Income progression

Published: 18 December 2025
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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 and year.

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

Summary main findings

In both time periods covered by the data – the 3 years to 2016, and the 3 years to 2024:

  • 25 to 44 year olds from professional backgrounds had a greater increase in their income on average compared with those from intermediate and working class backgrounds
  • average incomes increased steadily from the age of 25 to 35 years, and tended to flatten out after
  • 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 2016, and 2022 to 2024)

Click or tap on legend items to toggle visibility

Data

Income progression of men and women aged 25 to 44, by socio-economic background (UK, 2014 to 2016, and 2022 to 2024)
Survey period Age (years) Lower working Higher working Intermediate Lower professional Higher professional
Men (£) Women (£) Men (£) Women (£) Men (£) Women (£) Men (£) Women (£) Men (£) Women (£)
2022 to 2024 25 25,026 17,561 28,088 20,253 29,236 21,625 31,677 22,594 34,857 26,885
26 26,866 19,190 30,051 21,989 31,245 23,417 33,784 24,424 37,090 28,887
27 28,575 20,691 31,882 23,598 33,122 25,080 35,758 26,126 39,192 30,760
28 30,152 22,063 33,582 25,078 34,868 26,614 37,602 27,699 41,163 32,505
29 31,597 23,307 35,150 26,429 36,481 28,021 39,313 29,144 43,001 34,122
30 32,911 24,422 36,586 27,652 37,964 29,299 40,893 30,461 44,708 35,611
31 34,093 25,410 37,890 28,747 39,314 30,449 42,341 31,650 46,284 36,971
32 35,143 26,268 39,063 29,714 40,533 31,470 43,658 32,710 47,727 38,203
33 36,062 26,999 40,105 30,552 41,620 32,363 44,843 33,642 49,039 39,306
34 36,850 27,601 41,014 31,262 42,576 33,128 45,896 34,445 50,220 40,281
35 37,505 28,075 41,793 31,843 43,400 33,765 46,817 35,121 51,269 41,128
36 38,029 28,421 42,439 32,297 44,092 34,273 47,608 35,667 52,186 41,847
37 38,421 28,638 42,954 32,622 44,653 34,653 48,266 36,086 52,972 42,437
38 38,682 28,727 43,337 32,818 45,082 34,904 48,793 36,376 53,626 42,899
39 38,811 28,687 43,589 32,886 45,380 35,027 49,188 36,538 54,148 43,232
40 38,809 28,519 43,709 32,826 45,546 35,022 49,451 36,572 54,539 43,437
41 38,674 28,223 43,697 32,638 45,580 34,888 49,583 36,477 54,798 43,514
42 38,409 27,799 43,553 32,321 45,482 34,626 49,583 36,254 54,925 43,463
43 38,011 27,246 43,279 31,876 45,253 34,236 49,452 35,902 54,921 43,283
44 37,482 26,565 42,872 31,302 44,893 33,718 49,189 35,422 54,785 42,974
2014 to 2016 25 17,328 11,706 20,392 12,720 20,977 14,316 25,505 16,943 28,517 19,324
26 18,618 12,759 21,805 13,814 22,413 15,473 27,122 18,206 30,255 20,682
27 19,835 13,740 23,144 14,835 23,776 16,558 28,666 19,396 31,919 21,967
28 20,977 14,649 24,409 15,785 25,064 17,572 30,135 20,514 33,509 23,181
29 22,046 15,485 25,601 16,662 26,279 18,512 31,531 21,560 35,025 24,322
30 23,041 16,250 26,718 17,466 27,420 19,381 32,853 22,534 36,468 25,391
31 23,962 16,941 27,762 18,199 28,487 20,177 34,101 23,435 37,836 26,387
32 24,809 17,561 28,731 18,859 29,480 20,901 35,276 24,264 39,131 27,312
33 25,582 18,108 29,627 19,447 30,399 21,553 36,376 25,021 40,352 28,164
34 26,282 18,583 30,450 19,962 31,245 22,132 37,403 25,705 41,499 28,943
35 26,908 18,986 31,198 20,406 32,017 22,639 38,356 26,318 42,572 29,651
36 27,460 19,317 31,872 20,777 32,715 23,074 39,234 26,858 43,572 30,286
37 27,938 19,575 32,473 21,075 33,339 23,437 40,040 27,325 44,497 30,849
38 28,342 19,761 33,000 21,302 33,889 23,727 40,771 27,721 45,349 31,340
39 28,672 19,874 33,453 21,456 34,365 23,945 41,428 28,044 46,127 31,758
40 28,929 19,916 33,832 21,538 34,768 24,091 42,012 28,295 46,831 32,104
41 29,111 19,885 34,137 21,548 35,096 24,164 42,522 28,473 47,461 32,378
42 29,220 19,782 34,368 21,485 35,351 24,165 42,958 28,580 48,018 32,579
43 29,255 19,606 34,526 21,350 35,532 24,094 43,320 28,614 48,500 32,709
44 29,216 19,359 34,610 21,143 35,639 23,951 43,608 28,575 48,909 32,766
  • Download the data (CSV, 5KB)

    • Download

    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 2016 (combined)
    • 2022 to 2024 (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 income weights.

    This year’s data is not directly comparable with last year’s due 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 2025 on GOV.UK.

    Download the data

    Download full dataset (CSV, 91KB)

    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
    • Tertiary split type
    • Tertiary split value
    • Fourth split type
    • Fourth split value
    • Time period
    • Value
    • Lower confidence interval
    • Upper confidence interval
    • Unit

    Page history

    Publication release date:

    18 December 2025

    Editions of this page:

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