One lifestyle adds £10,400 a year 'tax' to expenses, experts warn

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Singles living alone are paying a hefty bill, dubbed the “singles tax” – of more than £10,400 per year because they don’t have anyone to share costs with, new research has found. While there is no official singles tax, this informal term is given to the premium you pay for products and services because of living solo and fronting all costs alone.

The research , compiled by UK Debt Expert , highlights where in the UK people are worst off for being single, by analysing both regional living costs (rent and bills) and lifestyle costs; including the annual cost of a pet, wedding attendance, car insurance, streaming services, Christmas, holidays, and takeaways.

On average, singles in the UK are spending an extra £10,402 more per year than those in couples for living alone with a pet, £9,298 without one. With average wages in the UK currently at £34,963 for full-time employees, singles could be losing 30% of their annual salary if they’re paying the national average singles tax.

Extra expenses include an average of £626 for council tax – this comes as campaigners lobby to increase the single person discount from 25% to 50%. Single people are also likely to spend an extra £182 on broadband per year, and £1,500 on basic utilities.

For lifestyle expenses, it’s likely to cost a single person £918 more to own a dog, £180 for streaming services and £60 for takeaways. Single Londoners are the worst hit – forking out more than double the national average singles tax at £21,215 per year. Living costs account for most of this, with people in the capital paying an extra £18,647 per year to live alone.

Next on the list are the desirable university cities of Cambridge and Oxford, with a singles tax of £18,793 and £15,128 respectively. With single occupancy homes accounting for nearly a third of all households, and being the most common type after one-family households, singles tax has long been a frustration for anyone having to stump up the full cost of living alone.

But these pressures have been compounded by the cost of living crisis, and chronic housing shortages pushing up rents in some parts of the country. Not every part of the UK comes with as hefty a price tag for singles though, according to the research. St Helens, in Merseyside, costs a relatively modest £6,815 extra per year, while Huddersfield and Doncaster come in at £7,554 and £7,630 respectively.

Maxine McCreadie, personal finance expert at UK Debt Expert , said: “Many single people are renting, either as a stop-gap or because they can’t afford to buy a property on one income. But in a squeezed and precarious housing market, they’re now spending disproportionately more of their income on rent compared to couples, leaving them with little buffer to cover other essential costs as 30% of their annual income could be lost to singles tax.

“This premium that singles are having to pay leaves far less disposable income for other costs, like dating, socialising, owning a pet or attending a wedding; parts of modern life no one should feel the need to miss because of costs.

She added: “With the cost of living crisis, falling into debt is increasingly the result of not being able to cover the basics, rather than splurging on luxuries; with singles facing an extra expense of £7,994 per year just for the essential costs of living alone, it’s easy to see how. Some are also burdened with joint debt from a previous relationship.”