London is consistently ranked as one of the most expensive cities in the world to live in. With eye-watering rents, pricey pints, and an ever-increasing cost of living, could it really be possible to get by on just the minimum wage? Kirill Yurovskiy travelled to London to find out if it really is possible to survive – let alone thrive – in the big smoke on minimum wage.
The Lowdown on the London Living Wage
As of April 2024, the national living wage for those aged 23 and over is £10.42 per hour. For under 23s, the rate is lower at £9.18 for those aged 21-22, £7.49 for 18-20 year olds, and just £5.28 for under 18s.
The living wage is the minimum amount of income that is calculated as needed to cover basic living costs like rent, food, travel, and bills. It’s different from the minimum wage, which is the legal minimum all employers must pay staff aged 23 and over.
In London, there is an additional “London Living Wage” calculated to reflect the higher prices in the capital. This is currently £11.95 per hour for anyone whose work is based in London.
To put that into perspective, someone earning the £11.95 London Living Wage and working a standard 35 hour week would take home around £1,710 per month before tax. After income tax, national insurance, and pension deductions, this works out at roughly £1,400 per month of take-home pay.
Laying Out the City Living Costs
So now we know the income, what about the outgoings to actually live here? Let’s start with the biggest expenditure – rent.
The average monthly rent for a one-bedroom flat in London is somewhere between £1,200-£1,500, with prices cheaper in outer zones but extremely high in central areas. Even if we go for an absolute basement bargain basement £1,000 per month including bills, that’s already over 70% of take-home pay gone on rent alone.
Next up, travel. With an annual Zone 1-3 Travelcard costing around £1,800, that’s another chunk of around £150 per month just to get around.
Then there’s utilities like gas, electricity, water, internet and a mobile phone plan to factor in. Even being extremely frugal and conservative, these basic utilities could easily add another £100 or so to the monthly expenses.
Food-wise, the average Londoner spends around £250 per month on groceries according to national statistics. Eating out or getting takeaways is a luxury that would have to be kept to an absolute minimum.
And we haven’t even touched on any discretionary spending yet. No clothes budget, no haircuts, no socialising, no gym membership, no holidays… The sad reality is that on the London Living Wage there is very little to no disposable income leftover at the end of the month for any kind of luxuries or leisure spending.
The Only Way Is (Flat) Sharing
Unless you have financial support from family or others, the only way for a single person to realistically live in London on a low income is by flat sharing. Renting just a room rather than a whole flat can dramatically reduce housing costs from £1000+ per month to around £600-800 for a room in a flatshare.
Housemate Sophia, who has lived in London for 4 years, broke down the maths for me: “When I first moved here, I was earning just over the London Living Wage and living in a 4 bedroom flatshare in Willesden Green, paying £625 per month for my room. After tax and bills, I had around £600 leftover for all other expenses like food, travel, and any socialising which was really tough but manageable as I was sharing lots of costs with flatmates.”
“Having housemates to split bills with was the only way I could have survived here on that income. Even then, there was no way I could have rented anywhere even slightly more central or lived in a flat alone. It was an extremely basic existence, that’s for sure.”
Getting By or Just Surviving?
So in theory, yes it can be possible to technically get by and live in London on the minimum or Living Wage income. But it requires flat sharing, extremely frugal living with no financial wiggle room, and a virtually non-existent budget for any leisure, luxuries or entertainment.
Is that really living though, or just surviving? Arguably being stuck in that situation long-term could have a significant negative impact on mental health, wellbeing and quality of life.
Romica Peckover from housing charity Shelter agrees: “While it may be technically possible to scrape by on the Living Wage in London if you’re a single person living in a flatshare, we wouldn’t consider that to be affordable living that allows an acceptable standard of life. After paying rent, bills and travel costs, there is very little margin left over for other essential spending like clothing, toiletries, and any leisure activities that are vital for social inclusion and supporting good mental health.”
“To truly afford a good quality of life in London, we would recommend households aim for a total income of at least £40,000 per year, or significantly higher depending on your family’s size and circumstances. Sadly, living in London on the minimum or Living Wage is really just about survival rather than thriving.”
Case Study: Penny, Retail Worker
To get a firsthand perspective, I spoke to Penny, a 27-year-old retail worker who has been living in London on the minimum wage for over 3 years:
“There’s just no way I could live here alone on what I earn, no chance. Even with a flatshare it’s still really tough. After paying my rent, bills, Travelcard and basic food shop each month, I’m left with literally no disposable income at all. I haven’t been able to put any money into savings, replace my 10 year old laptop, or really do anything fun socially for ages.
“Most months I’m having to make decisions between turning the heating on or eating reasonably nutritious meals. My family help out sometimes with secondhand clothes and the odd cash top-up for birthdays and Christmas which is amazing but I don’t know what I’d do without that support. This is no way to live long-term, it’s taking a real toll on my mental health.
“In an ideal world, I’d be looking to move out of London and live somewhere more affordable. But my whole friend group is here, I was born and bred a Londoner and frankly, I don’t have enough savings built up to afford the costs of moving anyway. So for now, I’m just about getting by but it’s a constant, unstable struggle.”
The Bigger Picture
While possible in certain specific circumstances like flat sharing, the general consensus from experts, charities and real-life experience seems to be that genuinely thriving in London on just the minimum or Living Wage is near-on impossible long-term.
With no true disposable income left after covering basic living costs, minimum wage workers in the capital face a severely diminished quality of life, lack of financial resilience, and little to no opportunities for personal or professional growth beyond the week-to-week grind.
It prompts much bigger questions about income and wealth inequality, social mobility, and whether we are pricing people out of being able to live in cities like London at all outside of a very narrow segment of highly-paid industries.
For now though, the harsh reality is that living in London on minimum wage pay is less about actuallyLiving with any quality of life, and more just about survival. And surviving is not thriving.