UK Economic and Societal Data Visualization
See how purchasing power has changed from 1961 to 2024
Enter a historical income amount and year to see what it would be worth in 2024 if it had kept pace with inflation.
Recession era - £1 in 1981 equals £4.07 in 2024
Compare how salaries for common UK professions have changed relative to inflation since 1971. See whether each profession has experienced real wage growth or decline over the decades.
Qualified primary school teacher - average/median salary
Current salary (2024): £35,000
| Year | Actual Salary | If Kept w/ CPI (Consumer Price) | If Kept w/ RPI (incl. Housing) | Actual 2024 | Real Growth (vs CPI) | Real Growth (vs RPI) | Context |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1971 | £1,800 | £27,756 | £36,270 | £35,000 | +26.1% | -3.5% | Early 1970s - post-war expansion |
| 1981 | £7,500 | £30,525 | £41,025 | £35,000 | +14.7% | -14.7% | Pre-reform era |
| 1991 | £15,500 | £36,115 | £45,880 | £35,000 | -3.1% | -23.7% | National Curriculum era |
| 2001 | £22,000 | £39,600 | £48,400 | £35,000 | -11.6% | -27.7% | Early 2000s |
| 2011 | £28,000 | £38,640 | £45,360 | £35,000 | -9.4% | -22.8% | Austerity period |
| 2021 | £32,000 | £35,520 | £40,000 | £35,000 | -1.5% | -12.5% | Post-pandemic |
CPI (Consumer Price Index) measures the average change in prices of a basket of goods and services. RPI (Retail Price Index) is an older measure that includes housing costs such as mortgage interest payments and council tax, which are excluded from CPI. This typically makes RPI higher than CPI, meaning that if wages only kept pace with RPI, they would need to grow faster to account for housing cost increases.
What are inflation multipliers? They show how much £1 from a historical year would be worth in 2024 if it kept pace with inflation.
Example: £10,000 earned in 1961 would need to grow to £224,500 by 2024 just to maintain the same purchasing power.
Data Source: Bank of England and ONS historical inflation data using composite RPI (1961-1988) and CPI (1988-2024) rates.
Use Case: Compare your historical income or savings to current values, understand how inflation erodes purchasing power over time, and track whether wages have kept pace with inflation.
These calculations show the minimum growth needed to maintain purchasing power. They do not account for investment returns, interest, or real wage growth beyond inflation.