What are the regional differences in income and productivity?

This map shows how household income varies across the UK. The legend in the top right-hand corner shows marks for each area, relative to the UK average.

In 2018, higher income areas were in the south, Cheshire, North Yorkshire, East Cumbria, and also Edinburgh, Aberdeen and the east of Scotland.

Zooming in on London, we can highlight the built-up areas where people live. Dark blue shows areas with the highest household income.

Levels of income were particularly high in central London areas such as Kensington and Chelsea, Hammersmith and Fulham, Camden and City and Westminster.

The lowest income areas were mostly urban areas in the Midlands, North West, North East, and Yorkshire and The Humber.

These include Manchester, Birmingham and Nottingham — major UK cities with household income among the lowest in the country, even though their levels of productivity are closer to the national average.

In some areas, this might be to do with a “commuter effect”, where individuals who earn high incomes working in the city did not live there.

For example, the higher income areas of Worcestershire and Warwickshire are within commuting range of Birmingham.

A map of productivity, a measure of economic activity in an area, shows a slightly different picture to household income.

High productivity areas outside of London are often car manufacturing hubs, such as Sunderland, Swindon and Solihull.

The lowest productivity areas are typically more rural, like East Sussex or Somerset.

Although a few low productivity areas are urban areas, like Wolverhampton, Stoke-on-Trent or Greater Manchester North East, which includes Oldham and Rochdale.

All parts of Wales have below UK average productivity, but its highest productivity areas are mainly in the south, the most urbanised and densely populated part of the country.

Powys has the lowest productivity of all subregions in Britain. It also shares borders with the second and third lowest productivity regions, Herefordshire and Conwy and Denbighshire.

In 2018, household income in the East of England was 5.2% higher than the UK average, and productivity was 4.8% lower than the UK average. This means the incomes index was 10 points greater than the productivity index.

The South East, South West and London also had higher relative levels of income than productivity.

The North West and North East had the opposite relationship, with productivity higher relative to income.

This is a clear north-south divide at a regional level. In the south of England and the East Midlands, incomes tend to exceed productivity. Elsewhere they do not.

In 2018, areas with above average productivity and income were mostly in southern England and parts of Scotland. These areas can be seen on the map and in the top right of the scatter chart.

Of the 168 subregions in Britain, 95 experienced both productivity and incomes below the overall levels for the UK, as did Northern Ireland.

These areas included Wales and the eastern and western edges of England such as Norfolk, Cornwall, Lincolnshire and Northumberland.

Areas with below average productivity but above average income were mostly rural areas within commuting distance of large cities. North Yorkshire and East Cumbria were in this quadrant.

Areas with above average productivity but below average income were mostly urban areas outside of London.

Focusing on Scotland, 14 of 23 regions had below average income and productivity.

The City of Edinburgh had productivity and income well above UK average, and is a financial and legal centre.

Edinburgh also had several areas surrounding it that were high productivity and low income.

There is high productivity and incomes around Aberdeenshire, which is the centre of the North Sea oil industry.

By constrast, Glasgow has the lowest household income of all Scottish regions and the eighth lowest productivity.

In England, a significant number of southern areas had higher than average income, likely due to the wider influence of business and commuting around London.

In Greater London, both income and productivity were higher than average in most areas. In some areas of central London income far outstripped productivity.

Tower Hamlets, home to Canary Wharf as well as some more deprived neighbourhoods, had the highest productivity in Great Britain, but its income was much closer to the national average.

Explore the data

Select an area on the map, scatter chart or drop-down menu to see how it compares for income and productivity.

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In 2018 Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire was among the areas with above average income and above average productivity.

Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire had an annual disposable household income of £21,648 per person (2.6% higher than the UK average) and productivity of £37.60 per hour worked (7.3% higher than the UK average).