Map shows Surrey areas where wages are growing

Earnings are up across Surrey, but wage growth is slightly behind the country as a whole. 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.

However, if you live in Surrey, the average full-time earnings are £45,831 a year, which is 6.5% higher than 12 months earlier. It means that people living in our area earn far more than those across the rest of the country, but that wages are growing faster elsewhere.

There is a lot of variation across the county, with workers from Elmbridge topping the table of highest-earning local authority. The average full-time earnings there are £50,216 a year. That’s up just 2.9% compared to a year earlier.

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Waverley has Surrey's next highest average at £50,042 a year. Surrey Heath has the next highest average at £48,095, followed by Mole Valley at £47,777, and Runnymede at £47,122.

Full-time workers in Spelthorne have the lowest average incomes in Surrey at £40,500 a year. That’s actually down slightly by 0.7% compared to a year earlier. Tandridge has Surrey’s next lowest average at £40,634, which is down by 2.5% compared to 2023. Epsom and Ewell have the next lowest average (£44,251), followed by Guildford (£44,602).

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

What do wages look like across the rest of country?

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, where the average earnings for full-time employees 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%.

Surrey’s average earnings

Local authority: Average full-time employee earnings

Elmbridge: £50,216

Waverley: £50,042

Surrey Heath: £48,095

Mole Valley: £47,777

Runnymede: £47,122

Surrey: £45,831

Woking : £45,481

Reigate and Banstead : £44,728

Guildford: £44,602

Epsom and Ewell: £44,251

Tandridge: £40,634

Spelthorne: £40,500

Surrey’s largest annual increases

Guildford: 10.3%

Surrey Heath: 9%

Waverley: 8.6%

Woking: 7.6%

Runnymede: 6.5%

Surrey: 6.5%

Epsom and Ewell: 5.9%

Reigate and Banstead: 3.9%

Elmbridge: 2.9%

Spelthorne: -0.7%

Tandridge: -2.5%

Mole Valley: Not available

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