Cost of Living Calculator

The cost of living in the UK varies significantly by region. Housing is usually the largest single item at 30-40% of income, followed by food and groceries, transport, energy bills, council tax and personal spending. London and the South East are substantially more expensive than the North and the Midlands, and the gap is wide enough to change which jobs are worth taking. This calculator builds a monthly budget estimate from your household size, location and lifestyle, drawing on ONS data for average expenditure and applying regional adjustments on top.

Energy has been the most volatile line in any household budget. The Ofgem price cap sets a maximum unit rate and standing charge for default tariffs rather than a maximum bill, so what you actually pay still depends on how much you use. Current cap rates are applied to typical usage figures to estimate your energy spend, and every default cost can be overwritten if your own bills tell a different story.

As a broad picture, a single person outside London needs £1,500-£2,500 a month for a modest lifestyle, rising to £2,500-£4,000 inside it. A family of four runs at £3,000-£5,000 a month outside London and £5,000-£8,000 or more within. Split by share of the budget, housing takes 30-40%, food 10-15%, transport 10-15%, utilities 8-12%, council tax 5-8% and discretionary spending 10-15%. Set against those figures, ONS put median household disposable income at £33,500 a year in 2024, which works out at £2,792 a month.

Regional differences are why the national ranges are so wide. London is the benchmark, with a one-bedroom flat at £1,800-£3,000 a month and a central pint at £6-£8. The South East runs at 80-90% of London costs, the South West including Bristol and Bath at 70-80%, Birmingham and Manchester at 50-65%, and Newcastle and Sunderland in the North East at 40-55%. Edinburgh sits at 70% of London and Glasgow at 55%, while Wales and Northern Ireland both land around 50-60%. In pay terms, £50k in London leaves you roughly where £30-£35k does in Manchester, or £25k in Newcastle, once housing is paid for.

Housing deserves a line of its own. Average rent in 2026 is about £1,200 a month in England and £900 across the UK as a whole, with a London one-bedroom flat at £1,800-£2,500 and the Manchester equivalent at £900-£1,300. Buying is not automatically cheaper month to month, since mortgage interest is broadly similar to rent on a comparable property, though ownership carries the capital gain or loss with it. Council Tax adds £1,500-£3,000 a year depending on band and council, energy and water together £1,800-£2,800, internet £25-£40 a month, and the TV licence £180 a year from April 2026, which is free for over-75s on Pension Credit.

Food is the item most households can actually move. A single person spends £200-£300 a month on groceries, a couple £350-£500 and a family of four £600-£900. Eating out costs £15-£25 a head for a pub meal, £25-£45 in a mid-range restaurant and £8-£15 for a takeaway, with coffee at £3-£4.50 in Starbucks or Costa against £2-£3 from an independent. A bought lunch runs £6-£12 where one made at home costs £2-£4. Shopping at Lidl or Aldi comes out 20-30% below Tesco or Sainsbury's, and cooking from scratch rather than buying ready meals saves 50-70%.

Transport splits sharply between London and everywhere else. Running a small car for 12k miles a year costs £3,000-£4,500 once fuel, insurance, tax, servicing and the MOT are counted. A London Zone 1-6 annual Travelcard is £3,000, and commuter season tickets run from £1,500 to £8,000 or more depending on the line. Outside London a typical commuter spends £600-£1,500 a year on buses and trains. Cycling costs £200-£500 a year in maintenance and parts, and a bike-to-work scheme can bring the bike itself down to nothing over three years. Walking costs nothing at all, and an electric car cuts running costs while raising the purchase price.