Parental income

Published: 18 December 2025

Data on the real average (mean) hourly earnings of people with dependent children.

Summary main findings
By year
By area
About the data
Download the data

Summary main findings

In 2024, the average (mean) income of people with dependent children was £21.47 an hour.

Between 2018 and 2020, the figure went up, from £19.87 to £22.82. It fell between 2020 and 2023, from £22.82 to £21.31. It then increased slightly between 2023 and 2024.

In 2024, the mean income of people with dependent children was highest in west Inner London (£34.11 an hour). It was lowest in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly (£16.97 an hour).

By year

Mean hourly earnings, adjusted for inflation, of people with dependent children (UK, 2014 to 2024)

Mean hourly earnings, adjusted for inflation, of people with dependent children (UK, 2014 to 2024)
Year	Mean hourly earnings (£)
2024	21.47
2023	21.31
2022	21.54
2021	22.76
2020	22.82
2019	20.76
2018	19.87
2017	20.01
2016	19.90
2015	19.52
2014	19.38

Download the data (CSV, 188B)

For the full download file, see Download the data.

By area

Mean hourly earnings of people with dependent children, adjusted for inflation, by region (UK, 2014 to 2024 combined)

41 regions in the UK are ranked from the lowest to highest values. They are then divided into 5 equally-sized groups (‘quintiles’), from 1 (lowest) to 5 (highest).

The lines either side of the dots represent confidence intervals – the range of values that the 'true' value for each region is highly likely to be within. In many cases the confidence intervals overlap. This suggests differences between specific regions may not be statistically significant.

The regional estimates have a large margin of error – do not rank or compare specific regions. See the composite indices for more precise estimates and to understand overall regional patterns.

Q1 - Lowest 20%

Q5 - Highest 20%

Q1 - Lowest 20%

Q5 - Highest 20%

Mean hourly earnings of people with dependent children, adjusted for inflation, by region (UK, 2014 to 2024 combined)
Region	Mean hourly earnings (£)
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire	26.05
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire	25.19
Cheshire	23.22
Cornwall and Isles of Scilly	16.97
Cumbria	18.20
Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire	19.52
Devon	18.99
Dorset and Somerset	19.52
East Anglia	19.04
East Wales	19.01
East Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire	17.19
Eastern Scotland	21.32
Essex	22.36
Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and Bath/Bristol area	21.19
Greater Manchester	19.62
Hampshire and Isle of Wight	21.89
Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire	20.55
Highlands and Islands	19.14
Inner London - East	24.92
Inner London - West	34.11
Kent	21.54
Lancashire	18.39
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire	18.79
Lincolnshire	18.38
Merseyside	19.64
North Eastern Scotland	26.02
North Yorkshire	20.26
Northern Ireland	17.96
Northumberland, and Tyne and Wear	18.01
Outer London - East and North East	22.88
Outer London - South	26.45
Outer London - West and North West	25.39
Shropshire and Staffordshire	18.51
South Yorkshire	18.04
Southern Scotland	18.45
Surrey, East and West Sussex	25.15
Tees Valley and Durham	17.16
West Central Scotland	20.16
West Midlands	18.81
West Wales and The Valleys	17.29
West Yorkshire	19.19

Download the data (CSV, 1KB)

For the full download file, see Download the data.

About the data

Data source

Labour Force Survey (LFS), Office for National Statistics

Time period

2014 to 2024 (By year)
2014 to 2024 combined (By area)

Geographic area

What the data measures

The data shows the average (mean) hourly earnings of people in the UK with dependent children.

This includes:

opposite or same sex couples in marriages or civil partnerships
opposite or same sex couples who live together
single male or female parents

Dependent children are classed as all children aged 15 and under, and 16 to 18 year olds in full-time education. Adult respondents aged under 21 years old are not included.

Things you need to know

This page was published for the first time for State of the Nation 2025.

Data is weighted using LFS income weights.

Earnings have been adjusted for inflation using 2024 as the base year.

The error bars show 95% confidence intervals. Read more about [confidence intervals].

Type of data

Survey data

Full report

Download the data

Download full dataset (CSV, 10KB)

This file contains the following variables:

Measure code
Measure title
Chart type
Area code
Area type
Area name
Primary split type
Primary split value
Secondary split type
Secondary split value
Time period
Value
Lower confidence interval
Upper confidence interval
Sample size
Unit

Page history

Publication release date:

18 December 2025

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