When you go shopping during the holiday season, you can’t help but look at prices and wonder where all your paycheque went this year. After all, if you look at your annual salary, you probably think you should be able to get a lot more for all the hours you work.
We thought it would be fun to put earnings into perspective to see what you can buy with your salary. We looked at a range of salaries for UK workers and to see just what items they could buy with their paycheques (if pesky bills like food, clothing, loans and other expenses didn’t get in the way).
Based on data from EMSI UK, a CareerBuilder company, we took the median hourly salary for these workers and assumed each worker has a 48-hour work week for 52 weeks out of the year (just to be on the safe side). We realize this is an imperfect system but it’s a good estimate to accommodate for the varying schedules workers keep.
To do this, we chose 7 items: DVD box set of “Downton Abbey” (series 1-4) for £28, a hardcover collection of all 7 Harry Potter books for £90.93, a life-sized, 3D cardboard TARDIS from “Doctor Who” for £106, an Xbox one for £429.99, a 64GB iPhone in the color of your choice for £709, a year of tuition (not including accomodations) at University of Cambridge for £9000, and a car at the average price of £27219.
Let’s take a look at what workers at these salary levels can purchase if they spend a year’s salary on one item:
A director/chief executive of major organization who earns £51.55 per hour can buy…
4595 DVD box sets of Downton Abbey
1415 hardcover collections of all seven Harry Potter books
804 “Doctor Who” life-sized 3D cardboard TARDISes
299 Xbox Ones
181 64G iPhones
14 years of tuition at University of Cambridge
5 cars
1 house
An aircraft pilot who earns £40.32 per hour can buy…
3594 “Downton Abbey” DVD box sets
1107 hardcover collections of all seven Harry Potter books
629”Doctor Who” life-sized 3D cardboard TARDISes
234 Xbox Ones
142 64G iPhones
11 years of tuition at University of Cambridge
5 cars
A senior official in national government who earns £32.59 per hour can buy…
2914 “Downton Abbey” DVD box sets
897 hardcover collections of all seven Harry Potter books
510 “Doctor Who” life-sized 3D cardboard TARDISes
190 Xbox Ones
115 64G iPhones
9 years of tuition at University of Cambridge
3 cars
A police officer (inspector or above) who earns £30.37 per hour can buy…
2707 “Downton Abbey” DVD box sets
834 hardcover collections of all seven Harry Potter books
474 “Doctor Who” life-sized 3D cardboard TARDISes
176 Xbox Ones
107 64G iPhones
8 years of tuition at University of Cambridge
3 cars
An air traffic controller who earns £29.18 per hour can buy…
2601 “Downton Abbey” DVD box sets
801 all seven Harry Potter books in hardcover
455 “Doctor Who” life-sized 3D cardboard TARDISes
169 Xbox Ones
103 64G iPhones
8 years of tuition at University of Cambridge
3 cars
A higher education teacher who earns £24.48 per hour can buy…
2182 “Downton Abbey” DVD box sets
672 all seven Harry Potter books in hardcover
382 “Doctor Who” life-sized 3D cardboard TARDISes
142 Xbox Ones
86 64G iPhones
7 years of tuition at University of Cambridge
2 cars
An architect who earns £18.52 per hour can buy…
1651 “Downton Abbey” DVD box sets
508 hardcover collections of all seven Harry Potter books
289 “Doctor Who” life-sized 3D cardboard TARDISes
108 Xbox Ones
65 64G iPhones
5 years of tuition at University of Cambridge
2 cars
A nurse who earns £15.97 per hour can buy…
1424 “Downton Abbey” DVD box sets
438 all seven Harry Potter books in hardcover
249 “Doctor Who” life-sized 3D cardboard TARDISes
93 Xbox Ones
56 64G iPhones
4 years of tuition at University of Cambridge
1 cars
A librarian who earns £13.49 per hour can buy…
1203 “Downton Abbey” DVD box sets
370 all seven Harry Potter books in hardcover
210 “Doctor Who” life-sized 3D cardboard TARDISes
78 Xbox Ones
47 64G iPhones
4 years of tuition at University of Cambridge
1 car
A postal workers who earns £9.82 per hour can buy…
875 “Downton Abbey” DVD box sets
270 all seven Harry Potter books in hardcover
153 “Doctor Who” life-sized 3D cardboard TARDISes
57 Xbox Ones
35 64G iPhones
3 years of tuition at University of Cambridge
1 car