- The Income Tracker rose £4.24 per week year-on-year in January 2026, with the average UK household having £261 per week after essential spending.
- Inflation slowed to 3.0%, its lowest rate since March 2025.
- Despite this, under-30s and those on the lowest incomes remain worse off than a year ago.
Asda’s latest Income Tracker shows that while most households saw a modest improvement in disposable income last month, young adults and the lowest earners remain worse off than before the cost-of-living crisis.
The Income Tracker rose by £4.24 per week year-on-year in January 2026, with the average UK household having £261 per week to spend after living costs.
However, both under-30s and those aged 30–49 recorded an annual contraction, meaning they had less to spend on non-essentials than a year ago.
Less likely to be homeowners, young people have been more exposed to rising rents in recent years, allocating almost 70% of their gross income to essentials and facing the highest average weekly tax bill.
As a result, young people are around £20 worse off than before cost-of-living crisis. This group had an average disposable income of £175 per week in January – still well below the peak of £195 per week recorded in March 2021.
While most UK households saw spending power improve in January, the lowest 20% of earners also remain worse off. Their income contracted year-on-year, leaving them with a shortfall of £71 between what they earned last month and what they spend on essentials like food and utilities.
This is despite inflation slowing to 3.0% in January, its lowest rate since March 2025, continuing the disinflationary trend that first began in October.
Reacting to this month’s Income Tracker, Sam Miley, Head of Forecasting and Thought Leadership at Cebr, said:
“The Asda Income Tracker looks to have started 2026 in a similar fashion to how it ended 2025. Nominal discretionary incomes have seen modest year-on-year growth, driven primarily by slowing inflation, as gross income growth has continued to slow.
“Considerable scarring remains from the double-digit inflation of the cost-of-living crisis, particularly for those on the lower end of the income distribution, for whom purchasing power is yet to fully recover.”
Asda is committed to continuing to support families and helping to make their money go further. It is consistently named the lowest-priced supermarket for a big shop in independent price comparison surveys by both Which? and The Grocer.
You can view this month’s Income Tracker, here.
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