What we can tell you · Derivable
What does it cost a household to live in a particular local authority?
Derivable No publication gives the figure, but it can be calculated from official figures. The calculation is shown as a Civometry calculation with its numerator, denominator and formula.
Why
No official body publishes a cost-of-living figure below region. The ONS Living Costs and Food Survey (Family Spending, financial year ending 2025, published 11 June 2026) publishes average weekly spending by category for the UK by household composition and income decile, and by region only as three-year averages because the regional samples are small. The ONS Price Index of Private Rents publishes average rents by local authority and bedrooms monthly; MHCLG publishes Band D council tax by billing authority annually (England); HM Land Registry publishes average house prices by local authority monthly. Civometry assembles an estimate from these, stating each figure's geographic level, and labels the result an estimate.
What is known
- Average weekly household expenditure by category, household composition and income decile, UK (Family Spending workbook 2)
- Average weekly household expenditure by region, three-year average (Family Spending workbook 3)
- Average private rent by local authority and bedrooms, monthly (Price Index of Private Rents)
- Band D council tax by billing authority, England (MHCLG Table 9)
What is not known
- Spending by category for any area smaller than a region
- Energy, water and maintenance costs separated from rent at composition level (folded into COICOP group 4 in the high-level tables)
- Council tax by authority for Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland
- Any figure for Scottish councils or Northern Ireland districts in the rent and earnings series held here
Who holds the data
- ONS
- MHCLG
- HM Land Registry
Would a Freedom of Information request help?
Unlikely. Every figure is published in open tables; the gap is that no authority combines them for one area.
Privacy and disclosure restrictions
None. Only published aggregates are involved.
Official sources checked
- https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/personalandhouseholdfinances/expenditure/bulletins/familyspendingintheuk/latest
- https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/inflationandpriceindices/datasets/priceindexofprivaterentsukmonthlypricestatistics
Last reviewed 2026-09-03. Availability changes; if a publication now answers this question, challenge the classification below.