Proportion of borough residents' jobs that are paid below London Living Wage (2025)
Last updated: January 2026
Next update: December 2026
What does this indicator show?
This page looks at the proportion of jobs held by borough residents that are low-paid. This means it looks only at the people that live in a given borough (e.g. Redbridge) - their job may be located anywhere. For jobs located in boroughs, please see 'Low-paid jobs in London'.
A job is considered low-paid if it is below the London Living Wage. The London Living Wage was introduced in 2005. It is a voluntary wage rate based on the amount of money that people need to live. The rate in London in April 2025 when the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings we use for this analysis was conducted was £13.85.
Which London borough has the highest prevalence of low pay?
The proportion of low-paid residents differs greatly across the capital, reflecting the level of inequality in London.
In Barking and Dagenham and Brent, just under a quarter of working residents are low paid. Residents of these borough are more than twice as likely to be low-paid than their counterparts in Kensington and Chelsea (9%) and Wandsworth (9.8%).
A majority (21 boroughs) saw low-pay decrease from 2024 to 2025. The biggest decrease was in Kingston upon Thames, where low pay decreased by 5.4 percentage points.
But in this time period, 9 London boroughs saw the proportion of low-paid residents increase. Sutton and Westminster had the greatest increase, of 2.8 percentage points.
Low pay across London boroughs by sex
Proportion of borough residents' jobs that are paid below London Living Wage by sex (2025)
On average across London, the proportion of low-paid jobs held by women is higher than that of men. However, there are noticeable differences between boroughs.
Women residents of Havering (21.4%) are 55% more likely than men (13.8%) to have a low-paid job. And in four boroughs the proportion of women in low-paid work is more than 4 ppt higher than the proportion of men in low-paid work.
However, in twelve boroughs a greater proportion of men than women are in low-paid work, led by Barking and Dagenham which has 26.3% of men in low-paid work compared to 20.6% of women.
Low pay across London boroughs by employment type
Proportion of borough residents' jobs that are paid below London Living Wage by employment type (2025)
Across London, part time jobs are significantly more likely to be low paid than full-time roles. But this, too, differs significantly across the city.
In Newham, more than half of residents in part-time jobs are low paid - more than twice as high as the proportion of Kingston upon Thames residents (25%)
A similarly large gap can be seen in full time roles. In several boroughs, less than 10% of residents in full time roles are low-paid - while in Brent, more than one in six are.
Proportion of borough residents' jobs that are low paid (2025)
Want to know more?
If you want to explore this data in more depth, check the 'data source and notes' button on the above charts. This will tell you where the data comes from, where you may be able to dig deeper.
Or find out more about the London Living Wage using the link below.