More from IFS
Understand this issue

Average household consumption spending before and after housing costs, and mean weekly per-capita income, in different local authorities, 2018–2019
Londoners may have the highest average incomes, but their household spending once you account for housing costs is lower than other regions.
11 April 2025

Rank of local authorities by average household income compared to rank by average consumption after housing costs
On average, London local authorities rank at the top of the income distribution, but are bottom of the net-of-housing consumption distribution.
11 April 2025

Minimum wages in the UK – how high can they go?
In the UK today, earnings inequality is substantially higher than it used to be.
30 October 2024
Policy analysis

Which places have the highest standard of living?
Measuring living standards using average household spending gives a starkly different picture of regional inequalities than using average income.
11 April 2025

Four big decisions for the 2025 Spending Review
Spending Review 2025 will set detailed departmental budgets for most of this parliament. We examine the key choices facing the government.
1 June 2025

Combined impact of minimum wage and tax increases may reduce opportunities for young people
Upcoming increases in the minimum wage and employer NICs could make it harder for young people entering the labour force.
1 April 2025
Academic research

Measuring cost of living inequality during an inflation surge
We provide new evidence that inflation inequality surged during the 2021–2023 cost-of living crisis.
9 May 2025

Estimating intra-household sharing from time-use data
Estimating intra-household sharing is crucial to understanding overall inequality. However, expenditure data is almost always at the household level.
2 May 2025

Small area consumption estimates for local authorities in Great Britain
In this paper, we estimate average equivalised consumption measures across local authority districts in Great Britain.
11 April 2025