Whether you are an admin clerk, solicitor or IT worker, wages can vary hugely across the UK. But where are the towns and cities that offer the best wages?

Workers in 15 of the country's largest towns and cities defined by having a population of 135,000 or more people, earn more than the average weekly wage of £539. 

In stark contrast, workers in the other towns and cities of this size earned less than the national average. 

The UK's highest paid towns and cities

There are no prizes for guessing that salaries in London are the highest. The average weekly wage is £727. The next six highest are all in the South East, with an average wage of £600 or more. Reading, Crawley, Milton Keynes, Cambridge, Slough and Oxford. This is largely It's due to their location near to London, which helps these places attract high paying companies. 

It's not just the South East that is doing well, wages in Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Derby are almost £600 per week due to their successful oil, manufacturing and finance industries. 

The UK's lowest paid towns and cities

At the bottom end of the table, the lowest, is perhaps surprisingly found close to London. 

£413 per week is the average pay in Southend which is almost half of that in London which may explain why so many people commute from there into London. The number of people that commute and earn their money in the capital means that the average salary among Southend residents is £144 higher than it is for those who actually work in the town. The only other place in the South East near the bottom of the pay-scale is Worthing. 

There is a definite north-south divide when it comes to wages, with most of the lowest paid towns and cities in Yorkshire and the North West of England. 

Belfast (£514) and Cardiff (£505) are also under the UK average for wages, despite being the capitals of Northern Ireland and Wales.