Dory Berkowitz-Bukowski
Clam whisperer
http://www.apartmentguide.com/apartments/District-of-Columbia/Washington/Elsinore-Courtyard/43954/
Like I said, you wouldn't be saving much. So yeah, not much would be left after bills but you'd still be living. We're not talking about how you would prefer to live, we're talking whether or not any person could live on that wage in that area. You also can't compare one of the four most expensive cities in the nation to the average cost of living in England. The point is that the salary is commensurate with the position. That same position in DC or Chicago or NYC would probably have a higher hourly wage.
If you're in your early 20s and working a job like security or clerical work you should expect to live like a student. You can't expect most fields that don't require additional schooling or at least some kind of licensing/certification (or even many years of experience) to pay much above that.
Indeed. I doubt I could even make rent on my wage living in London (same as in DC), but up in the North of England it's not so bad. I think the perspective really is that I don't live in a big, expensive city like London, nor do I live down South where everything costs a fortune. I live in the grim north, shit on 20k/year I'd be going on 2 nice vaca's a year (which is something kind of cool for an English person)/