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Relative housing costs

Housing costs as proportion of net income for households in poverty (2022/23)

Last updated: May 2024
Next estimated update: May 2025

What does this indicator show?

This indicator shows how much of a household’s income is spent on housing costs - split by households in poverty and not in poverty. 

What does it tell us?

Households living in poverty are spending a significantly larger proportion of their net income on housing costs than households not living in poverty. This is true both in London and in the rest of England. 

London households in poverty are estimated, on average, to spend 54% of their total net income on housing costs. In comparison, those living in households which are not in poverty spend just 11% on average. 

The trend is similar in the rest of England with households in poverty spending 32% of their income on housing compared to 8% for those not in poverty, but the gap is much smaller than in the capital. Compared to the rest of England, both types of households in London are spending proportionally more of their net income on housing costs.

Want to know more?

If you want to explore this data in more depth, check the 'data source and notes' button on the above charts. This will tell you where the data comes from, where you may be able to dig deeper.