Vale earnings top in Wales, says survey (From Barry And District News)

Vale earnings top in Wales, says survey

A NEW survey has confirmed the Vale of Glamorgan as the wealthiest place in Wales.

Statistics compiled for Barclays Premier Banking, a service for high salary earners, show that people living in the Vale of Glamorgan earn more on average than anywhere else in Wales and that their money goes further.

The Vale is the only area of Wales to make the UK top 50 places to live featured in the survey which looked at the average salary and also took into account the local cost of living to show the "cost of living adjusted income". (COLA).

The actual average salary in the Vale of Glamorgan is 23,352 whereas the average COLA salary is 32,522.

Monmouth came second in Wales at 31,576 (actual 22,672), Cardiff North was third at 31,310 (actual 22,481) and Bridgend was fourth at 29,790 (actual 21,390).

The result comes as a surprise considering that the average price of property in Penarth stands at around 170,000 and at around 380,000 in Cowbridge.

Mark Till, marketing director of Barclays Premier Banking, said: "Simply looking at earnings would tell you that London and the South-East is paved with gold.

"However, this is not the only factor which determines how wealthy an individual feels. If the cost of living is factored into the equation to give a more realistic measure of purchasing power, the wealth map of England and Wales changes dramatically."

London's Chelsea and Kensington topped the UK list with average income of 50,438.

According to the survey the cost of living in Wales is just 72 percent of what it is in London.

A spokesman for Barclays said: "As more people want to live in a place the cost of living is likely to shoot up.