Income progression

Published: 11 September 2024
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Data on changes in the annual income of men and women aged 25 to 44 years in the UK, by socio-economic background.

  1. Summary main findings
  2. By sex
  3. About the data
  4. Download the data

Summary main findings

Data from 2014 to 2022 shows that the average increase in income for 25 to 44 year olds was greater for young people from professional backgrounds than for those from intermediate or working-class backgrounds.

Average incomes increased steadily from the age of 25 to 35 years, and tended to flatten out after. The average increase was greater for young people from professional backgrounds than for those from intermediate or working-class backgrounds.

Women’s average earnings were lower, and did not increase as quickly as men’s. The earnings for women tended to flatten out a few years earlier than for men.

By sex

Visualisation

Income progression of men and women aged 25 to 44, by socio-economic background (UK, 2014 to 2022 combined)

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Data

Income progression of men and women aged 25 to 44, by socio-economic background (UK, 2014 to 2022 combined)
Age (years) Lower working Higher working Intermediate Lower professional Higher professional
Men (%) Women (%) Men (%) Women (%) Men (%) Women (%) Men (%) Women (%) Men (%) Women (%)
25 20,626 12,696 21,632 14,882 24,432 16,248 26,706 18,798 29,670 22,094
26 21,986 13,970 23,184 16,153 25,982 17,578 28,523 20,233 31,523 23,598
27 23,254 15,150 24,644 17,330 27,440 18,812 30,248 21,573 33,283 25,006
28 24,429 16,234 26,012 18,411 28,807 19,951 31,881 22,818 34,952 26,320
29 25,513 17,223 27,288 19,397 30,081 20,995 33,422 23,968 36,528 27,538
30 26,504 18,117 28,472 20,289 31,263 21,944 34,871 25,023 38,013 28,662
31 27,404 18,916 29,564 21,085 32,353 22,798 36,228 25,982 39,405 29,690
32 28,211 19,620 30,564 21,785 33,351 23,556 37,493 26,847 40,705 30,623
33 28,926 20,229 31,471 22,391 34,257 24,220 38,665 27,616 41,913 31,461
34 29,550 20,743 32,287 22,902 35,071 24,788 39,746 28,290 43,029 32,204
35 30,081 21,161 33,010 23,317 35,793 25,261 40,735 28,869 44,053 32,852
36 30,520 21,485 33,642 23,638 36,423 25,640 41,631 29,353 44,985 33,405
37 30,867 21,713 34,181 23,863 36,960 25,923 42,436 29,742 45,825 33,862
38 31,122 21,847 34,629 23,993 37,406 26,111 43,148 30,036 46,573 34,225
39 31,285 21,885 34,984 24,029 37,760 26,203 43,768 30,235 47,229 34,492
40 31,356 21,828 35,247 23,969 38,021 26,201 44,296 30,338 47,793 34,664
41 31,334 21,676 35,418 23,813 38,191 26,104 44,733 30,347 48,264 34,741
42 31,221 21,428 35,497 23,563 38,268 25,911 45,077 30,260 48,644 34,723
43 31,016 21,086 35,484 23,218 38,253 25,624 45,329 30,078 48,931 34,610
44 30,718 20,649 35,379 22,777 38,147 25,241 45,489 29,802 49,127 34,402
  • Download the data (CSV, 2KB)

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    For the full download file, see Download the data.

    About the data

    Data source

    Office for National Statistics (ONS), Labour Force Survey (LFS)

    Time period

    2014 to 2022 (combined)

    Geographic area

    UK

    What the data measures

    The data shows the average income progression of men and women aged 25 to 44 years in the UK.

    Socio-economic background is based on the main earner’s occupation when the respondent was aged 14 years. Where there was no earner in the family, the respondent is included in the lower working class category. The categories are based on the National Statistics Socio-economic Classification (NS-SEC), set by the ONS.

    Things you need to know

    The data used is weighted using LFS person weights.

    This year’s data is not directly comparable with last year’s due to slight revisions to a change in the inflation base year.

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

    Type of data

    Survey data

    Full report

    Read more in State of the Nation 2024 on GOV.UK.

    Download the data

    Download full dataset (CSV, 41KB)

    This file contains the following variables:

    • Indicator code
    • Indicator name
    • Area type
    • Area code
    • Area name
    • Time period
    • Socio-economic background
    • Age
    • Sex
    • Value
    • Lower confidence interval
    • Upper confidence interval
    • Standard error
    • Unit

    Page history

    Publication release date:

    11 September 2024

    Editions of this page:

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