UKIZ/LIVE & WORK · EAST OF ENGLAND
Could I build a life
in Cambridge?
What the work pays in Cambridge, what living there costs, and what is left at the end of the month.
Reference figures only · the full picture is not built for this place yet
The two numbers everyone starts with
Median gross annual pay, full-time employees
£40,000 a year
Cambridge local authority (workplace-based)
Office for National Statistics — Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) · 2024 · Verified yesterday
Recorded by hand from the published release and rounded.
Average monthly private rent
£1,600 a month
Cambridge local authority, all property types
Office for National Statistics — Price Index of Private Rents · 2025 · Verified yesterday
Recorded by hand from the published release and rounded.
Neither figure is about you. Median pay covers everybody working in Cambridge local authority, from every occupation. Average rent covers every property type. They set the scale; the sections below get closer.
Cost
Not stated: A full cost basket for Cambridge — Council tax, energy, transport and household costs have not been recorded against named sources for this place. Manchester currently carries the complete basket.
Take-home
What would my life look like on that salary?
Move the salary and the costs to match your own situation. Tax is calculated under England, Wales and Northern Ireland rules, from thresholds published by HMRC.
Take-home each month
£2,560
£30,720 a year · England, Wales and Northern Ireland tax
- Income tax
- −£5,086
- National Insurance
- −£2,194
- Pension
- −£2,000
About £960 left each month after those costs — 63% of your take-home goes on the baseline.
An estimate for one employee on PAYE with a standard tax code, no benefits in kind and no other income. It is not advice and it is not a payslip. Thresholds come from HMRC, the Scottish Government and the Student Loans Company.
Live
And what is Cambridge actually like?
World-class science without living in a megacity.
It is not a big city and does not pretend to be. If you want anonymity, scale and a club at 3am, Cambridge will frustrate you.
- River. Punting is the postcard, but rowing at dawn is the actual habit of a lot of people here.
- Colleges and commons. Grazing cattle a few minutes from a laboratory. It is genuinely strange, and people grow to like it.
- Cycling. A flat city where the bicycle is the default. Then flat countryside for the long Sunday ride.
- Talks and music. Public lectures, college concerts and festivals that assume an interested audience.
What to know
What UKIZ cannot tell you yet
- · Cost basket, occupation bands and vacancies are not built for this place yet.
UKIZ does not rank places. These figures are put side by side so you can weigh them yourself against what you want from a life.