Average Net Worth by Age in the UK: The Official ONS Figures
The median household in Great Britain has a total wealth of £293,700, according to the ONS Wealth and Assets Survey. But that single number hides the real story, because wealth is overwhelmingly a function of age: the median household headed by someone aged 16 to 24 holds £15,200, while the median household headed by someone 65 to 74 holds £502,500. Thirty-three times as much.
Every figure on this page comes from the ONS Wealth and Assets Survey (April 2020 to March 2022, the latest published round), and all of it is free to cite with a link to this page.
At a glance
- Median GB household wealth
- £293,700 (£181,700 excluding pensions)
- Ages 25-34
- £109,800 median household wealth
- Peak age band
- 65-74, at £502,500
- Median FINANCIAL wealth
- just £10,400
Average net worth by age
The ONS measures households, by the age of the household head, and counts four kinds of wealth: property (net of mortgages), private pensions, financial wealth (savings and investments net of non-mortgage debt), and physical wealth (cars and possessions).
| Age of household head | Median household wealth | Of which financial (median) |
|---|---|---|
| 16 to 24 | £15,200 | £100 |
| 25 to 34 | £109,800 | £1,300 |
| 35 to 44 | £209,600 | £5,600 |
| 45 to 54 | £301,900 | £7,200 |
| 55 to 64 | £496,500 | £15,600 |
| 65 to 74 | £502,500 | £32,300 |
| 75 and above | £373,100 | £25,800 |
Two things in this table surprise almost everyone.
The financial wealth column is tiny at every age. The median household headed by a 25 to 34 year old holds £1,300 in savings and investments net of debts. Even at the 65 to 74 peak, median financial wealth is £32,300, a fraction of total wealth. British wealth is not money in accounts: it is houses and pensions, compounding quietly for decades. The savings picture has its own page: average savings by age.
The curve is about time in the market, not saving harder. The 55 to 64 median is thirty times the 16 to 24 one, and nobody got there through willpower at 23. It is what two or three decades of mortgage repayments and pension contributions do, which is also why wealth falls after 75, as pensions are drawn down and homes are traded down.
If you want to see where you stand against your own age band, our net worth calculator does the sum in your browser (nothing you enter leaves the page) and compares your figure with the medians above.
Why the averages feel too high
Three reasons the table reads richer than the people you know.
- These are households, not individuals. A couple's home, both pensions and both sets of savings count as one household's wealth. A single 30 year old comparing their solo balance sheet against £109,800 is measuring themselves against two-earner households, many already holding a mortgage deposit's worth of equity.
- Medians hide the spread. Half of households sit below every figure in the table, and the gap between deciles is enormous, as the decile table below shows.
- Pensions count (the full argument). People rarely think of a workplace pension as "their money", but the ONS does, and for most households it is one of the two biggest entries. Excluding private pensions, the GB median falls from £293,700 to £181,700.
Average net worth by region
| Region | Median household wealth |
|---|---|
| South East | £489,800 |
| East of England | £400,700 |
| South West | £347,700 |
| Wales | £266,900 |
| East Midlands | £261,000 |
| West Midlands | £260,800 |
| Yorkshire and the Humber | £245,600 |
| London | £244,800 |
| Scotland | £239,500 |
| North West | £222,400 |
| North East | £179,900 |
Read that again: London's median household wealth is below the East Midlands', despite the highest house prices and wages in the country. The reason is who lives there: London households are younger and far more likely to rent, so the property and pension wealth that dominates every other region's figure simply has not accrued to the median London household. High incomes, low wealth. The South East, where London's equity-rich movers land, tops the table at £489,800 instead.
What the wealthiest households hold
The ONS also splits households into ten wealth deciles, and reports the median value of each wealth component within each. Figures are medians per component, in thousands.
| Wealth decile | Property | Private pension | Financial | Physical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Top 1% | £1,400k | £1,381k | £640k | £206k |
| 10th (highest) | £624k | £626k | £218k | £123k |
| 8th | £280k | £216k | £47k | £68k |
| 6th | £162k | £98k | £16k | £49k |
| 4th | £50k | £45k | £4k | £35k |
| 2nd | £0 | £3k | £1k | £20k |
| 1st (lowest) | £0 | £0 | £0 | £9k |
The pattern that matters: the bottom three deciles hold essentially no property and no pension. Their wealth is possessions. The entire difference between the bottom of this table and the middle is getting onto the housing ladder and into a pension at all, which is why those two moves dominate every serious plan to build wealth, and why what salary you need to buy a house is usually the first question that matters.
How to work out your own net worth
The sum is one line: everything you own at today's value, minus everything you owe. Home at a realistic estimate, pension pots, savings, ISAs, investments, the car; less the mortgage balance, cards and loans. Our net worth calculator does it in two minutes, lets you count or exclude your pension, compares you with your age band's median, and can track your home's value monthly from HM Land Registry's index. Everything stays in your browser.
For the income side of the picture, see where your salary ranks, and if most of your wealth turns out to be the house, what your home is worth now is worth pinning down properly.
Method and sources
- Source: ONS Wealth and Assets Survey, "Household total wealth in Great Britain: April 2020 to March 2022", the latest published round. Figures retrieved from the ONS's published chart data in August 2026.
- Household, not individual: all figures describe households, classified by the age of the household head.
- Wealth definition: net property wealth, private pension wealth, net financial wealth and physical wealth. The State Pension is not counted as wealth.
- Medians throughout: the middle household, not the mean, which would be dragged far higher by the top of the distribution.
This page and its tables are free to cite with a link. The figures update when the ONS publishes the next survey round.
Frequently asked questions
What is the average net worth at 30 in the UK?
The median household headed by a 25 to 34 year old holds £109,800 of total wealth, including property equity and pensions. These are household figures: for a single person the comparable figure is substantially lower, and median financial wealth for this band is just £1,300.
What is the average net worth at 40 in the UK?
For households headed by a 35 to 44 year old, the median is £209,600, of which the large majority is property equity and pension wealth rather than money in accounts.
Does net worth include your pension?
In the ONS figures, yes: private and workplace pensions count, and they are one of the two largest components of British household wealth. The State Pension does not count. Our net worth calculator lets you see your figure both ways.
Why is London's average net worth so low?
Because wealth follows property and pensions, and the median London household rents. Younger populations and low ownership rates mean the equity that lifts every other southern region has not accrued to the middle London household, so its £244,800 median sits below the East Midlands despite far higher incomes.
How much wealth do you need to be in the top 10%?
The ONS does not publish a single top-10% threshold in this release, but households in the highest decile hold a median £624,000 of property wealth and £626,000 of pension wealth each, with £218,000 of financial wealth alongside.
General information, not financial advice. Figures are ONS survey estimates for Great Britain and describe households, not individuals.
