The capitalist system, in its current neoliberal incarnation, is built on dreams of climbing the social hierarchy and attaining a position of wealth. Few make it. If you saved every single penny of your salary – no rent, no bills, no spending at all, then how long would it take you to earn your way into the top 1%? Sometime, it seems in a risposte to the American Dream and a partial revalidation of what Lenin described as ‘impossibilism.’
A new study from the firm Archimedia Accounts has calculated exactly that, revealing how many years of total saving would be needed for people in the UK’s major cities to hit the average net income of the top 1%.
The benchmark? This is a very high figure of £113,546, after tax, or the equivalent of £192,000 gross. Using average post-tax salaries in 15 of the UK’s biggest cities, the research shows how long it would take for someone to reach that amount, if they didn’t spend a single penny along the way.
The 10 UK cities where it would take the longest to reach the top 1%
| Rank | City | Average Annual Net Salary (£) | Average Years of Work Needed to Reach the UK’s Top 1% |
| 1 | Belfast | £25,483 | 4 years 4 months |
| 2 | Birmingham | £27,059 | 4 years 1 month |
| 3 | Nottingham | £27,187 | 4 years 1 month |
| 4 | Liverpool | £27,305 | 4 years 1 month |
| 5 | Leeds | £27,465 | 4 years 1 month |
| 6 | Manchester | £27,721 | 4 years |
| 7 | Sheffield | £28,292 | 4 years |
| 8 | Glasgow | £29,397 | 3 years 8 months |
| 9 | Bristol | £30,969 | 3 years 6 months |
| 10 | Brighton | £30,973 | 3 years 6 months |
At the top of the list is Belfast, where residents would need to save every penny of their average net salary (£25,483) for 4 years and 4 months to reach the UK’s top 1% income bracket. That’s a whopping £88,063 shortfall from the £113,546 needed, the biggest gap of all 15 cities analysed. Someone in Belfast would need almost double the time it would take someone in Aberdeen, despite both cities having similar living costs.
Next up are Birmingham and Nottingham, both requiring 4 years and 1 month of total saving. These Midlands cities have nearly identical net salaries, just a £128 difference, with Birmingham residents earning £27,059 and those in Nottingham slightly ahead at £27,187. Interestingly, these cities share the same financial fate as Liverpool and Leeds, which also require 4 years and 1 month of saving. Despite Leeds pulling ahead with an extra £160 in average salary compared to Liverpool, the climb to the top 1% remains just as steep.
Manchester and Sheffield offer a marginally shorter path, 4 years flat, thanks to slightly higher net incomes (£27,721 and £28,292 respectively). But even here, residents would need to live in complete financial lockdown for nearly half a decade to get there. That’s longer than it would take someone in London, despite the capital’s notoriously high living costs.
Breaking the four-year mark are Glasgow, Bristol, and Brighton. In Glasgow, the average salary of £29,397 knocks the savings time down to 3 years and 8 months. Meanwhile, Bristol and Brighton are neck-and-neck at £30,969 and £30,973 respectively, giving both cities a timeline of 3 years and 6 months. That’s 10 months faster than Belfast, just by earning a few thousand more each year.
And in a surprise twist, London, often assumed to be the most lucrative city, only comes in 12th place. With an average net salary of £35,155, Londoners would still need to stash away every penny for 3 years and 2 months to make it into the top 1%.
At the bottom of the list, in the best way, are Cambridge and Aberdeen, where reaching the 1% mark is fastest. With average net salaries of over £37,000, residents there would only need 3 years of no-spending savings to join the UK’s financial elite. Edinburgh and Newcastle also rank favourably, needing 3 years 4 months and 3 years 2 months respectively, making Scotland a surprisingly strong contender for building wealth quickly.
Hence, the dream dangled in the face of many workers is simply unattainable.
