Income distribution

Published 10 October 2017

There is a new version of this page. View the latest version.

Contents

1. Main facts and figures

• UK households are divided into 5 groups, or ‘quintiles’, with average incomes in 2015/16 (after housing costs were paid) ranging from £8,800 in the lowest quintile, to £45,700 in the highest quintile

• after housing costs, over half of households headed by an Asian, Black or Other ethnic group person fell into the two lowest income quintiles

• after housing costs, 42% of White British households fell into the two highest income quintiles, compared to 21% of Black households, 25% of Other ethnic households, 26% of Asian households, 31% of Mixed race households and 36% of White Other households

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 an individual’s ethnicity.

The Households Below Average Income (HBAI) is a ‘sample survey’. It collects information from a random sample of the population to make generalisations (reach 'findings') about the total population.

As with all surveys, the estimates from the HBAI are subject to a degree of uncertainty as they are based on a sample of the population. The degree of uncertainty is greater when the number of respondents is small, so it will be highest for ethnic minority groups.

Smaller numbers of survey respondents from ethnic minority backgrounds mean that estimates for all Other ethnic groups are more unreliable than estimates for White people (which includes White British and White ethnic minorities).

Results taken 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 specific ethnic group, age group and gender).

Using a three-year average for household income minimises the risk of uncertainty to an extent.

What the data measures

This data measures how income is spread across UK households. It divides the UK population into 5 equally sized groups of people (called ‘quintiles’) according to whether their household income is at the lowest end of the scale, the second lowest, the middle, the second highest, or at the highest end of the scale.

By dividing UK households into these 5 quintiles, it’s possible to see where people of different ethnicities fall on the scale. An equal income distribution between all ethnic groups would mean that exactly 20% of each ethnic group population would fall within each of the 5 income quintiles.

Some ethnic groups are disproportionately represented within some income quintiles, which shows an unequal income distribution between ethnicities.

Households are grouped according to the income and ethnicity of the highest earner, also referred to as the head of the household.

Income is measured as total weekly household income from all sources after tax, national insurance and other deductions have been paid..

Household income is measured is measured both before housing costs (BHC) and after housing costs (AHC).

Income before housing costs and after housing costs show how the cost of housing has a greater or lesser impact on different groups. For example, pensioners, who may have paid off their mortgages, tend to spend a smaller proportion of their income on housing than people of working age.

Working age families that spend a large proportion of their income on housing costs may move from a higher quintile BHC to a lower quintile, AHC. People who spend a smaller proportion of their income on housing costs are less likely to move from a higher to a lower quintile, AHC.

In 2015/16, the average UK household income in the top quintile after housing costs was £45,700; in the second highest, £29,500; in the middle, £21,600; in the second lowest, £15,300; and in the lowest, £8,800.

In a household headed by a single person, income will go further than in a household containing adults and children. For this reason, household incomes are adjusted (or ‘equivalised’) during the statistical calculation to take into account the number of adults and children who live there.

The ethnic categories used in this data

For this data, the number of people surveyed (the ‘sample size’) was too small to draw any firm conclusions about specific ethnic categories. Therefore, the data is broken down into the following broad groups, based on the ONS harmonised ethnic group questions for use on national surveys.

• White British
• White Other
• Black/Black British
• Asian/Asian British
• Mixed/Multiple
• Other

2. Income distribution before housing costs (BHC) by ethnicity

• Location: United Kingdom
• Time period: 2013/14 to 2015/16
• Source: Households Below Average Income: 1994/95 to 2015/16

Income distribution before housing costs (BHC) by ethnicity

Ethnicity	Percentage of individuals in bottom income quintile	Percentage of individuals in second income quintile	Percentage of individuals in third income quintile	Percentage of individuals in fourth income quintile	Percentage of individuals in top income quintile
	%	%	%	%	%
Asian	33	21	16	15	15
Black	29	25	21	17	8
Mixed	23	14	23	20	19
White British	18	20	20	21	21
White Other	20	19	18	20	24
Other	30	22	17	15	16

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of Income distribution Income distribution before housing costs (BHC) by ethnicity Summary

This data shows that:

• before housing costs, 33% of Asian households, 29% of Black households, 23% of Mixed households, 20% of White Other households and 30% of Other ethnic group households were in the lowest income quintile, compared to 18% of White British households

• there were more than twice as many Asian households in the lowest income quintile as in the highest

• the Black ethnic group had the smallest percentage of households in the highest income quintile, at 8%, while the Other White group had the largest percentage of households in the higher income quintile, at 24%

• the Asian ethnic group had the largest percentage of households in the lowest income quintile, at 33%, while the White British group had the smallest percentage of households in the lowest income quintile, at 18%

3. Income distribution after housing costs (AHC) by ethnicity

• Location: United Kingdom
• Time period: 2013/14 to 2015/16
• Source: Households Below Average Income: 1994/95 to 2015/16

Income distribution after housing costs (AHC) by ethnicity

Ethnicity	Percentage of individuals in bottom income quintile	Percentage of individuals in second income quintile	Percentage of individuals in third income quintile	Percentage of individuals in fourth income quintile	Percentage of individuals in top income quintile
	%	%	%	%	%
Asian	33	25	16	13	13
Black	38	24	17	14	7
Mixed	27	17	25	16	15
White British	17	19	21	21	21
White Other	26	20	18	16	20
Other	44	19	11	12	13

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of Income distribution Income distribution after housing costs (AHC) by ethnicity Summary

This data shows that:

• after housing costs, the White British group had the smallest percentage of households in the lowest income quintile, at 17%

• after housing costs, 38% of Black households fell into the lowest income quintile, compared to 29% before housing costs

• Black households were least likely to be in the highest income quintile, at 7%, and White British households were most likely to, at 21%

• 58% of Asian households fell into the 2 lowest income quintiles, compared to 36% of White British households

• the Other ethnic group had the largest percentage of households in the lowest income quintile after housing costs, at 44%

4. Methodology

The data for this measure comes from the Family Resources Survey (FRS), which is used to calculate the Households Below Average Income (HBAI) statistics.

The 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, financial years 2013/14 to 2015/16, the FRS sample consisted of almost 60,000 households in the UK. Surveys are conducted throughout the year and are cross-sectional, that is they are ‘snapshots’ of households over the year, and individuals are not followed up for later surveys.

The value for income has been ‘equivalised’ to ensure results can be compared. Equivalisation adjusts incomes for household size and composition, taking an adult couple with no children as the reference point. For example, the process of equivalisation would adjust the income of a single person upwards, so their income can be compared directly to the standard of living for a couple.

The ‘head of the household’, or ‘Household reference person’ (used from 2001/02 onwards) is classified as the Highest Income Householder (HIH), without regard to gender. In a single adult household the HIH is the sole householder (ie the person in whose name the accommodation is owned or rented).

If there are two or more householders the HIH is the householder with the highest personal income from all sources. If there are two or more householders who have the same income then the HIH is the eldest householder.

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. This 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’, that is more representative of, those who do respond fully.

Overall, 56% of households fully cooperated with the survey, giving a sample size of 19,326 households in 2015/16. Since those responses reflect only a sample of the total population, they are weighted (scaled-up) on the basis of subnational (regional)
population totals by age and sex to give estimates for the entire UK household population.

Income rates are reported as 3-year rolling averages to control for uncertainty in the data, that would otherwise result from small sample sizes for certain ethnic groups.

Suppression rules and disclosure control

Values calculated based on counts of less than 100 have been suppressed. We round numbers. Percentages are given to the nearest whole percentage point. Therefore some figures may not add up due to rounding.

Rounding

Percentages are given to the nearest whole percentage point. Due to this rounding, some figures may not add up to 100.

Related publications

Households below average income (HBAI) statistics

Quality and methodology information

5. Data sources

Source

Households Below Average Income: 1994/95 to 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 Households Below Average Income (HBAI) survey presents information on living standards in the UK and is the main source of data and information about household income and inequality in the UK.

6. Download the data

Income distribution - Spreadsheet (csv) 115 KB

This file contains: ethnicity, Income Quintile Distribution, value

Publication release date: 10 October 2017

full page history

1. 10 October 2017 First published

From: Department for Work and Pensions

---

Share this page

Twitter Facebook LinkedIn