UK wealth gap yawns wider

The regional wealth gap, often referred to as the north-south divide, has got wider, according to a survey by UK banking giant Barclays.

The real gap is between the south-east of England and everywhere else, Barclays found in a study of average incomes in England and Wales.

Highest average incomes

Kensington & Chelsea
£36,493

Westminster
£33,427

Richmond upon Thames
£33,298

Camden
£32,643

Windsor and Maidenhead
£31,343

Source: Barclays Private Clients

Nineteen of the top 20 richest areas in England and Wales are in south-east England, Barclays said.

Click here to see the full list

Top of the rich list was the London borough of Kensington and Chelsea, while people in Blaenau Gwent in Wales take home the poorest average pay out of the 170 districts covered by the survey.

Wales fared particularly badly, with nine areas featuring in the bottom 20 of the league table, Barclays said.

Commuter belt

The average annual pay packet is £23,338 in England and Wales, it found.

Annual salaries in Kensington and Chelsea, at £36,000, beat this by 56%.

Lowest average incomes

Blaenau Gwent
£16,209

Sandwell
£16,418

Leicester
£16,588

Blackpool
£16,602

Stoke-on-Trent
£16,751

Source: Barclays Private Clients

Annual pay in Blaenau Gwent was, at £16,209, 31% below the average.

London boroughs occupied the four top slots in the league, followed by the London commuter belt district of Windsor and Maidenhead.

Rutland, the smallest county in England, was the only northern area to make it into the richest top 20 districts, Barclays said.

Leeds was one of the few major cities to score well, ranked sixtieth.

But high salaries in London and the south-east should be seen in the context of a higher cost of living, said Michael Pinder, managing director of wealth management service Barclays Private Clients.

"For example, London salaries might be 50% higher than those in the north, yet property prices are two or three times more expensive. So the question must be asked, who is really better off?" he said.

Click here to return

• Kensington and Chelsea: £36,493
• Westminster: £33,427
• Richmond upon Thames: £33,298
• Camden: £32,643
• Windsor and Maidenhead: £31,343
• Wokingham: £31,075
• Buckinghamshire: £29,441
• Surrey: £29,089
• Hammersmith and Fulham: £28,252
• Bracknell Forest: £27,746
• Kingston upon Thames: £27,699
• Wandsworth: £27,405
• Barnet: £26,848
• Bromley: £26,544
• West Berkshire: £26,464
• Rutland: £26,141
• Hertfordshire: £25,949
• Oxfordshire: £25,452
• Merton: £25,383
• Hampshire: £24,918
• Cheshire: £24,535
• Wiltshire: £24,529
• Bath and NE Somerset: £24, 512
• Islington: £24,495
• Harrow: £24,480
• Trafford: £24,229
• Solihull: £24,139
• South Gloucestershire: £23,977
• Kent: £23,938
• Sutton: £23,722
• Milton Keynes: £23,675
• Warwickshire: £23,660
• Bedfordshire: £23,659
• Hillingdon: £23,487
• Croydon: £23,392
• Ealing: £23,385
• Cambridgeshire: £23,351
• Essex: £23,342
• Hounslow: £23,277
• Gloucestershire: £23,271
• Warrington: £23,144
• Havering: £23,127
• N Somerset: £23,104
• Redbridge: £23,084
• Northamptonshire: £22,989
• Vale of Glamorgan: £22,854
• West Sussex: £22,838
• W Sussex: £22,838
• Stockport: £22,726
• Southwark: £22,722
• Poole: £22,657
• Reading: £22,613
• Medway: £22,480
• Swindon: £22,423
• Leicestershire: £22,405
• Haringey: £22,395
• Bexley: £22,370
• Monmouthshire: £22,275
• Thurrock: £22,242
• Greenwich: £22,239
• Leeds: £22,167
• N Yorkshire: £22,113
• East Riding of Yorkshire: £21,893
• Lambeth: £21,858
• Stockton-on-Tees: £21,833
• Worcestershire: £21,754
• Enfield: £21,727
• Nottinghamshire: £21,567
• Slough: £21,543
• Derbyshire: £21,494
• E Sussex: £21,476
• Southend-on-Sea: £21,459
• Tower Hamlets: £21,421
• Dorset: £21,390
• Cardiff: £21,311
• York: £21,191
• Northumberland: £21,027
• Staffordshire: £20,962
• Bristol: £20,943
• Somerset: £20,931
• Bridgend: £20,891
• Brighton: £20,840
• Darlington: £20,838
• Brent: £20,738
• Bolton: £20,677
• Suffolk: £20,656
• Wrexham: £20,645
• Bury: £20,641
• Sheffield: £20,630
• Shropshire: £20,561
• Lancashire: £20,467
• Lewisham: £20,455
• Wigan: £20,407
• N Lincolnshire: £20,245
• Sefton: £20,211
• Flintshire: £20,203
• Portsmouth: £20,183
• Herefordshire: £20,148
• Newcastle: £20,098
• N Tyneside: £20,032
• Hackney: £19,996
• Derby: £19,980
• Calderdale: £19,978
• Bournemouth: £19,968
• Peterborough: £19,909
• Wirral: £19,881
• Telford: £19,817
• Durham: £19,814
• Devon: £19,800
• Doncaster: £19,784
• Kirklees: £19,735
• Southampton: £19,721
• Lincolnshire: £19,668
• Halton: £19,647
• Coventry: £19,640
• Hartlepool: £19,598
• Swansea: £19,597
• Bradford: £19,573
• Cumbria: £19,480
• Gateshead: £19,454
• S Tyneside: £19,404
• Waltham Forest: £19,380
• Wakefield: £19,364
• Salford: £19,252
• Newport: £19,247
• Rochdale: £19,242
• NE Lincolnshire: £19,237
• Norfolk: £19,235
• Sunderland: £19,164
• Plymouth: £19,141
• Barking: £19,124
• Rotherham: £19,080
• Walsall: £19,020
• St Helens: £18,958
• Oldham: £18,942
• Blackburn: £18,852
• Manchester: £18,804
• Anglesey: £18,668
• Tameside: £18,642
• Torfaen: £18,633
• Birmingham: £18,596
• Middlesbrough: £18,575
• Redcar and Cleveland: £18,546
• Nottingham: £18,535
• Dudley: £18,523
• Luton: £18,386
• Carmarthenshire: £18,341
• Denbighshire: £18,323
• Barnsley: £18,181
• Liverpool: £18,146
• Caerphilly: £!8,109
• Isle of Wight: £18,086
• Neath: £17,941
• Pembrokeshire: £17,930
• Rhondda: £17,793
• Conwy: £17,786
• Powys: £17,699
• Wolverhampton: £17,694
• Ceredigion: £17,684
• Cornwall: £17,631
• Newham: £17,599
• Knowsley: £17,583
• Hull: £17,092
• Merthyr Tydfil: £17,026
• Gwynedd: £16,986
• Torbay: £16,952
• Stoke: £16,751
• Blackpool: £16,602
• Leicester: £16,588
• Sandwell: £16,418
• Blaenau Gwent: £16,209