Celebrity homes inspire all, with many of us taking inspiration from the décor and trends featured in the lavish halls of the rich, famous and influential. Light and space in a home are often said to be the ultimate sign of wealth, and multi-millionaire Kim Kardashian’s home is a minimalist masterclass.
The luxury of celebrity homes doesn’t come cheap and would be very hard for the average person to recreate, but just how hard?
By comparing the value of celebrity homes with average wages, we have been able to identify just how many years you’d have to work to own their home. Looking at a list of some of the world’s best-known celebs, we used real estate property prices to discover the value of each celeb home. We then determined exactly how long it would take someone earning the average UK and US salary to buy the homes of the rich and famous.
Many celebrities on this list have moved overseas to find their dream homes, and if you are thinking about emigrating too, you may worry about safely transporting your most precious possessions across borders. It’s important to consider a reputable international removal company, whether you’re transporting just a few boxes or the entire contents of your home!
How many years would the average Brit or American need to work to afford a celebrity home?
You would need to slog for 4,586 years to afford Beyoncé’s mega-mansion!
1. Beyoncé & Jay-Z – £160.3 million
Number of Working Years to Afford their Celebrity Home in the UK: 4,586 years
The average Brit would have to work for a jaw-dropping 4,586 years to splash out on Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s multi-million pound home. The couple is well known for breaking records, but now, they’ve managed to break the record for buying the most expensive property in California history!
The superstar couple purchased the sprawling £160.3 million ($200 million) Malibu, California estate in May 2023. Reportedly, they got the home for a relative steal, as it was privately listed for $295 (£236) million. Designed by renowned Japanese architect Tadao Ando, their mansion spans 30,000 square feet and took over a decade to finish.
The couple’s California estate is as equally hard to reach in the US, as the average American would have to graft for 2,858 years before achieving this level of fortune. As the national average living wage in the US is much higher than in the UK at $69,986 annually, Americans can work 1,728 years less than Brits to afford the musical pair’s home!
2. Bill Gates – £100.2 million
Number of Working Years to Afford their Celebrity Home in the UK: 2,866 years
Bill Gates, Microsoft cofounder and the second richest man in the US with a net worth of a staggering $95.3 billion, has the second most expensive celebrity home, with the average Brit having to pull their weight for 2,866 years to afford his home!
Bill Gates spent seven years and $63 million to build his Medina, Washington estate named “Xanadu 2.0” after the fictional home of the title character Charles Foster Kane from the movie Citizen Kane. Medina, a suburb of Seattle, is also home to Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, making it a destination for some of the world’s wealthiest people.
The average American would need to graft for 1,786 years before even coming close to affording Gates’ grand Washington estate.
3. Oprah Winfrey – £81 million
Number of Working Years to Afford their Celebrity Home in the UK: 2,316 years
Oprah Winfrey’s glorious Promised Land estate is worth more than £81 million, which would take the average Brit 2,316 years to afford. Spanning 70 acres, Oprah’s 23,000-square-foot mansion is an impressive neo-Georgian pile, and its amazing landscape grounds include rose gardens, terraces, and fountains.
The media mogul loves to spend time in her forever home with her long-term partner, Stedman Graham. Promised Land is beautifully decorated with mementoes, books, and artwork, which were lovingly put together over the years. Oprah also runs her huge business empire from here and often posts pictures at home with her dog on her socials.
Oprah Winfrey’s Promised Land estate is worth $101 million, which would take the average American 1,443 years to afford. Although that’s a lot of years’ work, it’s considerably less than those in the UK, who’d need to work for 873 years more!
The most affordable luxury celebrity homes
You only need to work 31 years to afford Candice Swanepoel’s New York penthouse!
1. Candice Swanepoel – £1.1 million
Number of Working Years to Afford their Celebrity Home in the UK: 31 years
Victoria’s Secret angel Candice Swanepoel purchased her East Village penthouse in New York City back in 2010 for £1.1 million. Considering the average annual income in the UK, Brits would only need to work for 31 years to afford Swanpoel’s NYC apartment, which is a considerably less amount of work compared to if you were to buy Beyonce’s £160 million mansion!
If you’re in the US, it would take you 19 years (considerably less than the UK) to afford the supermodel’s NYC penthouse.
2. Zosia Mamet – £1.3 million
Number of Working Years to Afford their Celebrity Home in the UK: 37 years
The “Girls” star, Zosia Mamet, has listed her upstate New York home for $1.6 million (£1.3 million), and it has a cabin-style interior to die for. The average Brit would need to work 37 years before buying her home. Zosia’s 100-year-old log home would take 23 years to afford in the US.
3. Lucy Hale – £1.4 million
Number of Working Years to Afford the Celebrity Home in the UK: 39 years
In 2014, the Pretty Litte Liars star purchased a pretty but not-so-little four-bedroom home in Studio City, California, for $1.7 million (£1.4 million).
If you worked for 39 years in the UK or 24 years in the US, you could bag the 3,380-square-foot home boasting four bathrooms, multiple living spaces, a private pool, and views of the canyon, the hills, and the city below.
Methodology
We began by taking a seed list of some of the most expensive celebrity homes, alongside their prices, from Love Property, Elle, and Hello Magazine.
We then took the average annual income in the UK from the ONS in 2023.
We also took the 2022 annual average wages per employee in the US in all industries from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
We were able to convert all US dollar prices to GBP using XE. This data is correct as of 20/11/2023.
We then divided the price of each celebrity home by the average annual wage in the UK and US to determine how many years it would take in the US or UK to buy each property.
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