What this chart shows

↑ The takeaway

A household in Kensington & Chelsea has over five times the disposable income per head of a household in Blackpool. The UK average of £24,800 is a statistical fiction that hides two very different countries.

Gross Disposable Household Income (GDHI) per head for regions across the UK. GDHI is the amount of money households have available for spending or saving after taxes, benefits, and pension contributions. It is the closest single measure to "what people actually have to live on" at a regional level.

The chart reveals a clear geographic gradient: inner London boroughs dominate the top, with values far above the UK average of roughly £24,800. At the other end, post-industrial areas in the North, Wales, and the Midlands cluster well below the national figure. The gap between the highest and lowest areas is more than fivefold — one of the widest in any developed economy.

Why it matters

Regional income inequality drives unequal access to housing, services, education, and opportunity. It is not just a North-South divide — pockets of low income exist within otherwise affluent regions. Policy interventions (levelling up, devolution, investment zones) are measured against exactly this kind of data.

Methodology & data quality
GDHI is calculated by ONS as: total income (wages, self-employment, property, benefits) minus taxes (income tax, NICs, council tax) minus pension contributions. The per-head figure divides by resident population. Data is at ITL3 level (local authority groupings) for maximum geographic detail. Values are at current prices (not inflation-adjusted). The UK average row is included for reference but filtered from the regional chart to avoid distortion. When live ONS XLSX data is unavailable, the pipeline uses illustrative values from published ONS bulletins. Known caveats: GDHI per head divides by all residents including children and retired people — it is not a measure of individual earnings. Areas with high commuter outflows (e.g. dormitory towns) may show lower GDHI because earnings are attributed to workplace regions in some components.