Britain is being torn apart by a staggering £87,000 income gap between the richest and poorest neighbourhoods, the Daily Express can reveal. Shocking new figures expose how some communities are being left behind whilst others thrive, with the divide between the haves and the have-nots growing at an alarming rate.
In the most well-off areas, households enjoy an eye-watering £107,600 a year in disposable income. But in the poorest parts of the countries, families are left to survive on just £20,800 a year, barely enough to cover the basics. Data shows that the income gap has exploded by a jaw-dropping 73% in just three years, up from £50,300 when the data was last published. Nowhere is the gap more stark than in Birmingham, where six of the country's poorest neighbourhoods are clustered together in a shocking showcase of regional inequality.
Sparkhill North has been revealed as the poorest area in England and Wales, with households scraping by on an average disposable income of just £20,800 a year after tax. Sparkbrook South is barely better off with average incomes of £21,548, while Small Heath Park (£21,666), Saltley East (£21,689), Washwood Heath (£21,787) and Bordesley Green North (£21,928) complete the shameful list of Britain's six poorest areas.
All six are in Birmingham, once a booming city in the industrial heartland of Britain.
The devastating figures come from new data released by the Office for National Statistics, which tracks household disposable income after tax, National Insurance and council tax across small areas of between 2,000 and 6,000 households. Some of the richest areas in the country are within walking distance of some of the poorest, in major UK cities.
In Tower Hamlets, East London, the upmarket riverside neighbourhood of Leamouth, home to luxury tower blocks between Canning Town and Canary Wharf, boasts average household incomes of £107,600 a year. But it backs directly onto Poplar Central, where families struggle on just £35,000 a year, three times less than their wealthy neighbours just streets away.
The £73,000 gap between these adjoining areas is the largest within any single council in the country. Across the capital, similar chasms exist. In Southwark, there's a £63,300 gulf between affluent Butler's Wharf and struggling South Bermondsey East.
You can search to see how your local area compares by using our interactive map. Simply enter your postcode to see the figures for your area.
The research lays bare how London has become a tale of two cities, with nearly half (45%) of all neighbourhoods in the capital ranking in the top 10% nationally for disposable income.
Meanwhile, the North and Midlands have been left to struggle, with a staggering 23% of neighbourhoods in both the North West and West Midlands residing in the bottom 10% nationally.
In the North East, 21% of neighbourhoods are in the bottom 10%, and the region has no areas at all in the top 10% for income. Wales, Yorkshire and the Humber also have less than 1% of their neighbourhoods in the top 10%, painting a devastating picture of regional inequality.
The shocking inequalities exist even within individual council areas, where multi-million pound developments sit alongside some of the most deprived communities in the country. Oxford has an income gap of over £53,200 between its richest neighbourhood, Oxford Central (£87,300 a year), and its poorest, Blackbird Leys (£34,100).
In Salford, wealthy Salford Quays residents enjoy incomes of £67,800 compared to just £23,400 in nearby Pendleton, a gap of £44,400. Birmingham's income divide stretches to £42,600, with the city centre neighbourhood averaging £63,400 compared to Sparkhill North's £20,800.
These figures expose the brutal reality of modern Britain, where gleaming new developments and booming financial districts exist alongside forgotten communities struggling with closed shops, declining public services and vanishing opportunities.
The data reveals also a country increasingly split between wealthy urban centres, particularly in London and the South East, and left-behind areas in the Midlands and North where traditional industries have collapsed.
The figures come as households across Britain struggle with the cost of living, with those in the poorest areas bearing the heaviest burden of rising prices for food, fuel and energy.
