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- 1. Navigate to Main facts and figures section
- 2. Navigate toIncome distribution before housing costs (BHC) by ethnicity section
- 3. Navigate toIncome distribution after housing costs (AHC) by ethnicity section
- 4. Navigate to Methodology section
- 5. Navigate to Data sources section
- 6. Navigate to Download the data section
1. Main facts and figures
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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
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after housing costs, over half of households from the Asian, Black and Other ethnic group fell into the two lowest income quintiles
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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 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.
Keep in mind when making comparisons between ethnic groups that all survey estimates are subject to a degree of uncertainty. This is because 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.
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 reduce the risk of uncertainty.
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 from different ethnic groups 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.
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 both before housing costs (BHC) and after housing costs (AHC).
Measuring income before 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 before housing costs to a lower quintile after housing costs. People who spend a smaller proportion of their income on housing costs are less likely to move from a higher to a lower quintile after housing costs.
In 2015/16, the average UK household income after housing costs was:
- top quintile: £45,700
- second highest quintile: £29,500
- middle quintile: £21,600
- second lowest quintile: £15,300
- lowest quintile: £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 6 broad ethnic groups, based on the ONS harmonised ethnic group questions for use on national surveys:
- Asian/Asian British
- Black/Black British
- Mixed/Multiple ethnic groups
- White British
- White Other
- Other
2. 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 for ‘Income distribution before housing costs (BHC) by ethnicity’ (CSV) Source data for ‘Income distribution before housing costs (BHC) by ethnicity’ (CSV)
Summary of Income distribution Income distribution before housing costs (BHC) by ethnicity Summary
This data shows that:
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before housing costs, 33% of Asian households were in the lowest income quintile, followed by 30% of households from the Other ethnic group, 29% of Black households, 23% of Mixed households, 20% of White Other households and 18% of White British households
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there were more than twice as many Asian households in the lowest income quintile (33%) as in the highest income quintile (15%)
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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 highest income quintile (at 24%)
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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
| 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 for ‘Income distribution after housing costs (AHC) by ethnicity’ (CSV) Source data for ‘Income distribution after housing costs (AHC) by ethnicity’ (CSV)
Summary of Income distribution Income distribution after housing costs (AHC) by ethnicity Summary
This data shows that:
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after housing costs, the White British group had the smallest percentage of households in the lowest income quintile (at 17%)
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among Black households, 38% fell into the lowest income quintile after housing costs, compared with 29% before housing costs
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Black households were least likely to be in the highest income quintile, (at 7%), and White British households were most likely to be (at 21%)
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58% of Asian households fell into the 2 lowest income quintiles, compared with 36% of White British households
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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
- spending on housing
- education
- pension scheme participation
- childcare
- family circumstances
- child maintenance
The survey is conducted in respondents’ homes face to face with an interviewer.
In the latest 3-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 (a ‘snapshot’ of households over the year). 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’ is classified as the householder with the highest income.
Estimates are subject to sampling error and non-sampling bias. The FRS only covers private households. Therefore, individuals who live in communal accommodation (for example, care homes) or have no fixed address (for example, who are homeless) are not included in these results.
Households where every resident over the age of 16 responds to the questions are classed as fully co-operating. Only households with full co-operation 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 co-operate. Therefore, the sample will be biased towards (that is, more representative of) those who do respond fully. Overall, 56% of households fully co-operated with the survey, meaning there was 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 subgroups (for example, a specific ethnic group, age group and gender). Using a 3-year average for income minimises the risks due to uncertainty to an extent.
As the data is presented as a 3-year average, no statistical tests have been performed to determine whether the estimates taken from the survey are statistically significantly different from one another.
In other words, as the results are based on a sample of the population, without further testing it isn’t possible to determine whether any differences observed would likely be seen across the entire population. This is important to consider and means that conclusions around differences between groups cannot be drawn. However, the data is still useful because it indicates where differences between ethnic groups might exist.
Weighting:
Weighting is used to adjust the results of a survey to make them representative of the population and improve their accuracy.
For example, a survey which contains 25% women and 75% men will not accurately reflect the views of the general population, which we know has an even 50/50 split.
Statisticians rebalance or ‘weight’ the survey results to more accurately represent the general population. This helps to make them more reliable.
Survey weights are usually applied to make sure the survey sample has broadly the same gender, age, ethnic and geographic make up as the general population.
Suppression rules and disclosure control
Any values based on fewer than 100 responses have been suppressed.
Rounding
Values are given to the nearest whole percentage. 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
This file contains: ethnicity, Income Quintile Distribution, value