Rent for a one bedroom dwelling as a percentage of residents' gross pay by borough (2024 Q4 and 2025 Q4)
What does this indicator show?
Rent in London is extortionate, putting a significant strain on people’s incomes and making the city unaffordable to many on low incomes.
This chart shows the proportion of an average Londoner’s pre-tax pay that would be needed to afford a one-bed in each London borough. It allows us to see which boroughs are the most - and least - affordable for London’s residents.
Rent costs more than half the average London income
Across London, the average cost of a one-bedroom home is the equivalent of over half (52%) the gross-median pay in London.
This is significantly higher than in the rest of England, where an average one-bed costs 42% of the average pre-tax income.
Which parts of London are the least affordable?
In every London borough the average rent for a one-bedroom home on the private market is at least one third of median pre-tax pay in London.
The least unaffordable boroughs are in Inner London. In Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea it costs nearly 70% of the median London pay to rent a one-bedroom home on average.
Outer London boroughs including Bromley, Havering, and Sutton have the lowest average rents, at around 34% of earnings.
The map below shows that, by this measure, the least affordable boroughs are all located in central West London, and the most affordable are all on the city's outskirts.