sarah vine: Young creators drive surge as 1,000 under-30 UK taxpayers hit £1m mark

HMRC figures show a record 1, 000 UK taxpayers under 30 earned more than £1m in the latest tax year, an 11% rise on the prior year and a striking sign of how the creator economy and high-paid sport and tech roles are remaking routes to wealth. Columnist Sarah Vine set out a wider cultural framing of the trend in a piece published at 8: 19 PM ET on February 16, 2026, with an update at 8: 40 PM ET.

Numbers and the new money map

The latest tax data put total earnings for this cohort at more than £3bn, an average of roughly £3m each. While the overall population of UK taxpayers earning £1m or more remains around 31, 000 — a modest 1% rise year-on-year — the under-30 slice of that group is expanding rapidly. Young million-pound earners now make up roughly 3% of the millionaire tax bracket, and the number of under-30s in that band has risen 54% since the pandemic, when HMRC recorded about 650 people in the same age range.

Accountants and analysts point to multiple drivers. Higher pay deals in elite sport, booming remuneration in technology and finance, and a dramatic expansion in influencer marketing all appear to be contributing. Spend on influencer marketing in the UK has grown markedly in recent years and is estimated to have nearly tripled in the wake of the pandemic, helping creators monetise audiences through brand deals, sponsored posts and product launches.

From viral clips to lasting empires — and the risks

Sarah Vine used individual case studies to illustrate how fleeting online moments can be converted into sustained businesses: some creators parlay single viral clips into fashion and beauty partnerships, merchandising and even their own brands. Others have used livestreamed sales and direct-to-consumer tactics to scale rapidly, turning small loans or modest starts into multi-million-pound ventures.

But the rush to monetise visibility carries pitfalls. Russell Rich, head of sports and entertainment at the accountancy firm that analysed the HMRC data, warned that exceptional early earnings do not guarantee long-term wealth. Sportspeople and entertainers, he said, often face financial pressures when their careers end, and many creators lack longstanding savings or investment strategies. The emotional toll of sustained public exposure and the operational demands of turning influence into a business also present ongoing risks for those who rise young.

Policy, protection and the cultural debate

Vine’s column frames the rise of young, high-earning creators as more than a series of anomalies: it is a structural shift that raises immediate questions for policymakers, brands and cultural institutions. How should tax systems treat rapidly fluctuating creator incomes? What protections are appropriate for young people entering high-stakes publicity cycles? And how can regulators and industry players support financial literacy and longer-term planning for participants whose earnings are driven by attention rather than salaried employment?

There are also social tensions. The visibility of youthful wealth sits uneasily against stagnant wages and insecure entry-level work for many of their peers, fuelling debates about regional inequality and who benefits from the attention economy. Older demographics, meanwhile, are increasingly active on digital platforms, but the commercial upside still skews toward creators with the largest followings and the most intensive engagement strategies.

For now, the numbers are clear: a growing cluster of under-30s are converting online audiences and high-profile roles into seven-figure incomes. Whether that translates into stable, long-term prosperity will depend on how those earnings are managed, regulated and protected — and how cultural and commercial actors respond to the new contours of modern wealth.