Household income
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1. Main facts and figures
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over the period studied, about a third of households in the UK had weekly incomes below £400, and another third had weekly incomes over £800 (before tax)
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Other ethnic and Black households were most likely to have a weekly income of less than £400, and Indian and Other Asian households most likely to have a weekly income of £1000 or more
Things you need to know
Each household is categorised according to the ethnicity of the head of the household. Because households may also contain members of other, different ethnic groups, this data does not reflect the distribution of household income by individual ethnicity.
In a household containing one or more working adults, total weekly income will go further than in a household containing adults, children and/or other people who aren’t able to work. This data has not allowed for the impact of household composition on total weekly income, and is therefore not a true reflection of living standards.
These statistics are estimates based on the sample of people who took part in the survey, and may not reflect the whole population. You should therefore use caution when interpreting them.
To increase the reliability of the data, which are taken from the Family Resources Survey (FRS), the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) combines data for each year into a 3-year average. This process continues over a series of overlapping 3-year periods.
This type of survey methodology means that some statistical tests for significant differences between ethnic groups have not been carried out. However, commentary has been supplied for those findings where differences between ethnic groups are reasonably reliable.
The Family Resources Survey only covers private households. This means that individuals who live in communal accommodation (for example, care homes) or have no fixed address (for example, the homeless) are not included in these results.
What the data measures
This data measures the weekly income of households in the UK before tax (their 'gross' weekly income).
Weekly income has been calculated as an average over three financial years from 2013 to 2016. It is the total income brought into the household on a weekly basis by everyone who lives there.
Households are categorised according to the ethnicity of the head of the household, also known as the ‘household reference person’.
The household reference person is the person in whose name the dwelling is owned or rented or who is otherwise responsible for the accommodation.
The ethnic categories used in this data
This data uses the ethnic categories included in the Family Resources Survey. It also divides the White ethnic group into White British people, and White Other.
White
- White British
- White Other
Mixed/ Multiple
Asian/ Asian British
- Indian
- Pakistani
- Bangladeshi
- Chinese
- Asian Other
Black/African/Caribbean/Black British Other
2. Weekly household income by ethnicity
| Ethnicity | Less than £100 | £100 to £200 | £200 to £300 | £300 to £400 | £400 to £500 | £500 to £600 | £600 to £700 | £700 to £800 | £800 to £900 | £900 to £1,000 | £1,000 or more |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All | 2 | 6 | 12 | 12 | 11 | 9 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 24 |
| Bangladeshi | withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable | 5 | 11 | 16 | 11 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 4 | 3 | 21 |
| Chinese | 5 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 13 | 4 | 6 | 9 | 5 | 6 | 30 |
| Indian | 2 | 5 | 6 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 7 | 5 | 6 | 35 |
| Pakistani | 3 | 7 | 8 | 10 | 12 | 13 | 10 | 11 | 5 | 4 | 17 |
| Asian other | 2 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 10 | 9 | 11 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 33 |
| Black | 4 | 7 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 10 | 10 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 16 |
| Mixed | 2 | 6 | 14 | 8 | 10 | 12 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 4 | 23 |
| White British | 2 | 6 | 12 | 12 | 11 | 9 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 24 |
| White other | 2 | 5 | 10 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 29 |
| Other | 4 | 8 | 10 | 15 | 10 | 7 | 8 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 22 |
Download table data for ‘Weekly household income by ethnicity’ (CSV) Source data for ‘Weekly household income by ethnicity’ (CSV)
Summary of Household income Weekly household income by ethnicity Summary
This data shows that:
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Other ethnic and Black households were most likely to have a weekly income of less than £400, with 37% and 35% of households in these groups falling within this income band
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35% of Indian and 33% of Other Asian households had a weekly income of £1000 or more; these groups were twice as likely to be in this income band as Pakistani households (17%) and Black households (16%)
3. Methodology
The Family Resources Survey (FRS) is a continuous household survey which collects information on a representative sample of private households in the UK. Detailed information is recorded on respondents’ income from all sources; housing tenure; caring needs and responsibilities; disability; expenditure on housing; education; pension scheme participation; childcare; family circumstances; and child maintenance. The survey is conducted in respondents’ homes, face to face with an interviewer.
In the latest three-year period, 2013/14 to 2015/16, the FRS sample consisted of almost 60,000 households in the UK. It has a financial-year survey period with surveys conducted throughout the year and is cross-sectional, i.e., it is a ‘snapshot’ of households over the year, and individuals are not followed up for later surveys. Since responses reflect only a sample of the total population, they are weighted (scaled-up) on the basis of subnational population totals by age and sex to give estimates for the entire UK household population.
Estimates are subject to sampling error and non-sampling bias. The Family Resources Survey only covers private households, thus individuals who live in communal accommodation (e.g., care homes) or have no fixed address (e.g., homeless) are not included in these results.
Households where every resident over the age of 16 responds to the questions is classed as fully co-operating. Only households with full-cooperation are included in the analysis, which may introduce some error as the characteristics of individuals living in households which do not respond fully may be different to those who do fully cooperate. Thus the sample will be ‘biased towards’, i.e., more representative of, those who do respond fully. Overall, 56% of households fully cooperated with the survey, meaning a sample size of 19,326 households in 2015/16.
Results derived from a low number of responses are more likely to be affected by statistical variation, so observed changes might not reflect real differences. As such, caution is needed when interpreting short-term trends in the data especially for sub-groups (for example, a particular ethnic group, age group and gender). Using a three-year average for income minimises the risks due to uncertainty to an extent.
As the ethnic group of the household is based on the ethnic group of the Household Reference Person, some individuals will have been assigned an ethnic group to which they do not belong, which may affect estimates based on ethnicity.
Suppression rules and disclosure control
Any values based on fewer than 100 responses have been suppressed.
Rounding
Percentages are given to the nearest whole percentage point. Due to this rounding, some figures may not add up to 100.
Related publications
Family Resources Survey 2014/15
Quality and methodology information
4. Data sources
Source
Family Resources Survey: financial year 2015/16
Type of data
Survey data
Type of statistic
National Statistics
Publisher
Department for Work and Pensions
Publication frequency
Yearly
Purpose of data source
The primary purpose of the Family Resources Survey (FRS) is to provide the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) with data to inform the development, monitoring and evaluation of social welfare policy.
The survey is used by many other government departments, as well as for tax and benefit policy modelling by HM Treasury and HM Revenue and Customs.
The FRS is also used extensively by academics and research institutes for social and economic research.
5. Download the data
This file contains the following: ethnicity, year, income, value, denominator