Personal Finance

How much money do you have saved for retirement? Average pension pot by region

How much money do you have saved for retirement? Average pension pot by region
To guarantee that you can enjoy your later years without too many financial concerns, it is essential to save enough for retirement However, recent data indicates that some people are saving significantly more than others

We examine the average pension fund by geographic area.

During your working years, your long-term financial planning should include setting aside a sufficient amount of money for retirement. Contributions to a pension will usually be part of this.

But according to recent data, the average pension pot varies significantly depending on where you live in the UK.

The average pension saver in the UK has a typical pension pot of about 21,875, according to a PensionBee analysis, but there is a significant regional variation in pension pot sizes, with the region that saves the most and the region that saves the least differing by more than 12,000 dollars.

We examine which UK regions have the largest and smallest pension pots.

Which area of the UK has the largest pension fund?

With average pension savings of £27,727 per person, the South East is the UK region with the largest average pension pot.

Younger savers with relatively small pension pots heavily skew this number, which may appear low at first because it includes all individuals under state pension age. In a separate article, we examine the average pension pot by age.

At £25,838 per year, the average pension pot in the neighboring London region is the second highest in the United Kingdom.

London and the South East perform better than the rest of the UK, which is not surprising given how much the UK economy depends on the capital and the commuters who travel there from nearby areas.

London and the South East have the highest average earnings of any UK region, and workers there are paid significantly more than their counterparts elsewhere in the nation.

With an average pension pot of 21,344, the South West has the third-highest average pension pot among pension savers.

With a typical value of 19,476, the East Midlands and East of England have the fourth-highest average pension pot, while the West Midlands have the fifth-highest average value at 19,321.

Where is the average pension pot the lowest in the United Kingdom?

Examining average pension savings across the United Kingdom reveals a stark difference between areas in the south of England and those outside of it.

With an average retirement savings of only 15,118, Northern Ireland has the lowest average pension pot in the United Kingdom. This is more than 12,000 less than the average saver in the South East.

Not only does Northern Ireland's average pension pot fall well short of the UK average of 21,875, but it also falls well short of the other regions with the lowest average pension pots.

The North West, where savers have an average of 17,082 ready for retirement, has the second-lowest pension pot. This is still nearly 2,000 more than the typical pension pot in Northern Ireland, even though it is undoubtedly not a large sum.

Compared to the national average, people in Wales, the North East, and Yorkshire also typically have smaller pension pots (17,435 and 17,957, respectively).

Lastly, Scotland has the fifth-lowest average pension pot in the UK, with the average saver having 19,113 saved for their golden years. Although this number is still below the national average, it is much higher than the four regions with the lowest performance on the list.

The complete list of average pension pots by region.

PensionBee, August 2025, is cited.

Do you have enough money saved for your pension?

There are ways to determine whether you need to increase your pension pot if reading the aforementioned statistics has caused you to reevaluate whether you are saving enough for your pension.

While the ONS reports that the average pension pot for British citizens aged 65 to 74 is approximately 145,900, some organizations caution that this amount may not be sufficient to live comfortably.

According to trade group Pensions UK, retirees must earn at least 13,400 per year for a single-person household and 21,600 per year for a two-person household in order to qualify for a minimum standard retirement.

This is by no means an ideal level of pension wealth, even though it will meet some of your basic needs and even give you some extra cash.

According to Pensions UK, retirees living alone in a household will require an income of 43,900 in order to have a comfortable retirement. It's 60,600 for a household with two people.

Even with the current full new state pension of 11,973 per year, some pension savers will still fall short of the comfortable benchmark set by Pensions UK. You can take action to increase your pension wealth to ensure that you are not one of them.

For example, increasing pension contributions by 2 percent could allow workers to add thousands of pounds to their pots without significantly altering their monthly income.

Salary sacrifice is another choice that can help you save more money and reduce the amount of your taxable income that the tax collector takes away.