Sources of household income
Published
- 1. Navigate toMain facts and figures section
- 2. Navigate toThings you need to know section
- 3. Navigate to Sources of income by ethnicity section
- 4. Navigate to Income from employment (wages, salaries and self-employment) by ethnicity over time section
- 5. Navigate to Income from pensions (state and private) by ethnicity over time section
- 6. Navigate to Income from benefits and tax credits by ethnicity over time section
- 7. Navigate toData sources section
- 8. Navigate toDownload the data section
1. Main facts and figures
New data for the 3 year period from April 2018 to March 2021 is available if you download the data. The charts, tables and commentary on this page cover the period April 2009 to March 2020 and do not include the new data.
In the 3 years from April 2017 to March 2020:
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on average, households received 73% of their total income from wages, salaries and self-employment in the 3 years to March 2020 – this is based on ‘gross’ income before tax and other deductions
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households in the White Other and Indian ethnic groups received the highest percentage of their income from employment out of all ethnic groups
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households in the Pakistani and Other ethnic groups had the largest increase in the percentage of income from employment over the period studied
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on average, the percentage of income that White British households received from private pensions (10%) was at least 3 times higher than any other ethnic group in the 3 years to March 2020
2. Things you need to know
What the data measures
The data shows the percentage of income from different sources for households in the UK.
Income is measured before tax and other deductions. It includes all household income contributed by everyone who lives there, including children.
The data only covers private households. In this data, a household is either one person or a group of people sharing cooking facilities and a living room or dining area.
Percentages are rounded to the nearest whole number. This means some figures may not add up to 100%. Figures in the commentary may be different to the figures in the charts and tables due to rounding.
Not included in the data
The data does not include:
- people who live in communal accommodation (for example, care homes)
- people with no fixed address (for example, homeless people)
- households where not everyone living there completed the survey
Percentages based on fewer than 100 responses are not shown. This is because estimates based on smaller numbers of people are not reliable. Percentages of less than 0.5% before rounding have been suppressed.
The ethnic groups used in the data
The data uses the 18 ethnic groups from the 2011 Census. Data is aggregated for the Black, Mixed and Other ethnic groups, which means estimates are shown for these groups as a whole.
Some households contain people from different ethnic backgrounds. The ethnicity assigned to the household is that of the head of the household (usually the person with the highest income).
The data does not account for people of different ethnic backgrounds who live in the same house.
Methodology
Read the detailed methodology document for the data on this page.
Because the data varies from year to year, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) takes 3 years’ worth of data and works out the average for that period. This is to make sure there are enough survey respondents to be able to make reliable generalisations. You can find out more about combining multiple years of data to create reliable estimates.
Responses are weighted on the basis of regional population totals by age and sex to give estimates for the entire UK household population. You can read more about how weighting is used to make survey data more representative of the group it is about.
The figures on this page are based on survey data. Find out more about interpreting survey data, including how reliability is affected by the number of people surveyed.
3. Sources of income by ethnicity
| Ethnicity | Wages/salaries | Self-employment | State pension | Private pensions | Disability benefits | Other benefits | Tax credits | Investments | Other |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % | % | % | % | % | % | % | % | % | |
| All | 64 | 9 | 7 | 8 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Asian | 70 | 10 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 7 |
| Bangladeshi | 60 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 13 | 9 | ~0 | 5 |
| Chinese | 57 | 11 | 2 | 1 | ~0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 24 |
| Indian | 78 | 8 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| Pakistani | 59 | 14 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 7 | ~0 | 5 |
| Asian other | 70 | 10 | 2 | 2 | ~0 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 7 |
| Black | 68 | 8 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 4 | ~0 | 6 |
| Mixed | 73 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 7 |
| White | 63 | 9 | 8 | 9 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| White British | 62 | 8 | 8 | 10 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| White other | 74 | 14 | 2 | 2 | ~0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| Other | 71 | 9 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 5 |
Download table data for ‘Sources of income by ethnicity’ (CSV) Source data for ‘Sources of income by ethnicity’ (CSV)
Summary of Sources of household income Sources of income by ethnicity Summary
The data shows that, in the 3 years to March 2020:
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on average, households received 73% of their total income from employment – 64% from wages and salaries, and 9% from self-employment
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they received 27% from other sources including pensions and benefits
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households in the White Other (88%) and Indian (87%) ethnic groups received the highest percentage of their income from employment out of all ethnic groups
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households in the Bangladeshi (33%) and Chinese (31%) ethnic groups received the highest percentage of their income from other sources, including pensions and benefits
4. Income from employment (wages, salaries and self-employment) by ethnicity over time
| Ethnicity | 2009/10-2011/12 | 2010/11-2012/13 | 2011/12-2013/14 | 2012/13-2014/15 | 2013/14-2015/16 | 2014/15-2016/17 | 2015/16-2017/18 | 2016/17-2018/19 | 2017/18-2019/20 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % | % | % | % | % | % | % | % | % | |
| All | 72 | 72 | 72 | 72 | 72 | 72 | 72 | 72 | 73 |
| Asian | 75 | 76 | 78 | 77 | 78 | 78 | 79 | 79 | 80 |
| Bangladeshi | 60 | 58 | 60 | 64 | 64 | 64 | 62 | 65 | 66 |
| Chinese | 68 | 69 | 79 | 74 | 75 | 70 | 75 | 67 | 68 |
| Indian | 83 | 84 | 84 | 85 | 85 | 85 | 86 | 86 | 86 |
| Pakistani | 65 | 67 | 69 | 70 | 72 | 72 | 73 | 70 | 73 |
| Asian other | 75 | 73 | 75 | 74 | 76 | 76 | 77 | 76 | 80 |
| Black | 72 | 71 | 69 | 70 | 72 | 72 | 71 | 74 | 76 |
| Mixed | 77 | 74 | 75 | 77 | 78 | 78 | 77 | 79 | 79 |
| White | 72 | 72 | 71 | 72 | 71 | 72 | 72 | 72 | 72 |
| White British | 71 | 70 | 70 | 71 | 70 | 70 | 70 | 71 | 70 |
| White other | 83 | 82 | 86 | 86 | 87 | 86 | 86 | 87 | 88 |
| Other | 73 | 74 | 71 | 69 | 69 | 73 | 76 | 79 | 80 |
Download table data for ‘Income from employment (wages, salaries and self-employment) by ethnicity over time’ (CSV) Source data for ‘Income from employment (wages, salaries and self-employment) by ethnicity over time’ (CSV)
Summary of Sources of household income Income from employment (wages, salaries and self-employment) by ethnicity over time Summary
The data shows that:
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households received an average of 73% of their gross income from employment (wages, salaries and self-employment) in the 3 years to March 2020
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there was an increase in the percentage of income from employment in every Asian ethnic group except the Chinese ethnic group in the time period covered by the data
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among Indian households, the percentage of income from employment went up from 83% to 87%
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among Pakistani households, the percentage of income from employment went up consistently from 65% to 73%
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out of all ethnic groups, households in the Bangladeshi ethnic group consistently had the lowest percentage of income from employment, although it went up from 60% to 67% during the period covered by the data
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the biggest increases were among households in the Pakistani (65% to 73%) and Other ethnic groups (73% to 81%)
5. Income from pensions (state and private) by ethnicity over time
| Ethnicity | 2009/10-2011/12 | 2010/11-2012/13 | 2011/12-2013/14 | 2012/13-2014/15 | 2013/14-2015/16 | 2014/15-2016/17 | 2015/16-2017/18 | 2016/17-2018/19 | 2017/18-2019/20 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % | % | % | % | % | % | % | % | % | |
| All | 14 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 |
| Asian | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 |
| Bangladeshi | 6 | 8 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 4 |
| Chinese | 3 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Indian | 5 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 5 |
| Pakistani | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | withheld to protect confidentiality | 3 | 4 | 4 |
| Asian other | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Black | 5 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| Mixed | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 |
| White | 15 | 15 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 17 | 17 | 17 | 17 |
| White British | 16 | 17 | 17 | 17 | 17 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 18 |
| White other | 6 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Other | 7 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
Download table data for ‘Income from pensions (state and private) by ethnicity over time’ (CSV) Source data for ‘Income from pensions (state and private) by ethnicity over time’ (CSV)
Summary of Sources of household income Income from pensions (state and private) by ethnicity over time Summary
Age profiles are helpful in understanding some of these figures – for example, there are more White British people of retirement age, which helps explain why they're more likely to receive the State Pension.
Income from pensions includes both the State Pension and private pensions.
The data shows that:
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on average, in the 3 years to March 2020 households received 15% of their income from pensions
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the percentage of household income from pensions was consistent for all ethnic groups, with no increase or decrease of more than 3 percentage points in the time period covered by the data
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White British households consistently received the highest percentage of their income from pensions (between 16% and 18%) compared with other ethnic groups
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households in the Chinese ethnic group consistently received the lowest percentage of their income from pensions (between 3% and 4%)
6. Income from benefits and tax credits by ethnicity over time
| Ethnicity | 2009/10-2011/12 | 2010/11-2012/13 | 2011/12-2013/14 | 2012/13-2014/15 | 2013/14-2015/16 | 2014/15-2016/17 | 2015/16-2017/18 | 2016/17-2018/19 | 2017/18-2019/20 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % | % | % | % | % | % | % | % | % | |
| All | 9 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 6 |
| Asian | 12 | 12 | 12 | 11 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 9 |
| Bangladeshi | 27 | 26 | 27 | 24 | 25 | 24 | 27 | 25 | 24 |
| Chinese | withheld to protect confidentiality | withheld to protect confidentiality | withheld to protect confidentiality | withheld to protect confidentiality | withheld to protect confidentiality | withheld to protect confidentiality | withheld to protect confidentiality | withheld to protect confidentiality | withheld to protect confidentiality |
| Indian | 8 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 |
| Pakistani | 24 | 24 | 22 | 21 | 18 | 19 | 18 | 20 | 17 |
| Asian other | withheld to protect confidentiality | 12 | withheld to protect confidentiality | withheld to protect confidentiality | withheld to protect confidentiality | withheld to protect confidentiality | withheld to protect confidentiality | withheld to protect confidentiality | withheld to protect confidentiality |
| Black | 17 | 19 | 20 | 19 | 17 | 17 | 17 | 14 | 12 |
| Mixed | 14 | 15 | 14 | 12 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 10 | 8 |
| White | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 7 |
| White British | 10 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 7 |
| White other | 8 | 8 | withheld to protect confidentiality | withheld to protect confidentiality | withheld to protect confidentiality | withheld to protect confidentiality | withheld to protect confidentiality | withheld to protect confidentiality | withheld to protect confidentiality |
| Other | 12 | 12 | 14 | 14 | 13 | 12 | 10 | 10 | 10 |
Download table data for ‘Income from benefits and tax credits by ethnicity over time’ (CSV) Source data for ‘Income from benefits and tax credits by ethnicity over time’ (CSV)
Summary of Sources of household income Income from benefits and tax credits by ethnicity over time Summary
This data shows that:
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on average, in the 3 years to March 2020 the percentage of household income from benefits and tax credits was 7% – it was consistently between 8% and 9% between the 3 years to March 2011 and the 3 years to March 2017
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Bangladeshi households consistently received the highest percentage of their income from benefits and tax credits (between 23% and 28%) in the time period covered by the data
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in both Pakistani and Black households, the percentage of income from benefits and tax credits went down by 6 percentage points over the period studied
7. Data sources
Source
Family Resources Survey: financial year 2020 to 2021
Type of data
Survey data
Type of statistic
National Statistics
Publisher
Department for Work and Pensions
Note on corrections or updates
The figures for the share of income in the download file before the year ending March 2015 may not match the DWP’s published figures. This is because the way of adjusting for inflation changed from the Retail Price Index to the Consumer Price Index from the year ending March 2015 onwards.
Before 2019 to 2020, respondents from the Irish Travellers (NI) ethnic group in Northern Ireland were included in the White Other ethnic group. From 2019 to 2020, the reporting of this ethnic group was changed for all years presented to harmonise with published figures for the Family Resources Survey and Households Below Average Income, and the ONS harmonised output guidance. Irish Travellers (NI) ethnic group responses in Northern Ireland are now included in Other ethnic group.
Publication frequency
Yearly
Purpose of data source
The main purpose of the Family Resources Survey (FRS) is to give the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) data to develop, monitor and evaluate social welfare policy.
The survey is also used by other government departments, including 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.
8. Download the data
This file contains the following: measure, source, time, ethnicity of household reference person, ethnicity type, geography, value, value type and denominator