What Counts as Rich in the UK 2026?

The detail

There is no official definition of "rich" in UK tax or statistics. Common proxies include:

By tax band: the additional-rate Income Tax band starts at £125,140, where the Personal Allowance is fully tapered away and earnings are taxed at 45% (in Scotland the top rate at the same point is 48%). Above this threshold you're handling tax at the top marginal rate — often cited as the "administrative definition" of a high earner.

By income percentile: the top 1% of UK taxpayers had total income before tax of at least £207,000 in 2023-24, and the top 5% at least £93,600 (HMRC Survey of Personal Incomes, Table 3.1). That table covers only individuals with some Income Tax liability, not the whole adult population. The top 10% of full-time salaries starts at £76,903 (ONS ASHE 2025, salary-only).

By wealth: the ONS Wealth and Assets Survey for Great Britain (April 2020 to March 2022, published 24 January 2025) puts the wealthiest 10% of households at £1,200,500 or more of total wealth and the wealthiest 1% at £3,121,500 or more. Total wealth here means net property, net financial, physical and private pension wealth combined, so wealth rankings differ from income rankings.

The £100,000 mark: £100,000 is where the Personal Allowance taper starts, and it sits above the HMRC top-5% taxpayer threshold of £93,600 (2023-24), so on 2023-24 figures a £100,000 income is inside the top 5% of taxpayers but well short of the top 1%.