Standing view · pay · City of London
deteriorating, held with established confidence, formed on 31 August 2026 from movements in 2025.
Household income per head in the City of London fell from £117,313 in 2023 to £109,153 in 2024. Hourly pay in 2025 was £35.04 at the median, with the lowest tenth of earners at £17.60, the lowest quarter at £23.45, the upper quarter at £53.56 and the top tenth at £79.17. The income measure fell in both years published, and the pay distribution is a single year's reading, so it describes the spread of earnings rather than how that spread has moved.
A view is formed only where the evidence names a figure you can check. Each movement listed as a reason had to be large enough to matter and distinctive in at least one way — unusual against this area's own history, unusual against comparable areas, or sustained over several periods. A movement shared with peers counts for less, because it says something about the country rather than about City of London. Where no figure supports a direction we hold no view rather than a hedged one.
| Measure | Period | Direction |
|---|---|---|
| Household income per head | 2023 | deteriorating |
| Household income per head | 2024 | deteriorating |
These figures carry no defensible direction of their own: a rising house price is good news to an owner and bad news to someone trying to buy, so we do not score one as an improvement. They are shown because they are part of the picture, and they did not decide the view above.
| Measure | Period | Series |
|---|---|---|
| 10 percentile | 2025 | — |
| 25 percentile | 2025 | — |
| 75 percentile | 2025 | — |
| 90 percentile | 2025 | — |
| Median | 2025 | — |