Two women at work in an office with money behind them.
Office for National Statistics numbers allow you to see how you measure up (Picture: Getty Images)

Money doesn’t buy happiness. As much as we want to believe in the sentiment, it sure does feel like money would solve a lot of our problems.

And if it can’t buy happiness, we may as well be grumpy on a beach in Fiji, beer in hand, rather than clocking in at a 9-to-5.

However, another proverb that is undoubtedly true is the wise words of US President Theodore Roosevelt: comparison is the thief of joy. If we’re constantly looking over the fence in jealousy at our neighbour’s seemingly perfect lives, we might just forget to enjoy our own.

Except there’s a problem with that, too. British stubbornness. We’re desperate to know how we compare to those around us, and no more so than when it comes to our annual earnings.

Woman spies on her colleague's computer while looking over her shoulder
Discussing wages among colleagues is often taboo (Picture: Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Thankfully, the business buffs at Forbes have done the snooping for us and crunched the Office for National Statistics numbers to work out the UK median wage for different age brackets. It allows you to see if you’re sitting pretty – or being short changed – when compared to your peers.

A quick note here to explain that the numbers given by Forbes are median rather than mean, as a true average can be heavily inflated by the serious earners (thanks a lot investment bankers).

The median paints a more realistic picture of what’s going on around you. Unless, of course, you’re in that top 1%, in which case you really don’t need to be concerning yourself with all of this, do you?

Age 18-21 – Median annual salary: £22,932

A teenager working in a supermarket
It’s (hopefully) only up from here (Picture: Getty Images)

Unsurprisingly, 18 to 21-year-olds have the lowest median earnings across the UK due to lack of experience on the job, bringing in an average of £441 per week.

It’s hard to demand top tier wages at this stage unless you’re lucky to be good enough at kicking a ball around that Chelsea will add you to its little army.

The good news is that earnings typically increase with age and time under employment.

Age 22-29 – Median annual salary: £30,316

A woman in her 20s working in an office
Your parents were already on their third home by now (Picture: Getty Images)

This is where the numbers get closer to the overall UK average annual salary of around £34,000 a year.

By this stage we’ve got a bit of experience under our belts and we’re still young enough for people to think we’re vibrant, enthusiastic and full of ideas to shake things up.

The reality is we’re more concerned with having to accept the fact we’ll likely never own a house of our own because we’re spending all of our money on those dang avocados. It works out at £583 a week.

Age 30-39 – Median annual salary: £37,544

A man in his 30s working from home
This is where the disparity in pay between men and women significantly widens (Picture: Getty Images)

As we mentioned earlier, salary typically increases with age, so it’s another jump now as we get into our thirties, when you can expect to earn £722 per week.

This is much needed if you’re planning to start a family and settle down, or simply want to live within a two-hour and £200 train journey of London.

Age 40-49 – Median annual salary: £40,040

A woman in her 40s leading a team meeting in an office
Enjoy it while it lasts… (Picture: Getty Images)

It might be mid-life crisis o’clock but it’s also the time, on average, we’ll earn the most in our lives. £770 a week to be precise.

No wonder so many 40-something men have convertible sports cars. It’s all downhill from here, apparently, so enjoy it while you can. Buy that BMW, you’ll look cool.

Age 50-59 – Median annual salary: £37,804

A man in his 50s working in a garage
We’re over the hill in more ways than one (Picture: Getty Images)

It turns out 30-year-olds and 50-year-olds have more in common than we thought; they both earn about £720 a week on average.

As you can see, this is where earnings typically start to decline again. It could be because those vibrant youngsters see us as dinosaurs of the workplace, or simply because by this point we’ve realised our energy is better spent finding happiness elsewhere.

Age 60+ – Median annual salary: £33,852

A woman in her 60s working in a shop
If you’re one of the lucky ones, work alarm clocks are soon to be resigned to the history books (Picture: Getty Images)

Ahh, the sweet release of retirement must be close.

Although if you’re one of us average Joes who has tracked on course through this list, it’s likely a lot further away than you had hoped – especially as earnings drop again, this time to £651 a week.

Forbes attributes the decline in median wages after 50 to factors such as more workers leaving the workforce, going part-time or ill health.

A table showing the breakdown of income for every age bracket
How do you compare?

Gender pay gap

It’s important to note that the median annual pay for men is higher than that of women in every age bracket.

This gap significantly widens from the age of 30, which Forbes says is ‘no doubt due to more women than men having a more disrupted career path due to caring responsibilities – either children or elderly relatives’.

The lowest gender pay gap is at 18 to 21 years old (where women earn £728 less per year than men on average) and the highest is between the ages of 50-59 and 60+ (where women earn £7,176 less per year).

Deals of the day

This article was first published on September 3, 2024.

Do you have a story to share?

Get in touch by emailing [email protected].

MORE : Prompt engineering is the new AI job to know about now – and it pays big money

MORE : I left my office job and changed my entire career just 7 weeks after giving birth

MORE : This city has been crowned ‘best’ commuter spot – but there’s a catch