Average income tax by area: The parts of the UK paying the most tax mapped

The UK’s total income tax bill was £240.7 billion 2022/23, but the tax burden is not spread equally around the country. We look at the towns and boroughs that have the highest average income tax bill.

By Laura Miller

published 9 February 2026

in Features

Average income tax by area: Where in the UK pays the most tax mapped

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Taxpayers in the London borough of Wandsworth paid more income tax than those in Leeds and Birmingham combined in 2022/23, according to new HMRC figures that lay bare the stark differences in tax take across the UK.

Residents of Wandsworth paid £4.26 billion in income tax that year. This was more than both Leeds and Birmingham, which together paid £4.23 billion.

Taxpayers in the London borough of Hackney, who paid £1.54 billion in income tax in 2022/23, contributed more income tax than the whole of Scotland’s second city Glasgow, where residents paid £1.35 billion.

MoneyWeek

Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE

Get 6 issues free

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/mw70aro6gl1676370748.jpg

Sign up to Money Morning

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Overall, London and the South East contributed 45% of the UK’s total income tax bill of £240.7 billion in 2022/23, according to analysis of HMRC figures by accountancy firm UHY Hacker Young.

According to UHY Hacker Young’s research, all top 20 areas in the UK for the highest tax per capita are in London or the South East, in part due to frozen tax thresholds and fiscal drag.

Neela Chuahan, partner at UHY Hacker Young, said: “London and the South East now account for almost half of the UK’s entire income tax take. Obviously, that reflects the sheer concentration of high earners in the South East but it also reflects years of tax policy geared towards shifting more of the tax burden onto higher earners.”

Swipe to scroll horizontally

Top 20 highest total income tax paid by area in 2022/23
Rank	Area	Total tax paid (£ billion)
1	London	63.8
2	South East	44.6
3	East of England	25.2
4	North West	18.6
5	South West	16.8
6	Scotland	16.2
7	West Midlands	14.4
8	Yorkshire and the Humber	12.8
9	East Midlands	12.5
10	Surrey County	9.95
11	Hertfordshire County	7.41
12	Greater Manchester Metropolitan County	6.76
13	Wales	6.53
14	Essex County	6.40
15	Kent County	6.23
16	Hampshire County	6.14
17	West Midlands Metropolitan County	5.58
18	North East	5.49
19	West Yorkshire Metropolitan County	5.31
20	Kensington and Chelsea	5.20

Source: UHY Hacker Young based on HMRC data

A decade of income tax rises

Over the past ten years since April 2016, London’s income tax contributions have jumped 80.7% from £35.3 billion to £63.8 billion. This compares with a 48.4% increase for the rest of the UK, the analysis showed.

Because London and the South East are home to a disproportionate number of high earners paying tax at the 45% rate, the areas consistently contribute a larger share of income tax than other parts of the country.

Increasing numbers of taxpayers in the capital and the South East have seen their tax bills rise as the threshold for the 45% additional rate tax was lowered from £150,000 to £125,140 in April 2023.

Around 232,000 would pay the additional rate of tax who would not have done so had this threshold been maintained at £150,000, according to government estimates at the time.

For those with income between £125,140 and £150,000, the average cash loss was £621 in 2023 to 2024. For those with income above £150,000 the average cash loss was £1,256.

At the same time, personal allowances and higher-rate thresholds have been frozen since April 2021, dragging more and more people into higher tax bands as incomes increase, a process known as fiscal drag.

Chauhan added: “Freezing allowances and lowering the additional-rate threshold has pulled ever more taxpayers into higher bands, driving a sharp rise in revenues from London in particular – up more than 80% over the past decade.”

“While this underlines how dependent the Exchequer has become on London and the South East, it also raises concerns about the long-term competitiveness of the UK tax system and the risk that persistently higher tax burdens could push some high earners to relocate abroad or reduce their economic activity,” she said.

Swipe to scroll horizontally

The top 20 UK boroughs and towns paying the highest income tax bills in 2022/23
Rank	Area Name	Average income tax paid (£)
1	Kensington and Chelsea	73,800
2	City of London	48,900
3	Westminster	43,700
4	Camden	34,600
5	Elmbridge	28,500
6	Richmond upon Thames	26,500
7	Hammersmith and Fulham	24,800
8	Wandsworth	22,500
9	Islington	20,500
10	St Albans	18,400
11	Sevenoaks	16,700
12	Merton	16,300
13	Waverley	16,200
14	Windsor and Maidenhead UA	15,500
15	Guildford	14,800
16	Barnet	14,000
17	Southwark	14,000
18	Tandridge	13,900
19	Lambeth	13,400
20	Brentwood	13,100

Source: UHY Hacker Young based on HMRC data

Laura Miller is an experienced financial and business journalist. Formerly on staff at the Daily Telegraph, her freelance work now appears in the money pages of all the national newspapers. She endeavours to make money issues easy to understand for everyone, and to do justice to the people who regularly trust her to tell their stories. She lives by the sea in Aberystwyth. You can find her tweeting @thatlaurawrites