How expensive is it to live in London's most sought-after boroughs and commuter towns in 2021?

We all know living in London can be expensive, but just how much of your income will go towards living in some of London's most sought after boroughs and commuter towns. More importantly, is it cheaper to live inside London, or commute in from outside the city?

To find out Portify took the most up-to-date data on the cost of living across London. We used these to look at what proportion of your income if you lived in an area would go towards rent, food, travel and council tax in a month.

To do this for each area we looked at the price of:

• Average food shop (source: ONS Family spending in the UK March 2021),
• The average rental prices in the borough/town, found by analysing the average price of housing on the market at that time (source: home.co.uk 24/03/2021),
• The average take-home salary of residents in that area (source: Median gross weekly earnings by place of work, Great Britain, ONS)
• The council tax costs, assuming a council tax of band B (source: Local authority)
• Travel costs for a zone 1-2 travelcard in London, and travel into London excluding underground for commuter towns (source: TfL, Trainline)

Living in London comes with a hefty price tag! None of the inner London boroughs save one, will cost you less than 50% of the average income. Take a look at the map below to see where the most affordable and expensive boroughs are. The table shows what percentage of the average income goes towards the above living costs in that area:

Unsurprisingly to many, Kensington and Chelsea is the most expensive borough to live in and the cheapest is Lewisham.

If you are looking to live in the country and commute in, it may surprise you to know that it’s not always a lot cheaper than living in London. Rents outside of London are generally lower, but travel costs increase as you move away from the city centre. Outside of London, Ipswich has the cheapest rents, but it’s also the town with the most expensive commute. Travelling to and from London will get you back £684 on a monthly season ticket. The most affordable towns outside London are Croydon and Beckenham.

The table below shows the cost of living in various commuter towns outside London.

Published: 06 May 2021