Solo
€35,000 gross in Paris · 1-bed
£46,000–52,000
+63% vs the same gross converted (£30,093)
stable vs September 2026The corridor barometer
Edition of October 2026 · data as of 28 September 2026
Five indicators of the France ↔ UK corridor, recomputed every month from Veia’s own engines and official, dated sources — never a vibe, always a method.
Median rent (1-bed / 2-pièces)
London £2,150 ≈ €2,501
Paris €1,550
The same life, solo (gross / year)
London £48,962 ≈ €56,946
Paris €41,931
Regulatory entry ticket (3 years)
London £3,924 ≈ €4,564
Paris €299–399
Each row is its own comparison: bars carry the ratio, labels carry the values — euros at this month’s rate.
Exchange rate
+14/mo vs September 2026€1 = £0.860
A €60,000 gross salary converts to £4,299 per month this month.
Mid-market EUR/GBP rate on 28 September 2026 — the same feed the Veia app uses. The €60,000 reference never changes, so the movement you see is the currency, nothing else.
Rent gap
−1 pts vs September 2026+61%
Median rent across our 22 London zones: £2,150 (≈ €2,501). Across our 29 Paris zones: €1,550.
Medians of Veia’s zone tables — 29 Paris zones (1-bed / 2-pièces ≈ 40 m², arrondissements + inner suburbs) and 22 London zones (1-bed) — market medians 2026, last checked September 2026. This compares the zones Veia covers, not the entire cities.
Maintenance salary
The gross salary to aim for in London to keep the lifestyle these three fixed profiles have in Paris. Same profiles every month — what moves is the market.
Solo
Dual-income couple
€90,000 combined gross in Paris · 2-bed
£62,000–70,500
household total, two equal salaries
−14% vs the same gross converted (£77,382)
stable vs September 2026Family, one child (age 4)
€75,000 combined gross in Paris · 3-bed
£83,000–94,000
household total, two equal salaries
+37% vs the same gross converted (£64,485)
stable vs September 2026Method: each profile rents at the median of our zones (scaled by bedrooms), keeps the same basket of daily life (4 restaurants + 3 nights out a month, 4 return trips a year), and we compute the gross that funds it — UK tax 2025/26 and French tax 2026 (revenus 2025) (checked July 2026), living-cost basket 2026 (checked June 2026). Savings excluded: this measures maintaining, not building. Ranges, never false precision.
Regulatory cost of entry
stable vs September 2026£3,924
Skilled Worker visa, 3 years, applying from outside the UK: £819 fee + £3,105 health surcharge (IHS, £1,035/year). Over 5 years: £6,793.
Plus £1,270 of funds to evidence unless your employer certifies maintenance. This applies if you need a visa — your nationality, not your current country, decides; EU–UK moves since 2021 usually do.
GOV.UK fee schedule, verified 25 June 2026.
Regulatory weather
- Student visa funds: £1,529 a month for London until 29 November, then £1,570 from 30 November — £13,761 against £14,130 over nine months. Applications filed before that date keep the lower level, so if your 28 days of savings straddle the end of November, applying a fortnight earlier is worth £369.
- Graduate route: 2 years for any application filed on or before 31 December 2026, 18 months from 1 January 2027. What counts is the filing date, not when the course ends — and that depends on how fast the university reports completion.
- Skilled Worker eligible occupations: the shortage lists (Immigration Salary List and Temporary Shortage List) are being wound down, with the Certificate of Sponsorship to be issued before 31 December 2026. After that, only degree level (RQF 6) opens the route, as it has since July 2025.
- Erasmus+: since 8 October the Student route accepts Erasmus+ courses below degree level and exempts their participants from work-placement caps. The rules were laid before the UK rejoins the programme on 1 January 2027.
Sourced from this month’s reviews of our France ↔ UK guides — qualitative by design, every figure lives in a dated guide.
The return direction
London → Paris · first editionThe corridor runs both ways. For a move back to Paris — or a first French chapter — the question is never “the same numbers, mirrored”: it is what you can accept, what your rent becomes, and what the door costs.
The sustainable pay cut
French salaries look frightening from London. Here is how far the fear is unfounded: the SAME basket of life (indicator 03), priced on both sides.
Solo
£46,000–52,000 gross in London → €39,000–44,500 gross in Paris
-26 %
Monthly net funding it: £3,231 there · €2,562 here
-26% gross, same lifeDual-income couple
£62,000–70,500 gross in London → €55,000–62,500 gross in Paris
-24 %
household total, two equal salaries
Monthly net funding it: £4,567 there · €3,652 here
-24% gross, same lifeFamily, one child (age 4)
£83,000–94,000 gross in London → €71,000–80,500 gross in Paris
-26 %
household total, two equal salaries
Monthly net funding it: £5,889 there · €4,695 here
-26% gross, same lifeWhat your rent becomes
The median London 1-bed (£2,150 ≈ €2,501) covers a median Paris 2-pièces (€1,550) and frees up ≈ €951 a month — €11,412 a year, before you even negotiate.
The entry ticket, depending on who you are
- Returning French citizen: €0 — no visa, by definition.
- British citizen (work): €99 long-stay visa + €200–300 validation tax ≈ €299–399 all in.
- And €0 of health surcharge: France has no equivalent of the UK's IHS (£3,105 over 3 years) — state coverage comes with stable residence.
France-Visas / CESEDA (2026 finance law) — verified 1 September 2026. The validation tax is published as a range while the post-May 2026 per-category schedule consolidates; we refuse false precision.
Return-direction watch
- Budget 2027: the finance bill proposes indexing income tax brackets to inflation, around 2%. Nothing is voted before December, so estimate your Paris net on the brackets in force, not on the announcement.
- Property tax (taxe foncière): if you already own in France, the notice is online and payment is due 15 October, or 20 October if you pay online. It is owed by whoever owned on 1 January — on a mid-year purchase the notaire apportions it, not the tax office.
Same engines, same basket, same month as indicator 03 — priced in Paris instead of London. The pay-cut figure compares the Paris gross to the London gross of the same basket at this month's rate. Series opened with this edition.
Convert my lifestyle for London
What salary keeps your lifestyle? A clear range, in 2 minutes.