Households in the Leamouth neighbourhood of Tower Hamlets had an average disposable income of £107,600 after tax in the financial year ending 2023
The gap between the country’s richest and poorest neighbourhoods is growing, with those at the top having almost £87,000 more to spend a year than those at the bottom.
Households in the Leamouth neighbourhood of Tower Hamlets had an average disposable income of £107,600 after tax in the financial year ending 2023.
That makes the area – which includes a number of upmarket riverside towerblocks between Canning Town and Canary Wharf – the country’s highest-earning neighbourhood, according to new data released by the Office for National Statistics.
By contrast, Sparkhill North in Birmingham had the lowest average income in the country. Households in the area had an average disposable income of just under £20,800 a year. That’s £86,800 a year less than in Leamouth.
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When the data was last released for the financial year ending 2020, the gap between the richest and poorest neighbourhoods was just £50,300 a year, suggesting the income gap has grown by 73% in the space of just three years.
Huge gaps in disposable income also exist with council areas. Households in Shadwell North had the lowest average disposable income in Tower Hamlets in the financial year ending 2023.
The typical household there had a disposable income of £33,800 a year after tax. That’s a gap of £73,800 compared to Leamouth, and is the country’s largest gap between the richest and poorest neighbourhoods within the same local authority.
In a stark display of rich and poor living side by side in the capital, Poplar Central neighbours Learmouth and has Tower Hamlets’ second lowest average disposable income at an average of £35,000 per household. That’s three times less than in neighbouring Learmouth and a gap of £73,000.
In Southwark there’s a gap of £63,300 between the richest area, Butler’s Wharf and Queen’s Walk, where average household disposable income was £100,900 a year, and South Bermondsey East, where average disposable income was £37,600 a year.
Oxford has the next largest income gap in the country at over £53,200. The Oxford Central neighbourhood had an average disposable income of over £87,300 a year, compared to Blackbird Leys at over £34,100 a year.
Salford was next with a gap of £44,400, with households in Salford Quays having a disposable income of £67,800 a year compared to Pendleton’s £23,400.
Meanwhile, Birmingham has a gap of £42,600, with the Central neighbourhood having an average disposable income of £63,400 compared to Sparkhill North’s £20,800.
The huge gaps in how much households earn have been exposed by new figures from the Office for National Statistics. Every two years the ONS looks at the combined disposable income of households after income tax, national insurance and council tax have been paid.
Averages are then calculated for small areas, known officially as Middle layer Super Output Areas, which are made up of between 2,000 and 6,000 households.
The six lowest earning areas in the country are all located in Birmingham. After Sparkhill North, Sparkbrook South has the second lowest average household income with £21,548.
Small Heath Park is next with £21,666, followed by Saltley East with £21,689, Washwood Heath with £21,787, and Bordesley Green North with £21,928.
You can search to see how your local area compares by using our interactive map. Simply enter your postcode to see the figures for your area.
Almost half (45%) of all neighbourhoods in London are in the top 10% when it comes to average disposable household income. In the South East, 14% of neighbourhoods were in the top 10% nationally, while in the East of England it was 8%.
The North East, meanwhile, had no neighbourhoods in the top 10%.
Both Wales and Yorkshire and the Humber had less than 1% of neighbourhoods in the top 10% nationally, while in the North West it was 1%, and in the West Midlands, East Midlands and South West it was 2%.
Almost a quarter (23%) of neighbourhoods in both the North West and West Midlands were in the bottom 10% nationally, and 21% in the North East.
