What is the median household income in the UK?

The ONS household disposable income and inequality bulletin, published 2 October 2026, put median household disposable income in the UK at £39,200 in the financial year ending 2025 (April 2024 to March 2025), up 3.5% on the year before. Disposable income is what a household has after direct taxes, including earnings, pensions, investments and cash benefits.

DWP's Households Below Average Income uses a different survey and a weekly, size-adjusted measure: £719 a week before housing costs and £623 after housing costs for the same year. The two sources are not interchangeable.

Check whether a figure is median or mean, household or individual, and before or after tax and housing costs. For individual pay rather than household income, see average salary.

Official sources: ONS household disposable income and inequality · ONS effects of taxes and benefits on household income

The latest figure

The newest value is at Office for National Statistics (ONS). More on it: UK household saving ratio.

When is the next figure out?

Quarterly, with the quarterly national accounts about three months after the quarter ends, 7am; next release 22 December 2026

Every official release due in the next two weeks is on the release calendar.

Terms used in this answer

• Median
  The middle value when all values are ordered from lowest to highest. Half are above and half below, so a few very large values cannot pull it up.
• Mean
  The total of all values divided by how many there are. Often what people mean by 'average', it can be pulled up or down by a few extreme values.
• Real household disposable income (RHDI)
  The total income households have available to spend or save after taxes and benefits, adjusted for inflation. Often expressed per head.
• Gini coefficient
  A single number summarising inequality of income or wealth, from 0 (everyone has the same) to 100 or 1 (one person has everything).
• Deciles and quintiles
  Ways of dividing a ranked population into equal groups: ten groups (deciles) or five groups (quintiles), often used for income.
• Seasonally adjusted
  Figures that have had regular calendar patterns removed, such as Christmas shopping or summer jobs, so that underlying movements between months or quarters can be seen.

Where the figures come from

• UK poverty and household income statistics (DWP, ONS, DESNZ, Low Pay Commission and devolved governments)
  Where to find official UK poverty, household income, inequality, minimum wage and fuel poverty figures, and how to check claims about them.

Related questions

• What is the Gini coefficient for the UK?
• What is the average salary in the UK?
• What is the poverty line in the UK?

This answer says where the official figures are published and how they are defined. It gives no verdict on any claim. To report an error, send a correction request. More questions about poverty, incomes and cost of living: all Poverty, incomes and cost of living questions.