Council tax bands in Dorset 2026-27
Band D council tax in Dorset is £2,625.43 a year in 2026-27, about £262.54 a month over 10 payments.
This is the charge for a home with no parish or town council charge.
Every band in Dorset
Council tax in Dorset runs from £1,750.29 a year for Band A to £5,250.86 for Band H.
| Band | Yearly | 10 payments | 12 payments | One adult (25% off) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Band A | £1,750.29 | £175.03 | £145.86 | £1,312.72 |
| Band B | £2,042.00 | £204.20 | £170.17 | £1,531.50 |
| Band C | £2,333.72 | £233.37 | £194.48 | £1,750.29 |
| Band D | £2,625.43 | £262.54 | £218.79 | £1,969.07 |
| Band E | £3,208.86 | £320.89 | £267.41 | £2,406.65 |
| Band F | £3,792.29 | £379.23 | £316.02 | £2,844.22 |
| Band G | £4,375.72 | £437.57 | £364.64 | £3,281.79 |
| Band H | £5,250.86 | £525.09 | £437.57 | £3,938.14 |
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How bands work: every band is a fixed fraction of Band D, set in law (Band A is 6/9 of Band D and Band H 18/9), rounded here to the penny. A home's band comes from its value on 1 April 1991: Band A up to £40,000, Band H over £320,000. Payments are the yearly charge divided by 10 or 12. Other bands may differ by a penny from your council's table because of how councils round.
Source: Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), Council Tax levels set by local authorities in England 2026 to 2027, local authority level data (Table 10, Data_Billing), published 25 March 2026.
Homes by band in Dorset
The most common band in Dorset is Band C (23% of homes). Detached houses, about 2 in 10 homes here, are most often Band E (32%). The most common kind of home is a 3-bedroom semi-detached house (22,120 homes), mostly Band C (54%). These are shares of all 188,900 homes on the list, not the band of any one home: a home's own band is on GOV.UK.
| Band | Share of homes |
|---|---|
| Band A | 11.1% |
| Band B | 17% |
| Band C | 23.2% |
| Band D | 20% |
| Band E | 15.4% |
| Band F | 8.6% |
| Band G | 4.4% |
| Band H | 0.4% |
Compared with the South West average, there are fewer homes in Bands A and B (28%, against 41%) and more homes in Band F and above (13%, against 9%).
Most common band by type of home
| Type of home | Homes | Share of homes | Most common band |
|---|---|---|---|
| Detached houses | 43,450 | 23% | Band E (32%) |
| Terraced houses | 39,920 | 21% | Band C (38%) |
| Semi-detached houses | 32,930 | 17% | Band C (50%) |
| Flats and maisonettes | 31,230 | 17% | Band A (42%) |
Source: Valuation Office Agency, Council Tax: stock of properties, 31 March 2026 (CTSOP3.0, band by property type), published 24 September 2026. VOA counts are rounded to the nearest 10; property types with fewer than 500 homes are not shown.
Where Band D council tax in Dorset goes
| Authority | Band D share |
|---|---|
| Dorset council | £2,205.90 (84%) |
| Police | £322.58 (12%) |
| Fire and rescue | £96.95 (4%) |
£41.85 of the council's own Band D share in 2026-27 is the adult social care precept (MHCLG).
Parish and town council charges come on top for homes in their areas.
How council tax in Dorset has changed
Band D went up by £124.85 (5.0%), from £2,500.58 in 2025-26 to £2,625.43 in 2026-27.
Including parish charges, the average Band D bill went up by £134.72 (5.1%), from £2,630.30 to £2,765.02.
Band D in Dorset is £173.24 a year above the South West average of £2,452.19, and its 5.0% rise this year was about the middle of the range for councils in the South West (South West average: 5.3%).
Over the four years from 2023-24 to 2026-27, Band D here rose 15.6%, close to the South West average rise of 16.1%.
Band D in Dorset is the 2nd highest of 27 councils in the South West, and the 11th highest of 296 councils in England, ranked by the Band D figure on each council's page.
Averages are weighted by number of homes and use each council's Band D as shown on its page.
Dorset and other councils
Nearby councils
| Council | Band D 2026-27 |
|---|---|
| Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole | £2,435.58 |
| East Devon | £2,480.97 |
| New Forest | £2,285.33 |
| Bath and North East Somerset | £2,317.66 |
| Wiltshire | £2,376.37 |
| Somerset | £2,368.18 |
Similar unitary councils
Other unitary councils closest in size to Dorset (188,900 homes).
| Council | Band D 2026-27 | Homes |
|---|---|---|
| West Northamptonshire | £2,379.31 | 187,610 |
| Cheshire East | £2,371.48 | 192,850 |
| East Riding of Yorkshire | £2,386.05 | 168,180 |
| Cheshire West and Chester | £2,470.56 | 167,930 |
Band D as shown on each council's page: the basic charge, or where no home pays that alone, Band D including special expenses or the average including parish charges. Similar councils are the same type of council, nearest in number of homes (Valuation Office Agency, 31 March 2026).
Finding a home's band
Each home's band is set by the Valuation Office Agency. You can look up any home's band on GOV.UK.
- Cost of living in Dorset: rent, earnings, house prices, energy and water.
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Council tax in Dorset: questions
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