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Average rent UK: 34 cities ranked, from one-bed to four-bed

Average rent UK city by city: 34 England and Wales cities ranked by ONS average private rent, with one to four-bed rents and the 12-month change.

6 min read
Last reviewed 4 November 2026
By Your Property Check team

Part 1 of 6

How to read this ranking

General information, not advice. The figures are from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) Price Index of Private Rents, which we hold in our own data file for the period August 2026 (the file records the 16 September 2026 edition; ONS's dataset page shows a later edition dated 21 October 2026, so newer figures may exist). The file describes each figure as the average (mean) monthly rent for all private rented homes, including new lets and existing tenancies, adjusted by ONS for the mix of homes and rounded to the nearest pound. ONS labels these official statistics in development.

For context, the ONS bulletin of 21 October 2026 gives an average UK monthly private rent of £1,406 in September 2026, up 3.8% on 12 months earlier, and calls the latest two months provisional and subject to revision. The city figures below are our August 2026 file, so they are not directly comparable month for month. That means the numbers are average estimates from an index, not what a landlord is asking for a flat today. Asking rents on listing sites can differ. We ranked 34 city-type local authority areas in England and Wales by the all-homes average. Scotland is left out because ONS publishes it for groups of councils, not single cities. London is left out because our file holds only some boroughs, which would not represent the whole city.

Part 2 of 6

Average rent by city, ranked

Rank	Area	Average rent	1 bed	2 bed	3 bed	4 bed	Change 12m
1	Oxford	£1,963	£1,351	£1,667	£2,034	£2,858	+3.5%
2	Bristol	£1,883	£1,225	£1,544	£1,759	£2,546	+5.9%
3	Brighton and Hove	£1,808	£1,189	£1,518	£1,797	£2,478	-1.2%
4	Cambridge	£1,805	£1,256	£1,613	£1,907	£2,656	+1.8%
5	Reading	£1,574	£1,116	£1,393	£1,671	£2,353	+1.4%
6	Manchester	£1,373	£1,003	£1,233	£1,433	£2,014	+4.2%
7	Portsmouth	£1,368	£901	£1,135	£1,360	£1,961	+2.4%
8	Exeter	£1,318	£915	£1,131	£1,362	£1,919	+0.5%
9	Southampton	£1,257	£881	£1,114	£1,357	£1,890	+3.4%
10	Newcastle upon Tyne	£1,215	£814	£1,007	£1,194	£1,837	+9.3%
11	York	£1,199	£875	£1,082	£1,279	£1,747	+6.5%
12	Cardiff	£1,177	£908	£1,085	£1,211	£1,703	+3.5%
13	Salford	£1,170	£888	£1,084	£1,287	£1,770	+3.3%
14	Leeds	£1,145	£782	£975	£1,138	£1,690	+4.2%
15	Norwich	£1,142	£778	£972	£1,137	£1,578	+0.6%
16	Gloucester	£1,116	£745	£971	£1,213	£1,655	+7.2%
17	Birmingham	£1,099	£830	£1,003	£1,134	£1,578	+3%
18	Leicester	£1,023	£716	£892	£1,045	£1,453	+1.6%
19	Coventry	£1,020	£759	£913	£1,066	£1,453	+2.4%
20	Nottingham	£1,014	£735	£914	£1,052	£1,460	+1.8%
21	Peterborough	£1,012	£710	£895	£1,079	£1,555	+4.9%
22	Plymouth	£1,004	£705	£886	£1,065	£1,493	+4.7%
23	Worcester	£977	£711	£908	£1,087	£1,541	+5.3%
24	Newport	£959	£697	£863	£965	£1,362	+2.7%
25	Wolverhampton	£945	£674	£842	£1,011	£1,442	+11.1%
26	Lincoln	£942	£659	£828	£991	£1,359	+4.6%
27	Sheffield	£931	£690	£840	£967	£1,339	+4.3%
28	Liverpool	£913	£686	£837	£963	£1,293	+5.6%
29	Derby	£860	£608	£778	£937	£1,302	+3.1%
30	Swansea	£852	£688	£797	£897	£1,275	+6.2%
31	Bradford	£745	£549	£675	£808	£1,108	+2.4%
32	Stoke-on-Trent	£715	£518	£662	£796	£1,080	+5.4%
33	Sunderland	£707	£523	£647	£773	£1,079	+4.6%
34	Kingston upon Hull	£694	£500	£621	£744	£985	+7.4%

Rents are per calendar month. "Change 12m" is the change over the 12 months to August 2026 as held in our file.

Part 3 of 6

Top five and bottom five

Highest: Oxford (£1,963), Bristol (£1,883), Brighton and Hove (£1,808), Cambridge (£1,805) and Reading (£1,574).
Lowest: Kingston upon Hull (£694), Sunderland (£707), Stoke-on-Trent (£715), Bradford (£745) and Swansea (£852).

The gap between top and bottom is large. Oxford's average of £1,963 is about 2.8 times Kingston upon Hull's £694.

Part 4 of 6

What stands out

Bedroom count changes the picture. In Oxford a one-bed averages £1,351, which is above the all-homes average in Birmingham (£1,099) and Leeds (£1,145).
The fastest 12-month rises in this list were Wolverhampton (+11.1%), Newcastle upon Tyne (+9.3%) and Kingston upon Hull (+7.4%). The slowest were Brighton and Hove (-1.2%), Exeter (+0.5%) and Norwich (+0.6%).
Cheap does not mean static. Several of the lowest-rent cities, such as Kingston upon Hull and Sunderland, show rises of more than 4% over the year.
Large cities cluster in the middle. Birmingham (£1,099), Leicester (£1,023), Coventry (£1,020) and Nottingham (£1,014) sit within about £85 of each other.

Part 5 of 6

Limits to keep in mind

A city is a local authority, not a built-up area. The boundary is the council's, so a city and its commuter towns may be counted separately. Salford, for example, is a separate area from Manchester.
Averages hide spread. A central flat and an outer-area house in the same city can differ widely.
Changes are year on year. A single month can be revised in later editions.

Part 6 of 6

Using the numbers

If you are a landlord, rent is only one side of the sum, so run a full ROI calculator with your costs, and look at the rent-to-rent calculator if you are testing a sublet. If tax is part of your thinking, the Section 24 calculator shows the effect of mortgage interest relief limits. For a regional view of buying demand, see our cash buyers by region page. We have not compared rents with mortgage payments here, because that needs a mortgage rate we did not source.

Our take

Rent is only one side of the sum

The spread in this ranking is wide: Oxford averages £1,963 a month against £694 in Kingston upon Hull. But an index average is not an asking rent, and a high rent does not make a good investment by itself. The common mistake is chasing the top of the table without putting your own costs against it.

Our free property deal analyser is a BTL, HMO and BRR ROI calculator anchored to a value range, so you can test a rent against what the property is worth. Once you have an area in mind, sold prices show real Land Registry transactions for any postcode.

Analyse a deal

Our opinion, drawn from the facts on this page: not advice and not a forecast. We earn from OfferCheck reports and from introducing sellers to cash buyers, so weigh it with that in mind (see our disclosure). We are not authorised or regulated by the FCA.

Questions, answered

Frequently asked questions

What is the average rent in the UK?

ONS puts the UK average at £1,406 a month in September 2026 (provisional, up 3.8% on a year earlier). By city it depends on where you look: in our 34 England and Wales cities, ONS-based average private rents for August 2026 range from £694 a month in Kingston upon Hull to £1,963 in Oxford.

Which city is most expensive to rent in?

Among the 34 cities we ranked, Oxford has the highest all-homes average at £1,963 a month, followed by Bristol at £1,883 and Brighton and Hove at £1,808. London is not ranked here.

How fast are rents rising?

The 12-month change in our file ranges from -1.2% in Brighton and Hove to +11.1% in Wolverhampton. The ONS dataset page shows a later edition, so check it for the latest movement.

Are these asking rents?

No. They come from the ONS Price Index of Private Rents. Our file describes them as mix-adjusted average rents for all private rented homes, including existing tenancies, rounded to the nearest pound.

Why is Scotland not in the ranking?

ONS publishes Scotland for 18 rent areas, which are groups of councils, not single cities, so a fair city ranking cannot be built from it.

Where this comes from

Sources

Last reviewed 4 November 2026 by the Your Property Check team. This page is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. For your own situation, speak to a conveyancing solicitor or another qualified professional.