York has the highest-paid workers in Yorkshire, according to data from the Office for National Statistics.
People working full-time in York get £669 in median gross weekly earnings, the highest in the county followed by Leeds (£665), Barnsley (£665), Wakefield (£657) and Sheffield (£638).
The average for the North Yorkshire unitary authority is £591 a week, but the data does not show earnings for affluent towns in that area like Harrogate and Knaresborough as it is split by local authority.
Median annual earnings for full-time employees across the UK was £34,963 for the tax year ending on April 5, 2023, up 5.8 per cent on the previous year.
Cllr Claire Douglas, the leader of the City of York Council, said: “It’s fantastic to see the York economy continuing to perform strongly and that wage levels locally are above regional averages.
“The affordability of living in York continues to be difficult for people on low pay, and we’re working with businesses across the city to help drive up both productivity and pay.
“We’re very proud that York has 150 Real Living Wage employers, and is the only Good Business Charter city.
“As our economic strategy highlights, although York wages are higher than the rest of Yorkshire, they are still below the UK average, showing that levelling up needs to work for York residents too.”
‘Positive news’
Cllr Nigel Ayre, leader of the Liberal Democrat opposition group, said: “It is positive news that York has finished top of the Yorkshire authorities when it comes to earnings.
“This is a reflection of the hard work of the previous four years of the Liberal Democrat-led administration in our economic strategy and the work on improving apprenticeships and helping people access skills and training to get into better-paid jobs.
“We are now seeing the returns on the focus on productivity, pay and skills in York in the backdrop of a changing economy emerging out of the Covid pandemic and the sky-high inflation created by this Conservative government.
“The new Labour administration has been handed several projects that will further enhance York’s vibrant economy, from the UNESCO designation that will attract more inward investment, our climate change strategy that seeks to use the new opportunities in the green economy to attract more jobs and investment into York, and the York Central project that will showcase York as the economic hub of the north.
“Liberal Democrats urge the new administration to make the most out of the impressive legacy they have inherited.”
The highest-earning northern area of England is Ribble Valley in Lancashire, where people earn £825 a week, followed by Fylde (£771) and Manchester (£707).
The local authority with the lowest median weekly earnings is Oadby and Wigston in Leicestershire (£470.2), while the highest is the City of London (£1,120).