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Who are we? · Groups · United Kingdom

Where do people whose head of household’s ethnic group is “Black/African/Caribbean/Black British” sit in the income distribution?

33% of people whose head of household’s ethnic group is “Black/African/Caribbean/Black British” were in the lowest-income fifth before housing costs, against 20% of everyone; 11% were in the highest (three years, April 2022 to March 2025, averaged). See how this compares after housing costs.

Evidence last reviewed 31 October 2026

Where they sit

Black/African/Caribbean/Black British: share in each income fifth, before housing costs, three years, April 2022 to March 2025, averaged
Survey-based evidence · Family Resources Survey, three years, April 2022 to March 2025, averaged
  • Lowest-income fifth33%

    Everyone: 20%

  • Second fifth21%

    Everyone: 20%

  • Middle fifth19%

    Everyone: 20%

  • Fourth fifth16%

    Everyone: 20%

  • Highest-income fifth11%

    Everyone: 20%

If this group had the same incomes as everyone else, each bar would be 20%. About 2.9 million people were in this group.

Show the workings and sources
Black/African/Caribbean/Black British by income fifth, BHC
FifthShare of group
Lowest-income fifth32.8%
Second fifth21.2%
Middle fifth19.2%
Fourth fifth15.7%
Highest-income fifth11.1%

HBAI Table 3.1db (Ethnic group of the head of household). Row label as published: “Black/ African/ Caribbean/ Black British”.

  • Survey-based: Family Resources Survey 2024/25, UK private households. DWP publishes no confidence intervals for these breakdowns; small groups have wider uncertainty.
  • From FYE 2022 HBAI links survey answers to DWP and HMRC records; earlier years are not comparable (DWP note 1).
  • Fifths rank people, not households: each fifth holds a fifth of individuals, so households in it differ in number and size.
  • Ethnic group is that of the head of household, and ethnic group and region rows are 3-year averages; their sizes are pooled and differ slightly from the latest-year total (DWP note 81).
  • Disability is self-reported limiting long-term illness or condition (DWP note 38).

How has this changed?

No long-run series for this group

DWP’s published time-series tables do not include this group. A series could be built from DWP’s Stat-Xplore service, which holds the years to 2020/21 and from 2021/22 as separate datasets.

Other groups

Income fifths: Lowest-income fifth · Second fifth · Middle fifth · Fourth fifth · Highest-income fifth

All groups · Income, low income and food

Built from official tables and checked by automated tests; it has not yet had independent analytical review. About these numbers.