UK Affordability Map

The affordability score is (monthly rent + monthly council tax Band D) divided by monthly gross earnings, expressed as a percentage. Lower means more affordable. A score of 30% means roughly a third of an average salary goes to rent and council tax; 80% means most of it does. We only score areas where rent, council tax and earnings data are all available - so 348 of 368 UK local authorities have a score.

Rent comes from the ONS Price Index of Private Rents (PIPR) and the Scottish Government's Private Sector Rent Statistics. Earnings are from the ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE), median annual gross. Council tax is MHCLG (England), Scottish Government, and Welsh Government for the 2026-27 financial year, inclusive of all major precepts. Boundary geometry is ONS local authority boundaries (May 2025).

Grey areas have no affordability score. The most common reasons are: Northern Ireland (we don't currently hold NI rent and earnings data), or an English/Welsh/Scottish authority that's missing one of the three required inputs (rent, earnings, or council tax). Hovering over a grey area still shows its name; clicking does nothing because there's no full profile to navigate to.

Dumfries and Galloway in southwest Scotland tops the rankings at 27.7% - only a little over a quarter of average earnings goes to rent and council tax. The five most affordable areas are all Scottish: Dumfries and Galloway, North Ayrshire (27.8%), South Ayrshire (28.4%), Shetland Islands (28.5%), and East Renfrewshire (28.9%).

Kensington and Chelsea in central London, at 96.1% - the average earner in the borough would spend nearly all their gross income on rent and council tax. The four next-least-affordable are also inner London boroughs: Westminster (85.3%), Hackney (82.6%), Hammersmith and Fulham (79.9%), and Camden (77.2%).

Yes - the comparison tool runs a full head-to-head on rent, earnings, house prices, council tax, energy and water. Open the comparison tool to pick two areas.