK.
A family with a sole breadwinner needs around £105320 to generate £67000 post deduction of Tax and other expenditures.
Putting The Discussion To A Close
The basic expenditure in the UK is increasing at a rapid pace. Under the circumstances, it is becoming extremely difficult for people to manage their expenditures. All you need is a good salary. It can provide you with a comfortable stay in the UK.