Purley in Surrey is Britain's most affluent suburb, with those living in the CR8 postcode having an average household income of £53,900, according to a new survey of more than 9,000 postcodes from CACI Information Services.

Residents in Purley earn almost twice as much as the national average and almost five times as much as those in Middlesbrough, who are bottom of the earnings list with an average salary of just £11,600. Second highest was Effingham in Surrey, with £52,700, followed by Hampstead in London with £51,000, and Chandler's Cross, Rickmansworth with £50,000.

Overall, the average income rose to £26,200, 12.5 percent higher than the last survey in 2000 - proof that average salary increases have comfortably outstripped inflation over the last two years.

Around 1.5 percent of all UK households now have combined annual earnings of more than £100,000. Nowhere are you more likely to be in this bracket than in Thorntonhall, a small suburb of Glasgow that where 12 percent of residents earn more than £100,000. This is the only postcode outside London and the South East in the top 10 in terms of the highest percentage of households earning a six figure annual sum. In second place is Fleet (Hampshire), followed by Hampstead (London), Effingham (Surrey), Wimbledon (London), Wandsworth (London), Bayswater (London), and Kensington (London). Top ten UK postcodes by average earnings:

• Purley, Surrey CR8 3: £53,900
• Effingham, Surrey KT24 5: £52,700
• Hampstead, North London NW3 7: £51,000
• Chandler's Cross, Herts WD3 4: £50,700
• Radlett, Herts WD7 7: £50,300
• Wokingham, Berks RG40 5: £49,700
• Gerrards Cross, Bucks SL9 8: £49,400
• Gerrards Cross SL9 7: £49,400
• Bayswater, London W8 7: £49,300
• Kensington Gardens, London W8 5: £49,200