The 12 regions in the UK where people get paid the most

London workers grab the biggest paychecks, but some of the UK's other highest earners live in more unexpected parts

With everything costing more in London than virtually anywhere else in the country, salaries need to be higher (Getty Images)

Where you live in the country can have a big bearing on how much you earn, but just how big is the gap between wages in the UK's different regions?

Using data from the ONS, business-to-business marketplace Expert Market compiled a list of how much people working full-time earn on average, based on where they live.

The research was part of a wider survey of the pay gap across the UK, showing the differences in pay between people, based on everything from what job they do, to how old they are.

While wages aren't the be all and end all, and things like the cost of living play a big role in quality of life, average pay is a useful indicator when it comes to recognising the economic health of a region, and how well its citizens are doing.

We took Expert Market's data and compiled a list of the areas in the UK where people are paid the best, and where they're paid the worst. Unsurprisingly, London workers grab the biggest paychecks of anywhere, but some of the UK's highest earners live in unexpected parts of the country.

Check out the ranking below:

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12. Northern Ireland — £24,020

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Northern Irish workers are paid the lowest of any in the whole of the UK on average, earning just 68% of what workers in London get. It's not all bad though, as it's also one of the cheapest places in the UK to live, with only the North East having lower house prices, according to the ONS.

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11. Wales — £24,384

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The average full-time Welsh worker earns a full £364 ($516) more than their Northern Irish counterpart every year, with the cost of living in the land of the Valleys also substantially lower. ONS statistics show that the average Welsh household spends £600.20 per week, compared to £668.50 per week in Northern Ireland.

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10. North East England — £24,876

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The North East's workers are the poorest paid in England, earning more than £10,000 less than those in London. Luckily, they also have the lowest cost of living, with the average North East household spending just £549 per week. Housing costs are also rock bottom, with only £107 per week spent on accommodation.

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9. West Midlands — £24,920

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The West Midlands, home to England's second city, Birmingham, has the third lowest cost of living in Britain, and that is reflected by the relatively low wages its full-time workers receive.

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8. Yorkshire and Humber — £24,999

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Once an industrial powerhouse and home to many of the UK's coal mines. However the last pit, at Kellingley in North Yorkshire, closed down in December 2015. Jobs in the region are now increasingly in areas like the financial services, which employs more than 129,000 people. Recent ONS estimates put public sector employment in the region at around 20%.

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7. East Midlands — £25,027

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Average household expenditure in the East Midlands tops £690 per week, making it the sixth most expensive part of the UK to live in. Despite this, wages are just the seventh highest, meaning East Midlanders might feel the squeeze each month.

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6. North West England — £25,229

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Home to Manchester, and the focal point of Chancellor George Osborne's "Northern Powerhouse" project, it's not surprising that workers in the North West earn an average of around £400 more than their neighbours in the North East, and £1,200 more than people in Northern Ireland.

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5. South West England — £25,571

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House prices in the South West may be £25,000 lower than the national average, but it is still the fourth most expensive region of Britain in which to buy a house, and in which to live. As a result, wages in the region are higher than in much of the UK. The region also enjoys the highest employment rate in the country at 78.1%.

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4. East England — £26,830

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Full-time workers in East England — which encompasses counties like Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, and Essex — are the third best paid in England, and fourth overall in the UK. Much of the region is part of the so-called "commuter belt" surrounding London, which helps to give wages, and the cost of living, a big bump.

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3. Scotland — £27,045

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Scots are the third best paid workers in the country, despite the cost of living in the country being substantially lower than the national average, according to data from uSwitch. uSwitch also ranked four Scottish regions in its top ten best places in the UK to live.

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2. South East England — £28,629

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South East England's proximity to London means that some of the capital's astronomical cost of living filters out to the surrounding area. With the cost of housing more expensive than anywhere except London, living in the South East isn't cheap. That increased cost of living in turn pushes up wages, making workers in the south east the second best paid in the country.

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1. London — £35,069

It will come as no surprise to anyone that the biggest earners in the UK live in London. With everything from rent, to transport, to a pint of beer costing more in the capital than virtually anywhere else in the country, salaries need to be higher. This is reflected by the fact that full-time workers in London earn nearly £7,000 ($9,950) more than those in any other region.

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