UK rent affordability by region, 2026
The average private rent in London now takes 58% of a full-time gross median salary — the most of any UK region — while North East renters spend the least, at 28.3%. This analysis joins the Office for National Statistics’ average private rents (May 2026) with ONS ASHE 2024 full-time earnings to show, region by region, how big a bite rent takes out of pay.
Published 2026-06-18. Sources: ONS — Price Index of Private Rents, UK: monthly price statistics and ONS — Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) 2024. Open Government Licence v3.0.
Check your own rent affordability
Type your gross (pre-tax) annual salary and pick a region. We compare it to that region’s average private rent (ONS, May 2026) and show the share of your income it would take. An area is "affordable" if rent is 30% or less of income.
On a salary of £37,439, the average rent in London (£2,294/month) is 73.5% of your gross income — above the 30% affordability line. To bring that rent to exactly 30% you would need a gross salary of about £91,760.
UK rent affordability by region, 2026
Average monthly private rent as a share of full-time gross median earnings. Sorted least affordable first. Rent: ONS PIPR (May 2026). Salary: ONS ASHE 2024 (full-time gross median, region basis).
| Region | Avg rent / month | FT median salary | Rent as % of income | Affordable (≤30%)? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| London | £2,294 | £47,455 | 58% | No |
| South East | £1,418 | £39,038 | 43.6% | No |
| East of England | £1,280 | £36,949 | 41.6% | No |
| South West | £1,234 | £35,634 | 41.6% | No |
| West Midlands | £966 | £34,938 | 33.2% | No |
| North West | £954 | £35,170 | 32.6% | No |
| East Midlands | £914 | £33,973 | 32.3% | No |
| Scotland | £1,009 | £38,315 | 31.6% | No |
| Yorkshire and The Humber | £856 | £34,401 | 29.9% | Yes |
| Wales | £836 | £34,303 | 29.2% | Yes |
| North East | £776 | £32,960 | 28.3% | Yes |
| United Kingdom | £1,383 | £37,439 | 44.3% | No |
By local authority
27 local authorities where an exact ONS GSS geography code matches in both the rent and salary datasets (place-of- work salary basis). Sorted least affordable first.
| Local authority | Avg rent / month | FT median salary | Rent as % of income |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brighton and Hove | £1,816 | £37,376 | 58.3% |
| Bristol | £1,883 | £39,441 | 57.3% |
| Oxford | £1,958 | £41,052 | 57.2% |
| Cambridge | £1,805 | £43,204 | 50.1% |
| Manchester | £1,352 | £37,102 | 43.7% |
| Portsmouth | £1,366 | £38,613 | 42.5% |
| Reading | £1,577 | £45,843 | 41.3% |
| Newcastle upon Tyne | £1,204 | £35,212 | 41% |
| Southampton | £1,250 | £36,981 | 40.6% |
| Norwich | £1,152 | £34,747 | 39.8% |
| Milton Keynes | £1,336 | £40,846 | 39.2% |
| Leicester | £1,024 | £31,954 | 38.5% |
| Cardiff | £1,157 | £36,199 | 38.4% |
| Leeds | £1,134 | £36,770 | 37% |
| Nottingham | £1,006 | £33,027 | 36.6% |
| Birmingham | £1,088 | £37,295 | 35% |
| Plymouth | £994 | £35,548 | 33.6% |
| Coventry | £1,017 | £37,520 | 32.5% |
| Wolverhampton | £934 | £34,733 | 32.3% |
| Liverpool | £901 | £36,579 | 29.6% |
| Swansea | £838 | £34,834 | 28.9% |
| Wakefield | £794 | £33,991 | 28% |
| Bradford | £746 | £32,639 | 27.4% |
| Stoke-on-Trent | £709 | £32,986 | 25.8% |
| Derby | £852 | £39,756 | 25.7% |
| Sunderland | £701 | £32,927 | 25.5% |
| Hull | £690 | £33,009 | 25.1% |
Method & honesty note. Affordability ratio = average monthly rent ÷ (annual gross median salary ÷ 12). Rent is the ONS Price Index of Private Rents (edition 17 June 2026, reference May 2026). Salary is ONS ASHE 2024 full-time gross median (Pay period including 17 April 2024 (provisional)). This is a single-earner, individual-income proxy and is not the official ONS “Private rental affordability” statistic, which uses modelled private-renting-household income and put England at 36.3% for the year to March 2024. The regional ordering here matches the official series (London least affordable, North East most affordable); the absolute percentages are higher because they use one full-time salary rather than whole-household income.
Frequently asked questions
- Which UK region has the least affordable private rent in 2026?
- On this measure, London has the least affordable private rent: the average monthly rent of £2,294 is 58% of a full-time gross median salary (£47,455/year). That uses ONS PIPR rent (May 2026) over ONS ASHE 2024 individual full-time earnings — a higher, individual-income basis than the ONS official household-income series.
- Which UK region has the most affordable private rent?
- North East is the most affordable region here: average rent of £776 is 28.3% of the full-time gross median salary (£32,960/year). This matches the ordering in ONS's official affordability series, which also puts the North East most affordable and London least affordable.
- How many UK regions have rent at or below the 30% affordability threshold?
- 3 of 11 regions in this analysis have an average rent at or below 30% of full-time gross median earnings — the line ONS treats as "affordable". The rest exceed it on this individual-income measure.
- Is this the same as the official ONS rental affordability figure?
- No. ONS's official "Private rental affordability" series divides rent by the median income of private-renting HOUSEHOLDS (modelled), and reported England at 36.3% for the year to March 2024 (London 41.6%, North East 19.8%). This report instead divides the same ONS rents by ONS ASHE individual full-time gross median pay, which is a single-earner basis and therefore shows higher percentages. Both inputs are real ONS data; the ratio here is a transparent proxy, not the official statistic.
- What counts as affordable rent in the UK?
- An area is "affordable" if rent is 30% or less of income. On that basis a household earning the UK full-time median of £37,439 (ONS ASHE 2024) could spend up to about £936 a month and stay within the 30% line. The UK average private rent is £1,383 (ONS, May 2026).