UK Money Visualised · Map 06
What does a UK household spend—and what changes the answer?
Move between income, age, household type, tenure and region. Compare official survey means with your own figures without turning an average into a target.
Build your comparison
Uses your saved employment and other taxable income as a rough household-income proxy to choose a decile. Review it if another adult contributes income.
Add category spending (optional)
Enter only categories you can classify consistently. Zero means “not entered”, not necessarily no spending.
Your entries stay in this tab and are not sent to Money Considered. A shareable link includes only the assumptions shown in its URL.
Your total versus the selected survey mean
+£170£3,000 entered each month versus £2,830 for 6th income decile · mean £1,026/week. That is 6.0% above the mean—not a judgement about what you should spend.Gross income decile: 6th income decile · mean £1,026/week
Households ranked by gross weekly income before tax; figures are not equivalised. The selected survey mean is −£102 a month relative to the UK mean from the same period. Sample estimates describe the households observed; they do not control for every difference in needs, quality, housing costs or preferences.
Category benchmark table
“Not published” means the source suppressed that lower-level estimate; the household total can still include it.
| Monthly category | 6th income decile · mean £1,026/week | UK mean | Your entry | Your difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Food & non-alcoholic drinks | £337 | £319 | — | — |
| Alcohol, tobacco & narcotics | £57 | £49 | — | — |
| Clothing & footwear | £75 | £78 | — | — |
| Housing (net), fuel & power | £563 | £513 | — | — |
| Household goods & services | £148 | £176 | — | — |
| Health | Not published | £52 | — | — |
| Transport | £381 | £418 | — | — |
| Communication | £100 | £97 | — | — |
| Recreation & culture | £346 | £356 | — | — |
| Education | Not published | £38 | — | — |
| Restaurants & hotels | £207 | £213 | — | — |
| Miscellaneous goods & services | £208 | £216 | — | — |
| Other expenditure items | £357 | £408 | — | — |
| Total expenditure | £2,830 | £2,932 | £3,000 | +£170 |
Assumptions used
- Weekly ONS means are converted to monthly equivalents by multiplying by 52 and dividing by 12.
- Income, household-composition and tenure comparisons use the financial year ending 2025. Age and region use three-year averages for financial years ending 2023 to 2025.
- These are arithmetic means, not medians, recommended budgets or affordability thresholds. A small number of high-spending households can raise a mean.
- The Living Costs and Food Survey sample is about 5,000 households in the one-year UK table. Segment samples can be much smaller and lower-level estimates have greater uncertainty.
- ONS categories may not match a budgeting app: mortgage interest and Council Tax sit in “other expenditure”, while mortgage capital repayments are excluded because they add to wealth.
- No inflation adjustment is made after the source period, and the tool does not compare income with spending or assess financial resilience.
A useful benchmark asks “what might explain the difference?” rather than “am I normal?”. Housing tenure, household size, disability, work patterns and geography can all move spending for sensible reasons.
Common questions
Household spending data FAQs
What is the average UK household spending?
ONS reports mean weekly household expenditure of £676.60 for the financial year ending 2025, equivalent to about £2,932 a month using 52 weeks divided by 12. This is an arithmetic mean across the survey, not a recommended budget or the amount a typical household must spend.
Which households should I compare with?
There is no single perfect peer group. Income can help explain overall capacity, while household composition, tenure, age and region can explain different needs and prices. The tool deliberately lets you switch lenses instead of presenting one benchmark as definitive.
Are the figures averages or medians?
The expenditure figures are arithmetic means. High-spending households can pull a mean above the middle household's spending. The tool calls every value a survey mean and avoids treating it as a target.
Why do some categories say not published?
ONS suppresses some lower-level estimates where the sample is too small or the estimate is not sufficiently reliable for publication. The total can still include that spending. The benchmark preserves the suppression rather than replacing it with zero.
Why do age and region use a different period?
The ONS source publishes age and regional breakdowns as three-year averages for financial years ending 2023 to 2025 to improve sample strength. Income, household-composition and tenure tables use the single financial year ending 2025. The tool compares each segment with a UK mean from the same period.
What does housing (net), fuel and power include?
It follows the ONS Classification of Individual Consumption by Purpose rather than a budgeting app's categories. Mortgage interest, Council Tax and Northern Ireland rates sit in other expenditure items, while mortgage capital repayments are excluded because ONS treats them as accumulating wealth. Exact reconciliation requires the workbook definitions.
How reliable are small-group comparisons?
The one-year UK Living Costs and Food Survey table contains about 5,000 households, but a selected subgroup can contain far fewer. Sampling error, classification and household differences become more important at lower levels. The tool shows the subgroup sample count beside the result.
Does being above average mean I am overspending?
No. It can reflect a larger household, higher local costs, childcare, disability, commuting, housing tenure, quality choices or a temporary expense. Whether spending is sustainable depends on income, debt, savings goals and resilience, none of which the benchmark assesses.
Does the tool adjust the survey figures for inflation?
No. It preserves the published nominal values and labels the source period and release date. Prices and household circumstances may have changed since the survey period, so the comparison is context rather than a current cost-of-living index.