Hello all,

It's finally here... I will be going to the UK in less than 2 weeks.
The plan is for me to go ahead of my family and find work and then a place to live. I hope to accomplish that in 6 weeks. I know, ambitious plans.

Anyhow, I have started the serious part of my job search and I still find that salaries in the UK vary quite a bit for the same type of work. I am not sure what kind of salary I can reasonably expect.

That being said, and here is the loaded question, can a family of 4 get by on £25,000 before tax income? What can I expect to net from that? £1400/month?
We plan to live a low key lifestyle and keep expenses down, can we manage on that in the UK?

Thanks BE!

You can use this calculator:

Income tax calculator: Find out your take-home pay

Massive generalisations alert!

Best to start as low as you can and go from there. 25k in London is expenses, in parts of the East Midlands it's a dual income family. I know someone on 80k in London who can afford a 2 bed flat, but in W Yorks they'd be able to buy a 4 bed, 3 bath, detached place in a nice area. The leveller is food and utilities, as they cost about the same wherever you go. Rent or a mortgage is what really separates different areas when you look at living expenses.

I see from your previous posts you have family in Derby (and are a Canuck - I've never met anyone with animosity against Canadians)? From what I know Derby isn't an expensive area (but not cheap, either), so if you went there you'd likely have the unenviable choice of picking a house in either a nice or not-so-nice area. As you probably know some people in the UK are still hung up on class, so if you went to a cheaper area you might have a few a***holes looking down their noses at you, but you can laugh at not paying more than 50% of your take home on a mortgage.

To answer your loaded question; yes, but it wouldn't be easy.

Thanks. Looks like about £1500 per month.
Can we get by on that?

Thanks Gobobo. I didnt expect it to be easy to get by on that salary but as long as I know I can pay the bills. I'll see if I can swing a higher salary

Yes I am British born living and raised in Canada. I hope we can make the adjustment to UK ways of things.

Take care

Outside of London and the South East you could definitely get by, although the first few months would be really difficult unless you had some savings for a deposit on a rented house and a good job.

The UK isn't as cold or as big as Canada, and lots of places are actually really nice to be in. Neither of you would have any credit history so you'd need to build that up before you take on a mortgage, credit card or loan. Renting can be okay with the right landlord, but a lot of them are d**ks. If you have a secure job you definitely have some leverage in the UK, you'd have a better choice of places to rent and cars aren't as expensive as some countries (but the petrol is astronomical).

All of the Canadians I've met have been decent, but a fraction of Americans I've known have not, plus the media like to vilify those from the states. You probably know that so I won't go any further. Good luck on your job search.

Thanks so much for the reassurance. We do not plan to get a mortgage in the UK and will stick it out with renting as we do not know what the future holds in terms of location.

Good news. Applied last night and already got 2 good responses from recruiters! So feeling optimistic! So unlike me.

I suppose it depends a lot on your line of work and how in demand your skills are in UK.
Good luck!

Similar question was discussed recently in this thread.

And this one. (but for a couple rather than a family; similar budget, though)

Could a family of 4 get by on £1500 a month? The simple answer is definitely yes, quite comfortably in fact.

Seriously? I think everyone needs to sort out their terms first. There's a huge difference between "getting by" and "being comfortable". Could you get by? That depends on location. If you're looking at London, then probably not because nearly all of that would go on rent. So the first thing is to identify a location where rents are low. Even there, you'd be looking at at least 6-700 a month unless you live in the arse-end of nowhere or somewhere god-awful. On top of that you've got Council Tax, Gas, Water, Electricity, Dental Care, Insurance and Communications: that's got to be at least 300 a month, bringing you up to round about 1,000 already spent. That leaves you 4-500 for food, clothes, holidays and emergencies. And you still haven't factored in a car or any other means of transport. I'd say it's touch-and-go whether you could get by. As for being comfortable: sorry, but no way.

Well you certainly wouldnt need to spend anywhere near £700 a month on rent outside of London. Before we bought we looked around and it was easy to find very nice places under £500.

Right. So the answer is right there in front of the nose.

It very much depends on where you choose or can afford to settle within the UK..

So. Can we keep this real for Trancliffe71 please without having to bring certain 'agendas'.



New Question then.

Where can Trancliffe71 live reasonably on the sum he suggests.

By that I mean without giving his family undue stress.

If he has children , he may have to factor in schools.

The answer is by no means simple at all.

Really? Where? For a family of 4? I used to rent out a property in Blackburn, which now rents for 500 a month. End terrace, two beds, tiny. Anyway, even if you can rent for 500, that still only leave 1,000 (less, actually) for utilities, taxes (council, TV), dental, food, clothes, insurance, transport, holidays, treats, emergencies and odds'n'sods. I don't believe it adds up. Just about scrape by is all they'll do.

Well certainly in the area we are in, Herefordshire, Worcestershire, Shropshire etc. Rents are very reasonable. School costs are minimal overall. You wont live a life of luxury on that money but also bear in mind it will be topped up by the Government, there is child benefit, child and working tax credits, rates reductions etc so the amount mentioned is really just a starting point.