ONS data shows stark UK gap in household disposable income, with Westminster nearly five times Leicester

Households in some parts of London have dramatically more money available to spend or save than residents elsewhere in the UK, new Office for National Statistics data for 2023 show. Westminster and the City of London recorded the highest gross disposable household income (GDHI) per head at £79,555 — nearly five times the £16,067 recorded in Leicester and more than three times the UK average of £24,836.

GDHI, the measure of money households have left after paying taxes and receiving benefits, also rose across the UK in 2023. Total GDHI reached nearly £1.7 trillion, an increase of 9.5% from 2022, with England accounting for 86.5% of the total and the only part of the UK with GDHI per head above the UK average.

The ONS figures show the 10 local authority areas with the highest GDHI per head were in London or the South East, while the 10 with the lowest were all in the Midlands or the North of England. London’s average GDHI per head was the highest among UK regions at £35,361, and the North East recorded the lowest regional figure at £19,977.

Variation within London was pronounced: Westminster and the City of London at £79,555 contrasted with Barking and Dagenham and Havering at £24,410 per head. By contrast, Wales showed relatively little internal variation, with Monmouthshire and Newport at the top in Wales with £21,733 per head and Neath Port Talbot at the bottom with £18,827.

The local areas recording the largest year-on-year increases in total GDHI between 2022 and 2023 were Kensington and Chelsea and Hammersmith and Fulham, both with rises of 12.9%. The smallest increases were in the Isle of Anglesey at 6.1% and Tower Hamlets at 6.6%. Among the UK countries, England’s total GDHI grew by 9.6%, while Wales saw the smallest country-level rise at 7.9%.

When measured against population size, England was the only UK country with GDHI per head above the national average. Scotland accounted for 7.4% of total UK GDHI in 2023, Wales 3.8% and Northern Ireland 2.3%.

Economists and statisticians use GDHI to assess living standards and the capacity of households to spend or save after government interventions such as taxation and benefits. The ONS dataset provides local authority-level breakdowns that highlight both national trends in aggregate growth and persistent geographic inequalities.

The 2023 data underline the concentration of high disposable incomes in London and the South East and the comparatively lower levels in large parts of the Midlands and the North. The ONS release will inform debates about regional economic policy, levelling-up initiatives and local government funding as policymakers and analysts assess how income disparities interact with housing costs, employment patterns and public services.