Methodology & data sources

Last updated: September 2026

Our approach

Every figure on this site is either a published open-data figure or a documented arithmetic step from one. We do not run our own surveys and we do not use crowd-sourced or licensed commercial datasets. Where a figure is derived (for example, a monthly grocery cost built from an ONS weekly household figure), the working is written out on this page so anyone can check it. Where we could not find a credible open source for something, we left it out or flagged it as an estimate rather than filling the gap quietly.

This page documents what we use, how we use it, and where it falls short. If you are relying on our figures for a decision that matters, read the limitations section at the bottom.

Data sources

Material published by the Office for National Statistics and other public bodies is used under the Open Government Licence v3.0 where applicable. We are not affiliated with any of these organisations.

How the city comparison works

The city comparison tool was rebuilt in September 2026 so that every line comes from open data. This replaced crowd-sourced city figures used in earlier versions. The categories and how each is built:

• Rent. The ONS Price Index of Private Rents average monthly rent for the local authority, by number of bedrooms: one bedroom for a single adult, two bedrooms for a couple or a family with one child, three bedrooms for a family with two children. London uses the London region average. Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Dundee use the ONS Broad Rental Market Area (Lothian, Greater Glasgow, Aberdeen and Shire, Dundee and Angus) because Scottish rents are published on that geography. These are averages across the whole area, not city-centre asking prices, so they run lower than listing-site headlines.
• Groceries. ONS Family Spending gives a one-adult non-retired household’s weekly spend on food and non-alcoholic drinks (£40.30 in FYE 2025). We convert to a month (× 52 ÷ 12), uplift by the change in the CPI food index from the survey midpoint to August 2026 (× 1.0593), then scale by the region’s per-person food spend relative to the UK (Table A33, regional weekly food spend divided by persons per household). Couples and families use the ONS two-adult, two-adult-one-child and two-adult-two-children household figures, which give multipliers of 1.82, 2.02 and 2.44 on the single figure. This is food bought for the home; it does not include toiletries or alcohol.
• Eating out. Same method using the ONS “restaurants and hotels” category (£27.10 a week for a one-adult household), scaled by the regional index for that category. Note that London’s regional index is high for eating out and slightly below average for groceries, which is what the survey data shows.
• Utilities. Gas and electricity at the Ofgem price cap for the city’s energy region (Direct Debit, 1 October to 31 December 2026), applied to Ofgem’s typical consumption values: 1,600 kWh electricity and 6,000 kWh gas (low) for a single adult in a flat, 2,500 kWh and 9,500 kWh (medium) for couples and families, with a further 15% for a two-child household. Water is the Water UK 2026/27 average combined bill for the company serving the city, divided by twelve; Scottish cities use the Scottish Water average (£532). In areas served by a water-only company (Bristol, Cambridge, Portsmouth, Wolverhampton, Colchester) we add the water-only bill to an estimated sewerage share of 55% of the sewerage company’s combined bill.
• Transport. The cheapest published adult pass giving unlimited city bus travel for a month, expressed per calendar month (a 28-day or 4-week ticket is multiplied by 13 ÷ 12; London uses the Zones 1–2 Monthly Travelcard). Where the operator publishes only a 7-day ticket (Cambridge) we assume the 28-day price is 3.25 times the weekly price, the median ratio across operators that publish both. Verified cities are listed below; the rest are marked (est.) in the tool and carry a regional estimate until we have checked the operator’s price.
• Gym. A single national figure of £48 a month: Leisure DB’s 2025 UK market value (£6.5bn) divided by members (11.3 million). Gym prices vary far more by operator than by city.
• Broadband. A single national figure of £32 a month, derived from Ofcom’s February 2026 pricing report, which states that standalone broadband was on average £7.00 (18%) cheaper than a broadband-and-landline bundle in September 2025.
• Childcare. Unchanged: typical full-time nursery cost for one child under three, based on the Coram Family and Childcare annual survey, before any funded hours.

Transport figures still to verify: Derby, Dundee, Durham, Exeter, Hull, Leicester, Lincoln, Liverpool, Milton Keynes, Swansea. These use a regional estimate of £70–£85 a month and are labelled as estimates in the tool.

Because this rebuild changed the basis of several categories, the September 2026 figures are not comparable with earlier versions of the tool. Rents in particular are area averages rather than city-centre one-bed asking prices, and grocery figures are household survey spend rather than a basket price. Both are lower than the figures they replaced; both are traceable to a published table.

How the student comparison works

The student tool holds a cost profile for each university city covering halls, shared accommodation, groceries, transport, utilities, a pint, and a typical night out. Rent figures are anchored to the NatWest Student Living Index. Groceries start from the index’s UK average student food spend (£155 a month) scaled by the ONS regional per-person food index described above. Bills are the city’s typical-use Ofgem energy cost plus the Water UK bill plus £32 broadband, divided by four housemates. Transport is the city’s adult monthly bus pass less a typical 20% student discount, except Leeds (£72) and Nottingham (£69.15) where the operator publishes a student month ticket. Pint prices come from Finder.com's 2026 research.

Monthly totals assume shared student accommodation plus essentials. They do not include tuition fees, one-off costs like deposits or travel home, or discretionary spending beyond the social categories shown.

The maintenance loan comparison uses the published 2026/27 maximum rates from Student Finance England. The tool defaults to the maximum because that is a fixed, verifiable number — but most students receive less, because the amount is means-tested on household income. The gap the tool shows is therefore a best case for many students.

How the council tax comparison works

The council tax tool compares Band D rates as the standard reference point, with bands A to H calculated using the statutory ratios that apply across England, Scotland and Wales. Rates are the combined figure including parish and town council precepts where these apply.

The dataset was rebuilt in full in August 2026 against published 2026/27 council schedules (see Corrections below): 162 councils, each showing the combined Band D-equivalent total for the billing authority including county, police, fire and mayoral/GLA precepts where relevant. Parish and town precepts vary within districts and are not included. Prior-year figures are shown only where stated by the source; we do not derive or estimate them. Scottish councils set rates independently of the English referendum-threshold rules, so year-on-year comparisons between nations should be read with that in mind.

Milton Keynes

Milton Keynes was added to the student tool in July 2026 using the NatWest Student Living Index figure of £491/month for student rent — the same basis as the other cities in the tool. As a check, we independently derived an estimate from our own household cost data for Milton Keynes and arrived at £502, within 2% of the published figure.

Several other cities that attract search traffic — including Lincoln, Bradford, Colchester, Luton, Derby, Kingston and Preston — are not yet in the student tool. We have not added them because we do not currently have figures for them on a basis consistent with the existing cities. We would rather leave a city out than include one that makes the comparison misleading.

Update schedule

Limitations

These matter, and we would rather set them out plainly than bury them.

• Averages hide variation. A city-level rent average conceals a wide spread. Two properties a mile apart can differ by hundreds of pounds a month. Our figures describe a typical case, not your case.
• Survey data lags reality. The NatWest index is published in the autumn covering the previous academic year. In a period of fast-moving rents, the most recent survey figures can already be behind the market.
• Derived figures inherit their source’s limits. ONS Family Spending is a sample survey with sampling error at regional level, and our regional grocery index is a three-year average. A derived monthly figure is only as good as the table it came from.
• Not every UK city is covered. The student tool covers 23 university cities; individual city guides (for example Lincoln) use ONS rent data directly. If your city is not listed, we did not have a source we trusted enough to include it.
• Sources sometimes disagree. Where they do, we favour the larger and more recent sample, and we do not silently average conflicting figures together.
• Devolved differences. Student funding in Scotland works through SAAS grants rather than loans, and Welsh and Northern Irish arrangements differ again. Comparisons across nations are not always like for like.

Corrections

If a figure looks wrong, please tell us at hello@ukcostofliving.org. Include the page, the figure, and what you think it should be. We check reported errors against source data and correct them where they hold up.

Where a correction materially changes a published figure, we note it here.

September 2026 — city cost figures rebuilt on open data. Earlier versions of the city and student tools used crowd-sourced city cost surveys for groceries, transport and utilities. These were replaced with figures derived from ONS, Ofgem, Water UK, Ofcom and published operator fares, with the method set out above. Most figures moved: rents are now local-authority averages (lower than the city-centre figures they replaced), grocery figures fell because they now measure survey-reported household food spend rather than a shopping basket, and utilities rose slightly because water is now included at the actual company bill. Ten cities’ transport figures are estimates pending verification and are labelled as such.

August 2026 — council tax dataset rebuilt in full. A reader reported their Warwickshire bill was materially above our figure. Investigation initially found a two-tier structural error (county precepts recorded in place of full Band D bills) and corrected 14 rows — but a second reader query about Solihull showed the problem was wider: the entire original dataset was systematically understated by roughly 10–25%, including single-tier councils (e.g. Solihull £1,843 shown vs £2,197 actual; Manchester £1,712 vs £2,312; Leeds £1,752 vs £2,284). The dataset has been rebuilt from scratch: every 2026/27 Band D figure now comes from the council's published schedule, compiled via CouncilTaxBands.com's index of 157 councils (which matched official council pages exactly on every spot check we ran) plus five district totals we verified directly against council websites. Coverage grew from 88 to 162 councils; the dataset average rose from £1,941 to £2,335; the most-expensive and cheapest rankings changed materially. Prior-year (2025/26) figures are now shown only where stated by the source — currently five councils — and the comparison tool has been reframed to 2026/27 rates rather than year-on-year change. We no longer publish derived prior-year figures.