Poorest Counties in the UK by Median Income

Based on ONS (Office for National Statistics) median household income data (latest available), the lowest-income areas by country:

England

• County Durham (North East)
• Blackpool (Lancashire, unitary authority)
• Middlesbrough (North Yorkshire, unitary)

Wales

• Blaenau Gwent (South Wales Valleys)
• Merthyr Tydfil
• Caerphilly

Scotland

• Glasgow City (high inequality; pockets of deep deprivation)
• Dundee City
• West Dunbartonshire (Clydebank, Dumbarton)

Northern Ireland

• Derry City & Strabane
• Belfast (sharp intra-city divides)
• Newry, Mourne & Down

Notes

• "County" definitions vary: England has ceremonial/metropolitan/unitary; Wales/Scotland/NI use principal areas.
• Deprivation indices (IMD, SIMD, WIMD, NIMDM) give more granular pictures than median income alone.
• London boroughs (e.g., Tower Hamlets, Hackney) have high poverty but high median income due to inequality.