Data study · Free to reuse with attribution
Council tax 26/27: households in the priciest area pay £1,737 more a year than the cheapest
Address Reports analysed the average Band D council tax charge for 290 English billing authorities in 2026-27. The gap between the cheapest and most expensive area is £1,737 a year — a household in Dorset pays roughly 2.7× the bill of an identical Band D home in Wandsworth.
Key findings
Average Band D bill
£2,409
2026-27, England
Most expensive
£2,765
Dorset
Cheapest
£1,028
Wandsworth
Above the average
166 of 290
billing authorities
- • A Band H home in Dorset pays about £5,530 a year, twice the Band D charge.
- • A Band A home in Wandsworth pays about £685 — the lowest standard bill in England.
- • Spread across the country is £1,737, equal to about £145 a month on an identical property.
Chart 1: the ten most expensive councils
Average Band D charge, 2026-27, including precepts.
Chart 2: the ten cheapest councils
Chart 3: how bills are distributed
Number of billing authorities in each Band D price band.
Top and bottom ten, in figures
| Authority | Band D | vs average |
|---|---|---|
| Dorset | £2,765 | +£356 |
| Lewes | £2,756 | +£347 |
| Nottingham | £2,755 | +£346 |
| Rutland | £2,738 | +£329 |
| Wealden | £2,728 | +£319 |
| Gateshead | £2,716 | +£307 |
| West Devon | £2,705 | +£296 |
| Rother | £2,701 | +£292 |
| Newark and Sherwood | £2,682 | +£273 |
| Oxford | £2,678 | +£269 |
| Authority | Band D | vs average |
|---|---|---|
| Wandsworth | £1,028 | −£1,381 |
| Westminster | £1,050 | −£1,359 |
| City of London | £1,330 | −£1,079 |
| Hammersmith and Fulham | £1,520 | −£889 |
| Kensington and Chelsea | £1,667 | −£742 |
| Tower Hamlets | £1,838 | −£571 |
| Newham | £1,944 | −£465 |
| Windsor and Maidenhead | £1,953 | −£456 |
| Southwark | £1,967 | −£442 |
| Hillingdon | £2,045 | −£364 |
The full ranking of all 290 authorities is on our council tax comparison page, or download the CSV above.
Quotes — free to use
Attribute to Tobias Jung, founder of Address Reports (addressreports.co.uk).
"Two identical houses, same size, same band — and a £1,737 difference in the bill depending on which side of a council boundary they sit. Most buyers only discover that after they have moved in."
"Council tax is the second biggest running cost of a home after the mortgage, yet it is almost never checked before an offer goes in. It should be as routine as looking at the EPC."
"The average Band D bill is now £2,409 a year and 166 of 290 authorities sit above it. Anyone comparing two areas should compare the bills as well as the asking prices."
Methodology
We use the average Band D council tax charge published for 2026-27 by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, which includes the billing authority's own charge plus county, police, fire and parish precepts. Each authority is matched to its ONS postcode geography so that a bill can be shown for any England or Wales postcode.
Charges for other bands are derived from the statutory band ratios (Band A is 6/9 of Band D, Band H is 18/9), which is how billing authorities calculate them in practice. Discounts such as the 25% single-person reduction, council tax support and student exemptions are not applied.
Figures cover 290 English billing authorities. Scotland uses a separate valuation roll and Northern Ireland uses domestic rates, so both are out of scope. Averages are unweighted means across authorities, not per household.
Source data is published under the Open Government Licence v3.0, © Crown copyright. Analysis by Address Reports. Figures may be reused in any medium with attribution to Address Reports (addressreports.co.uk) and, where possible, a link to this page.
Press contact
Tobias Jung, founder — press@addressreports.co.uk. We can provide a regional or single-authority breakdown, additional charts, or comment on deadline. Address Reports is operated by TJ Digital Consulting Services AB.
Frequently asked questions
What does this study measure?
The average Band D council tax charge for 290 billing authorities in England for 2026-27, including local and major precepts, compared against the all-authority average of £2,409.
Where does the data come from?
Council tax levels are published by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Address Reports matches each billing authority to its postcode geography using ONS data.
Can journalists reuse the figures and charts?
Yes. The figures are free to reuse in print, broadcast and online with attribution to Address Reports (addressreports.co.uk). Charts on this page can be screenshotted or recreated.
Does this cover Scotland and Northern Ireland?
No. Scotland maintains a separate valuation roll and Northern Ireland uses domestic rates instead of council tax bands, so this study covers England.
Who can I contact for comment or a regional breakdown?
Email press@addressreports.co.uk. We can supply a per-authority or per-region cut of the data, usually the same working day.