Map shows Kent area where wages have risen faster than anywhere else in UK

David Dubas-Fisher & Tom van Klaveren
·3-min read
On average wages in Kent have increased by 8.8% in the past year
-Credit: (Image: Reach PLC)


Earnings are up across Kent, with one area experiencing one of the largest annual increases in the country.

The average full-time employee in the UK earns £37,430 a year according to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics. That’s up by 6.9% compared to 2023.

The average full-time earnings in Kent, however, are £38,998 a year, which is 8.8% higher than 12 months earlier.

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Sevenoaks is the highest-earning local authority in our county. The average full-time earnings there are £45,565 a year. That’s up 11.7% compared to a year earlier.

Tunbridge Wells has Kent’s next highest average at £45,105 a year. That’s up a staggering 21.2% year-on-year, which is the highest annual increase in our county and the fourth highest in the country.

Dartford has Kent’s next highest average at £43,516, followed by Dover at £38,985, and Tonbridge and Malling at £38,587.

Full-time workers in Maidstone have the lowest average incomes in Kent at £35,917 a year. It’s one of five local authorities in our county where people earn less than the national average. The others are Canterbury (£36,294), Folkestone and Hythe (£36,515), Ashford (£36,605), and Thanet (£37,034).

You can see how different parts of the country compare by using our interactive map:

Pendle has the lowest average earnings of any local authority in the country. The average full-time employee there earns £28,945 a year. That’s followed by Blackburn with Darwen (£29,153), Boston (£29,503), Leicester (£29,839), and Nottingham (£29,983).

At the other end of the scale is the London borough of Richmond upon Thames. The average earnings for full-time employees there is £56,048 a year. That’s a whopping 17.7% more than in 2023.

St Albans has the next highest average at £53,829, followed by Kensington and Chelsea at £52,622, Westminster at £51,034, and Wandsworth at £50,490.

Full-time employees in Arun, West Sussex, have seen the largest increase in their earnings. The average salary of people living in the local authority is 25.7% higher in 2024 than it was in 2023, according to the ONS data.

Bolsover in Derbyshire has seen the next largest increase at 21.7%. That’s followed by Westmorland and Furness at 21.4%, Tunbridge Wells at 21.2%, and Castle Point: at 18.3%.

Kent’s average earnings

Local authority: Average full-time employee earnings

  • Sevenoaks: £45,565

  • Tunbridge Wells: £45,105

  • Dartford: £43,516

  • Kent: £38,998

  • Dover: £38,985

  • Tonbridge and Malling: £38,587

  • Swale: £38,388

  • Medway: £38,329

  • Gravesham: £37,809

  • Thanet: £37,034

  • Ashford: £36,605

  • Folkestone and Hythe: £36,515

  • Shepway: £36,515

  • Canterbury: £36,294

  • Maidstone: £35,917

Kent’s largest annual increases

  • Tunbridge Wells: 21.2%

  • Dover: 13.9%

  • Thanet: 12.7%

  • Dartford: 12.3%

  • Sevenoaks: 11.7%

  • Ashford: 11.3%

  • Kent: 8.8%

  • Medway: 8.2%

  • Maidstone: 7.8%

  • Folkestone and Hythe: 6.1%

  • Shepway: 6.1%

  • Swale: 2.0%

  • Tonbridge and Malling: not available

  • Gravesham: not available

  • Canterbury: not available

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