State of the Nation 2025: The evolving story of social mobility in the UK

The Social Mobility Commission has published its State of the Nation report, which sets out its views on the progress made towards improving social mobility in the UK.

Using data about occupation, income, education, housing and wealth, the report provides the most comprehensive analysis of social mobility in the UK, highlighting key trends at a local level.

The report builds further on the new Social Mobility Index by breaking the UK down to local authority level, so we can see where social mobility is working best and worst.

Download the State of the Nation 2025 report

What are the report’s key findings?

Some of the report’s findings include the following:

• Within the UK, “extreme regional disparities exist”, with many former industrial and mining areas, such as the North East of England, Yorkshire and the Humber, and the West Midlands are still facing enduring disadvantages. Former mining areas in Wales and Scotland are also notably disadvantaged.
• There are new areas outside London with favourable conditions for innovation and growth including: Aberdeen, Brighton, Bristol, Cheshire West and Chester, Edinburgh, Oxfordshire, Reading and West Berkshire.
• There are other potential development hubs outside of London including Bristol, Edinburgh and Manchester, which are described as ‘magnets for international businesses and highly skilled migrants.’
• Almost half (48.2%) of young people aged 25 to 29 years were in professional occupations between 2022 and 2024. This is up from 36.1% between 2014 and 2016.
• Although more young people are in professional occupations, people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds don’t benefit as much from these opportunities as their peers.
• The UK stands alongside countries like France and Japan in offering young people a good chance to exceed their parents educational achievement, but family background continues to heavily shape their life chances. The report found that, despite progress, a child’s education level still heavily depends on their parents’ background

Download a copy of the report

You can explore all the data in State of the Nation 2025 using our Data Explorer Tool.

The full report includes detailed analysis, case studies, and comprehensive data tables examining social mobility across all regions of the UK.

What does the Commission say about the State of the Nation report?

Alun Francis, Chair of the Social Mobility Commission, said:

“It is part of the cycle of innovation and economic development that opportunities move around. But in our country they have become over-concentrated in specific places. Far too many live and grow up in communities where opportunity has become very limited and outcomes are poor. We are seeing signs of positive change — with cities like Bristol, Edinburgh and Manchester showing what is possible — but the pace of change needs to be quicker and the scale much bigger.

“In the meantime, entire communities, often in post-industrial, seaside towns have been left behind with deep-rooted disadvantages. This is the defining social mobility challenge of our generation and our State of the Nation report captures the issues that we as a nation need to address.”