UK City Pages

Council tax, rent, and salary at a glance across the UK.

What each city page covers

Every UK city page on this site pulls together the numbers you'd otherwise have to assemble from five different sources: Band D council tax, typical 1-bed and 2-bed rents, local median salary, an estimated take-home figure for that median, and the rent-as-a-share-of-take-home ratio. Where a city has notable cliffs (high council tax, sharp rent gradient between zones, large commute discounts) those are flagged in the page itself.

How to use these pages

Two main use cases. First: relocation — shortlist 3–5 cities that match your job market, then compare council tax + rent + commute side by side rather than just headline rent. Second: rent negotiation — if you're paying noticeably above the local median for a comparable 1- or 2-bed, you have data to push back at renewal. Pair any city page with the rent affordability calculator and the commute cost calculator for a complete picture.

Where the numbers come from

Council tax figures are the latest published Band D rates from each billing authority. Rent figures use the most recent ONS Private Rental Market Statistics where available, supplemented by Zoopla and Rightmove regional medians. Salary figures use ONS ASHE (median gross annual pay, full-time). Numbers are refreshed annually after the April rate-setting cycle; see the methodology page for the full source list.

  • London — Band D £1,950, 1-bed £1,750/mo
  • Manchester — Band D £2,075, 1-bed £1,100/mo
  • Birmingham — Band D £2,060, 1-bed £925/mo
  • Leeds — Band D £2,070, 1-bed £950/mo
  • Liverpool — Band D £2,385, 1-bed £850/mo
  • Sheffield — Band D £2,195, 1-bed £825/mo
  • Bristol — Band D £2,475, 1-bed £1,350/mo
  • Glasgow — Band D £1,500, 1-bed £1,000/mo
  • Edinburgh — Band D £1,660, 1-bed £1,275/mo
  • Cardiff — Band D £2,005, 1-bed £1,050/mo
  • Belfast — Band D N/A, 1-bed £825/mo
  • Newcastle — Band D £2,285, 1-bed £900/mo
  • Nottingham — Band D £2,485, 1-bed £875/mo
  • Leicester — Band D £2,200, 1-bed £850/mo
  • Southampton — Band D £2,120, 1-bed £1,100/mo
  • Portsmouth — Band D £2,035, 1-bed £1,050/mo
  • Reading — Band D £2,275, 1-bed £1,300/mo
  • Oxford — Band D £2,385, 1-bed £1,425/mo
  • Cambridge — Band D £2,150, 1-bed £1,450/mo
  • Brighton — Band D £2,465, 1-bed £1,425/mo
  • York — Band D £2,090, 1-bed £975/mo
  • Coventry — Band D £2,265, 1-bed £875/mo
  • Milton Keynes — Band D £2,075, 1-bed £1,100/mo
  • Bournemouth — Band D £2,205, 1-bed £1,100/mo
  • Aberdeen — Band D £1,575, 1-bed £750/mo