Insight

How Much Do You Need to Earn to Live in London?

Understand the real-world budget you need to live in London as a digital marketing professional (and how much you’re likely to earn!).

London is undoubtedly one of the best cities in the world to live in and has a huge range of career opportunities for both experienced and aspiring digital marketers. However, what is considered a living wage in London – and can you afford to live there?

Life in London is fast-paced, busy and vibrant; the UK capital doesn’t stand still and is full of amazing brands and businesses. It’s also a fantastic place to work as a digital marketer, whether you’re keen to snag some top-tier clients or work for one of the best digital marketing agencies around.

Before making any career decisions, it’s important to budget, and as one of the most expensive cities globally, those numbers need to stack up. The latest Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures show that the UK average salary is £33,280 – a 5% increase from last year.

That said, the living wage is also significantly higher in London than elsewhere, at £11.95 per the Trust for London, compared to £10.90 for the rest of the country; you’ll need to earn around 10% more working in London to enjoy the same standard of living you might elsewhere.

Let’s look at the pros and cons, the wage uplift you might expect when living and working in London, and whether it’s really worth it.

Canary Wharf London

Why Do So Many Professionals Move to London?

Put simply, London is big. With a population of 8.982 million people, the city is home to 13% of the UK and 16% of the entire population of England – which means more jobs, more money and more companies to work for.

Yes, the cost of living is higher, a certainty in any capital city around the world. However, it’s also important to balance that against the wages you can earn, particularly if you work your way up to a top executive digital marketing position! As a rough guide, London salaries are as much as 27% higher for the same job elsewhere, although that pay gap can vary depending on where you’re moving from and the specific job or profession you have.

Competition is steep, and anyone who’s anyone will put their best foot forward when applying for a lucrative career opportunity, so it’s essential you make sure your CV is polished to perfection, and you pay close attention to your research and presentation before you get to the interview room.

When it comes to lifestyle, London is pretty hard to beat. There are tons of world-class attractions, Michelin-starred restaurants, exclusive bars, the West End, the buzz of Soho and, of course, heritage buildings and sites from Tower Bridge to Westminster and the swirling, deep Thames running through the middle of it all.

It’s a great place for students who can live a little outside of the center to manage their living costs, with a good public transport service through TFL that is also relatively cheap. Increasingly, London is also attracting families, whether because parents can earn a lot more, they are looking to send their kids to one of the superb schools in the city, or simply because they want to be in the prime place for businesses within easy access of the all the major airports, or the Eurostar for a quick Paris weekend break should it take their fancy.

Budgeting for Living Expenses in London

Now, let’s dig into the figures because the actual cost of living does, of course, vary a little depending on your lifestyle, the borough you expect to live in, and things like whether you’re planning to buy a property or rent somewhere.

Statista’s latest figures for July 2023 show that the average single person needs at least £1,050 a month to live comfortably, excluding accommodation. That number climbs to £3,608 for a family of four.

London Property Prices

A large proportion of Londoners rent rather than buy, purely because property is not cheap. Roughly a third of all residential properties are owned by private landlords, and under half of people own or have shared ownership of their accommodation.

Property sale prices are currently at around £13,501 per square meter within central London and £7,750 further out in the Greater London metropolitan area – you’d need a budget of £589,000 to buy an average-sized living space of 76 square meters, although potentially a whole lot more for an apartment in premium areas such as Chelsea or Kensington.

In terms of rent, a one-bedroom flat will set you back between £1,460 and £2,095, depending on how close you are to the city, although flatshares can be a great option and are widely available. People in London tend to be quite creative about finding ways to share the costs of rent, so there are lots of ads to browse through if you’re interested in splitting a home.

Utility Costs in London

Of course, rent or a mortgage is just one part of life in London – you’ll also need to budget for utilities, Wi-Fi, TV licenses, council tax – the list goes on! Here’s a run-through of the current average costs per month of all the essentials:

  • Electricity, water and heating: £306
  • 60 Mbps+ broadband: £31
  • TV license: £13.25 (£159 a year)
  • Council tax: from £241 a month for a Band G home

Council tax may be included in your tenancy agreement if you’re planning to rent, although be sure to check as this can be a significant overhead! You can also reduce broadband costs if you have a combined phone and TV package or look for cheaper streaming services to keep your budget under control.

baker street underground station London

Paying for London Transport

One of the best things about London is TFL – strikes and disruption notwithstanding. Public transport is widely available and affordable, and you’ll likely be fine without a car, especially since the expanding ULEZ scheme means it’ll cost a lot to drive in and out of inner London unless you have an electric vehicle.

Choose from buses, the tube, overground, or even the ferry for a small extra cost, with a monthly transport pass costing about £171.50 although that depends on how much you travel and across which zones.

It’s cheaper to get an Oyster card which you tap onto the entry barriers on any public transport and again when you leave. The current charges are capped and reduced for some groups. If you’re traveling from zone four to one every day and use a PAYG travel card or Oyster, the PAYG cap, regardless of the number of trips you take, is £58.50. For students and apprentices, that maximum cost drops to £40.90.

Costs of Dining in London

Eating out in London is pricey – there are no two ways about it. Even if you’re steering clear of the top restaurants in zone one, you’re still looking at £3.52 for a cappuccino, £6 for a local beer and about £2 for a small coke. Those averages become much higher in areas like Covent Garden, where a pint can come in at as much as £22.50, so it’s wise to choose carefully.

Most supermarkets, however, have standardized pricing, although a few studies have found that smaller shops like Tesco Express and Sainsbury’s Local charge a little more.

If you’re counting your costs, it’s worth eating at home since this is far cheaper, and you can find loads of farmers’ markets and cheaper supermarkets like Aldi and Lidl just about everywhere, which tend to be a bit more affordable.

How Much Do You Need to Earn to Live in London?

We’ve looked at averages and the living wage, but it is absolutely possible to be smart about your living costs by sharing the rent or living a bit further away and pre-booking public transport passes to gain discounts.

While a ‘good’ salary starts from £50,000 to £60,000 a year, thousands of students and entry-level professionals live in the city, budgeting around the living wage, which amounts to an annual income of £24,856 based on a 40-hour week and a full-time job.

Our advice is to do plenty of research and join local community groups where you’ll often find house shares or rooms for rent which are gentle on the budget and can be a good way to get a feel for the city before deciding whether you’d like to rent somewhere independently, and which areas you’d most want to live in the long term.

There are lots of areas which are much cheaper than the better-known boroughs, including Havering, Bexley and Sutton. It does mean your commute will be a lot longer, but that may be a great compromise if you’re starting lower down on the career ladder.

Costs of Student Life in London

Moving to London to study can be expensive, but that will vary greatly depending on the type of course and establishment you’re attending, whether you have reduced-price student accommodation available, and your eligibility for grants, subsidies and potential scholarships.

As a few examples of the universities at the lower end of the pricing spectrum:

  • An undergraduate degree at The University of East London costs £12,100 a year.
  • Middlesex University London offers graduate degrees at £14,500 a year.
  • The University of Greenwich provides courses for £12,000 annually.
  • University of Westminster courses start from £12,524 a year for an undergraduate degree.

Private tuition is considerably higher, although student accommodation is much cheaper than general rental properties and often managed by the college or university with fixed pricing, so there is little exposure to increases in your rent.

Family Costs in London

Across the UK, the cost of raising one child can be as high as £190,000, with variables such as childcare or nursery costs, private or public school and all the other aspects of family life, from nappies to toddler toys, prams to clothes.

A private London preschool or nursery charges an average of £1,584 per month, and international primary schools have fees of about £20,750 per year per child. However, you can find far more accessible childcare fees through nurseries run by the local borough.

While there isn’t a set tariff, nurseries tend to charge around £280 a month, 33% more than the rest of the UK, but parents will be able to access free childcare for kids from age two up to 15 hours a week from April 2023 onward. From September 2024, that will extend to children from nine months onwards.

Finding a Job in London

As all of the information we’ve shared shows, you’re extremely likely to need a job as quickly as possible to help with the varied living costs. The good news is that, provided you’re prepared to put a little effort into your job search, there are literally thousands of vacancies in London advertised every day.

Digital Marketing Jobs Board is updated daily with digital marketing jobs in London open to applicants in part-time, freelance, contracted and full-time roles across diverse specialisms.

Find social media jobs in London, brand marketing jobs, PPC jobs in London, marketing analytics, content marketing jobs, SEO jobs in London, PR and everything in between.

When you’ve found your ideal job, it’s easy and quick to apply, or you can set up job alerts to receive notifications direct to your inbox when a dream role pops up. The workplaces in the city are dynamic and full of talented individuals, so you’ll often find a great source of guidance and advice to help you keep progressing.

We hope this guide has been informative and given you a good idea about how much you need to earn to live in London – and some of our tips to make life more affordable and your applications for your new digital marketing job more successful.

Lauren Edwards-Fowle

Lauren Edwards-Fowle

Lauren is a copywriter and content writer at Digital Marketing Jobs Board, specialising in digital marketing for business and all things finance, having been a logistics MD and practice accountant before moving into digital! She loves to break down complex topics to make information accessible and produce content that is fun, entertaining, and genuinely useful, capturing data, stats, and trends and translating them into real-world terminology. As a writer, parent and crossfitter, Lauren's most treasured asset is free time, where you'll find her on the beach or walking her dogs to make the most of the fresh air.

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