Cost of living in London
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Single: 1-bed home. Couple: 2-bed home. Family: 3-bed home with one child. Estimates use average local rent, Band D council tax, and standard figures for groceries, transport and childcare.
London is made up of 33 local authority areas, each with different costs. This page shows the average across all London boroughs alongside a borough-by-borough breakdown.
London is not one place when it comes to cost of living. The gap between its cheapest and most expensive boroughs is wider than the gap between most cities and the rest of the country. On our single-person monthly cost basket, a renter in Havering spends around £1,949/month, while the same person in Kensington and Chelsea pays over £3,324/month. That is a difference of roughly £1,375 every month for the same essentials basket: rent, council tax, energy, water, groceries and transport.
Across all 33 boroughs, the average rent is around £2,148/month. That is well above the UK average and a long way above the rest of southern England, although the figure hides how wide the borough range is.
Average earnings for London residents are around £40,350/year, comfortably above the UK average. The catch is that London's cost basket is so much wider than its salary premium that the average resident still spends a far higher share of their take-home pay on essentials than the rest of the country. The average single-person essentials basket across London boroughs is around £2,366/month, against a UK-wide average of about £1,481/month.
The figures lower down this page are averages across every London borough. The borough-level picture below shows how uneven that average really is.
Most expensive London boroughs
The five highest-cost boroughs by single-person monthly basket. Inner west London dominates the list, with rent doing most of the heavy lifting.
- Kensington and Chelsea - around £3,324/month , average rent £3,690/month , average salary £46,690/year.
- Westminster - around £3,194/month , average rent £3,196/month , average salary £45,172/year.
- Islington - around £2,890/month , average rent £2,868/month , average salary £47,411/year.
- Camden - around £2,772/month , average rent £2,819/month , average salary £44,088/year.
- Hackney - around £2,710/month , average rent £2,658/month , average salary £40,237/year.
Cheapest London boroughs
The five lowest-cost boroughs on the same basket. These are still well above the UK average, but the spread within London means the cheapest end can run a third of the price of the most expensive.
- Havering - around £1,949/month , average rent £1,565/month , average salary £40,726/year.
- Bexley - around £1,957/month , average rent £1,537/month , average salary £36,883/year.
- Hillingdon - around £1,960/month , average rent £1,570/month , average salary £36,429/year.
- Sutton - around £1,968/month , average rent £1,556/month , average salary £38,359/year.
- Croydon - around £2,008/month , average rent £1,582/month , average salary £38,080/year.
London boroughs ranked by monthly cost
All 32 boroughs covered, sorted from most to least expensive on a single-person monthly basket (rent, council tax with the single occupant discount, energy, water, groceries and transport).
| # | Borough | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kensington and Chelsea | £3,324/mo | £3,690 | £46,690 | 98.4% | 1,446 |
| 2 | Westminster | £3,194/mo | £3,196 | £45,172 | 87.2% | 3,515 |
| 3 | Islington | £2,890/mo | £2,868 | £47,411 | 77.0% | 1,303 |
| 4 | Camden | £2,772/mo | £2,819 | £44,088 | 81.7% | 1,735 |
| 5 | Hackney | £2,710/mo | £2,658 | £40,237 | 84.4% | 1,167 |
| 6 | Tower Hamlets | £2,687/mo | £2,453 | £45,183 | 69.2% | 1,058 |
| 7 | Hammersmith and Fulham | £2,675/mo | £2,825 | £42,811 | 82.7% | 1,062 |
| 8 | Lambeth | £2,590/mo | £2,525 | £43,666 | 74.1% | 1,153 |
| 9 | Wandsworth | £2,582/mo | £2,632 | £49,310 | 66.1% | 759 |
| 10 | Southwark | £2,579/mo | £2,474 | £43,006 | 73.6% | 1,217 |
| 11 | Richmond upon Thames | £2,467/mo | £2,333 | £46,594 | 65.4% | 573 |
| 12 | Haringey | £2,364/mo | £2,219 | £37,563 | 77.0% | 1,036 |
| 13 | Merton | £2,353/mo | £2,172 | £43,507 | 64.8% | 592 |
| 14 | Ealing | £2,343/mo | £2,109 | £35,665 | 77.0% | 803 |
| 15 | Newham | £2,332/mo | £1,928 | £36,080 | 69.5% | 1,035 |
| 16 | Hounslow | £2,300/mo | £1,952 | £35,301 | 72.5% | 874 |
| 17 | Brent | £2,297/mo | £2,014 | £34,871 | 75.7% | 895 |
| 18 | Greenwich | £2,275/mo | £1,995 | £39,984 | 65.1% | 898 |
| 19 | Barnet | £2,213/mo | £1,949 | £39,239 | 65.0% | 673 |
| 20 | Lewisham | £2,177/mo | £1,829 | £39,505 | 61.2% | 943 |
| 21 | Enfield | £2,144/mo | £1,827 | £34,962 | 69.2% | 847 |
| 22 | Harrow | £2,131/mo | £1,778 | £36,000 | 66.2% | 591 |
| 23 | Waltham Forest | £2,129/mo | £1,763 | £37,971 | 62.0% | 791 |
| 24 | Kingston upon Thames | £2,122/mo | £1,811 | £41,833 | 58.2% | 668 |
| 25 | Barking and Dagenham | £2,094/mo | £1,698 | £32,911 | 68.6% | 822 |
| 26 | Redbridge | £2,091/mo | £1,726 | £37,190 | 61.9% | 741 |
| 27 | Bromley | £2,026/mo | £1,684 | £43,981 | 50.8% | 689 |
| 28 | Croydon | £2,008/mo | £1,582 | £38,080 | 56.7% | 802 |
| 29 | Sutton | £1,968/mo | £1,556 | £38,359 | 54.9% | 604 |
| 30 | Hillingdon | £1,960/mo | £1,570 | £36,429 | 57.3% | 923 |
| 31 | Bexley | £1,957/mo | £1,537 | £36,883 | 56.4% | 600 |
| 32 | Havering | £1,949/mo | £1,565 | £40,726 | 52.1% | 672 |
"Affordability" is the share of average earnings spent on rent and council tax for a single person. Lower is better. Crime rate is recorded crimes per 10,000 residents from the Home Office.
London vs the rest of the UK
Across all 33 London boroughs, the average single-person monthly cost is around £2,366, compared with a UK-wide average of about £1,481. That is roughly £885/month more, or about £10,620 a year, for the same basket.
London salaries do offset some of that gap. The average resident's earnings are well above the UK average, and senior earners in finance, law, tech and consulting can command meaningfully higher pay than they would elsewhere. The maths depends entirely on where in the salary distribution you sit. Our comparison tool lets you put any London borough side by side with a city outside London (try London vs Manchester or London vs Leeds as starting points).
Rent in London
The average monthly rent in London is £2,148.
Source: ONS Price Index of Private Rents (PIPR)
Earnings in London
The average annual salary for residents of London is £40,350.
The average salary is the middle value: half of residents earn more and half earn less. The mean salary adds up everyone's pay and divides it by the number of people, so a few very high earners pull it up. We use the middle value as the average throughout this site.
Source: ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE)
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Average house prices in London
The average house price in London was £575,840.
How house prices have changed in London
Average house prices over time, based on quarterly rolling-year averages from Land Registry data.
Source: ONS / HM Land Registry. Historical trend based on quarterly rolling-year average prices.
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Council tax in London
Band D council tax in London is £2,090 per year.
Source: MHCLG / Scottish Government / Welsh Government
Energy costs in London
A typical household in London pays approximately £1,723/year (£144/month) for gas and electricity.
Energy region: London
This estimate is based on the Ofgem price cap for a typical dual-fuel household using 2,700 kWh of electricity and 11,500 kWh of gas per year, paying by Direct Debit. Your actual costs will depend on your usage, tariff, and whether you're on a fixed deal.
Source: Ofgem Energy Price Cap, Q4 2026
Water costs in London
The average annual water and sewerage bill for Thames Water customers is £666/year (£56/month).
Water company: Thames Water
Water bills vary based on whether you have a meter and your household's water usage. This figure is the company average for unmetered customers.
Source: Water UK / Discover Water, 2026-27
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Broadband in London
London has 75.1% full fibre coverage and 90.5% gigabit-capable coverage across residential premises.
Full fibre take-up: 38.2% of premises with full fibre available have taken it up.
"Gigabit-capable" means a connection of 1 Gbit/s or faster is available at the premises (full fibre or upgraded cable). "Full fibre" is fibre-to-the-premises specifically. "No decent broadband" counts premises below the 10 Mbit/s down / 1 Mbit/s up Universal Service Obligation.
See all UK areas ranked by broadband coverage →
Source: Ofcom Connected Nations 2025, July 2025
Schools in London
London has 2,553 schools, with 95.2% rated Good or Outstanding by Ofsted.
1759 primary schools, 502 secondary schools, 292 special / nursery / alternative provision. Approximately 1,280,586 pupils across all schools.
56 schools have been inspected under Ofsted's renewed framework (November 2025 onwards) and are not included in the percentage above.
Ofsted grades reflect the school's most recent inspection: Outstanding means the school is exceptional across the evaluation areas, Good means it is effective, Requires Improvement means it is not yet good enough, and Inadequate means serious concerns were found.
See all areas ranked by school ratings →
Source: Ofsted, most recent inspections as at March 2026. England only; Scotland (Education Scotland) and Wales (Estyn) use separate frameworks.
Explore London boroughs
Each London borough has its own costs. Click through for the full breakdown.
Beyond London: commuter areas
Local authorities just outside Greater London that people often weigh against a London borough on cost. Trains into central London run from each of these.