What is the average rent in Central Bedfordshire?

The median monthly rent across Central Bedfordshire is £1,238, based on ONS Private Rental Prices data. Individual neighbourhoods vary — see the shortlist above for the cheapest and most desirable areas.

Where is the cheapest place to rent in Central Bedfordshire?

The cheapest neighbourhood in Central Bedfordshire by estimated median rent is Dunstable Central at approximately £1,058/month. The full top-five cheapest list and our methodology are above.

What's the best neighbourhood to live in Central Bedfordshire?

By our composite liveability score (which blends safety, transport, schools, rent affordability and EPC), the top-ranked neighbourhood in Central Bedfordshire is Linslade West at 84/100. The score is editorial; see /methodology/scoring/liveability for the formula.

Is Central Bedfordshire a safe area?

Central Bedfordshire has an average safety score of 74/100 across its constituent neighbourhoods (higher is safer). The score is the national percentile rank of police-recorded crimes per 1,000 residents per year, inverted so 100 means the safest 1% of England + Wales.

What is council tax in Central Bedfordshire?

The most common council tax band in Central Bedfordshire is not yet published, with the Band D annual charge currently around £2,096. Council tax is set at the local authority level so the same banding applies to every postcode within Central Bedfordshire.

What is the average salary in Central Bedfordshire?

The median annual resident salary in Central Bedfordshire is £36,622, per ONS ASHE 2025. This is salary for people who live in Central Bedfordshire, not for people who commute in to work there. Workplace median salary is published separately.

What is the average house price in Central Bedfordshire?

The average property price in Central Bedfordshire is approximately £358,631 according to HM Land Registry's House Price Index. Individual neighbourhoods vary — typically ±20% around this council area median.

What's the rental yield in Central Bedfordshire?

Gross rental yield in Central Bedfordshire is approximately 3.6% — the council-area level median rent annualised over the council-area level median sale price. Net yield (after agency, void, maintenance and tax) typically runs 30–40% lower.

How long does it take to save a deposit in Central Bedfordshire?

Saving a 10% deposit at the council area median sale price on the council area median salary, while putting away 10% of takehome pay each month, takes approximately 4.9 years in Central Bedfordshire. Faster if you save more, slower if rents are eating into savings.

Is gigabit broadband available in Central Bedfordshire?

100% of premises in Central Bedfordshire are gigabit-capable per Ofcom Connected Nations 2025. Coverage is patchier in older terraces and rural fringes — check your specific postcode for service availability.

What's the unemployment rate in Central Bedfordshire?

2.6% of 16-64 residents in Central Bedfordshire are on the DWP Claimant Count — Universal Credit while seeking work, or Jobseeker's Allowance. That's the live monthly local indicator. It's narrower than the ONS Labour Force Survey "ILO unemployment rate" (which counts anyone actively job-seeking on a separate denominator) and narrower again than Census 2021's "% unemployed" (which is calculated against all 16+ residents and so isn't directly comparable).

How many neighbourhoods are in Central Bedfordshire?

Central Bedfordshire contains 33 neighbourhood neighbourhoods covering 175 sub-areas (local areas). Browse the full list at the bottom of this page or use the neighbourhood map above to drill into a specific area.

City · East of England

Living in Central Bedfordshire

33 neighbourhoods · 175 sub-areas

Updated May 2026

Where on the UK

Crime vs nat. avg

0.51× nat.

49% below nat. avg · 51.0 / 1k / yr · #78 of 318 cities

Police.uk crime data · Feb 2026

Good schools

100%

#1 of 296 cities

Ofsted inspections · Feb 2026

Commute to hub

74 min

#167 of 318 cities

DfT Journey Times 2019 · 2019 (programme paused)

Jobs density

0.38

#204 of 318 cities

ONS BRES · 2024

Avg rent

£1,238/mo

+5.5% YoY · #203 of 314 cities

ONS Rent Index (PIPR) · Mar 2026

Council tax

£209/mo

Estimated (Band D)

MHCLG Council Tax Band D · 2026

Section 1 / 8

Neighbourhoods in Central Bedfordshire

Tap any row or map polygon to drill into that neighbourhood — hovering on desktop will preview the link before you click. Switch the tab strip above the table to focus on Affordability, Schools, Transport, Safety or Wealth — the columns swap and the default sort follows.

33 neighbourhoods · 175 sub-areas

Rent, scores and YoY change at a glance.


Dunstable Central	£1,058	+5.5%	6	39
Leighton Buzzard Central	£1,093	+5.5%	66	33
Sandy North	£1,106	+5.5%	65	78
Houghton Regis North	£1,115	+5.5%	15	38
Dunstable West	£1,115	+5.5%	6	75
Biggleswade West	£1,119	+5.5%	65	83
Linslade East	£1,120	+5.5%	72	80
Sandy South	£1,130	+5.5%	39	58
Biggleswade East	£1,135	+5.5%	60	82
Dunstable Manshead	£1,154	+5.5%	30	70
Leighton Buzzard South East	£1,163	+5.5%	37	71
Flitwick West	£1,184	+5.5%	71	91
Houghton Regis South	£1,200	+5.5%	6	25
Marston Moretaine, Lidlington & Woburn	£1,202	+5.5%	41	83
Dunstable East	£1,209	+5.5%	50	72
Linslade West	£1,224	+5.5%	84	98
Potton	£1,227	+5.5%	19	83
Cranfield & Aspley Guise	£1,240	+5.5%	30	85
Arlesey & Henlow	£1,250	+5.5%	39	82
Flitwick East	£1,259	+5.5%	75	79
Toddington, Heath & Reach	£1,262	+5.5%	16	71
Leighton Buzzard North & East	£1,263	+5.5%	45	94
Shefford & Shillington	£1,273	+5.5%	24	80
Dunstable South	£1,274	+5.5%	30	80
Blunham, Caldecote & Broom	£1,315	+5.5%	3	76
Barton-le-Clay & Upper Sundon	£1,321	+5.5%	36	88
Stotfold	£1,324	+5.5%	26	83
Clifton, Meppershall & Stondon	£1,333	+5.5%	20	81
Ampthill & Millbrook	£1,367	+5.5%	28	81
Westoning, Harlington & Silsoe	£1,391	+5.5%	26	86
Caddington & Slip End	£1,394	+5.5%	27	83
Houghton Conquest & Clophill	£1,414	+5.5%	11	76
Eaton Bray, Whipsnade & Holywell	£1,425	+5.5%	3	86

Sources: ONS, MHCLG, DfT, DESNZ, Defra, Police.uk, Ofsted, Ofcom, HM Land Registry. Some columns (salary, council tax, HPI) are published at council-area level.

Section 2 / 8

Where to look in Central Bedfordshire

Three short answers to "where should I focus?" in Central Bedfordshire. Each list is filtered from the same neighbourhood data above — the basis of each shortlist is stated above the list so you know what's been weighted.

Top 5 cheapest

Lowest estimated monthly rent. Rent is the LAD-published ONS PIPR median, scaled per neighbourhood by local sale prices (Land Registry).

Top 5 most desirable

Highest composite liveability — combines safety, schools, transport access and rental affordability into one 0–100 score (higher = more liveable).

Top 5 best value

Highest liveability per pound of rent — desirable areas where rent stays close to or below the Central Bedfordshire median.

Section 3 / 8

Cost of living

Median rent and council tax across Central Bedfordshire.

Avg rent

£1,238/mo

#203 of 314 cities

ONS Rent Index (PIPR) · Mar 2026

Council tax

£209/mo

MHCLG Council Tax Band D · 2026

Sale price

£359,375

+3.6% YoY

HM Land Registry Price Paid · Jan 2025

Yrs to deposit

4.9 yr

Rent & price breakdownBy bedroom count · property type · affordability

council-area level rent by bedroom

ONS PIPR median for the council area

1 bed£856/mo

2 bed£1,086/mo

3 bed£1,360/mo

4 bed£2,028/mo

Sale price by property type

HMLR HPI average

Detached£611,814

Semi-detached£379,534

Terraced£301,799

Flat£175,673

Affordability

Price-to-earnings9.8×

Rent / take-home41%

Council tax (estimated, full council area)£2,503/yr

Mortgage (25y, 5%)£1,888/mo

Rent: ONS PIPR (council area). Council tax: VOA + MHCLG. Sale prices: HM Land Registry.

Section 4 / 8

Safety in Central Bedfordshire

Crime in Central Bedfordshire runs at 49% below the national average. Top quartile (#78 of 318 cities) The supporting per-1,000-residents-per-year rate is 51.0, averaged across the council area's neighbourhoods.

How crime is measured

What's counted. Incidents recorded by territorial police forces and published to data.police.uk each month. Rates use the latest 12 months of data divided by the area's mid-2024 ONS resident population — so the figure is reported incidents per 1,000 residents per year.

Anti-social behaviour is the largest category in most areas and is worth reading carefully — it's a community-reports bucket (noise, rowdiness, nuisance), not "crime" in the legal sense. ASB and shoplifting are weighted lower than violent offences in the safety score on each page.

Caveats. The denominator is residents, so workday and tourist destinations can look worse than they feel for someone living there. Greater Manchester forces stopped publishing to data.police.uk in 2020, so figures for those areas are intentionally blank rather than misleadingly low.

Total crime / 1k / yr

51.0

#78 of 318 cities

Police.uk crime data · Feb 2026

Violent / 1k / yr

19.0

Police.uk crime data · Feb 2026

Burglary / 1k / yr

2.2

Police.uk crime data · Feb 2026

ASB / 1k / yr

9.9

Police.uk crime data · Feb 2026

Crime detailTop crime types · safest neighbourhoods in this council area

All crime categories

incidents / 1,000 residents / year — sorted high → low

Violent & sexual offences

19.0

Anti-social behaviour

9.9

Vehicle crime

4.6

Criminal damage & arson

3.8

Public order

3.1

Other theft

3.1

Shoplifting

2.4

Burglary

2.2

Drugs

1.9

Other crime

1.4

Possession of weapons

0.8

Robbery

0.8

Bicycle theft

0.7

Theft from the person

0.7

Safest neighbourhoods in Central Bedfordshire

by safety score (higher = safer)

Linslade West98/100

Leighton Buzzard North & East94/100

Flitwick West91/100

Source: data.police.uk — incident counts adjusted for population, then averaged across the council area's neighbourhoods. National average = England + Wales population-weighted mean.

Section 5 / 8

Schools in Central Bedfordshire

100% of schools serving Central Bedfordshire are rated Good or Outstanding by Ofsted. Best 5% nationally (#1 of 296 cities)

Good or Outstanding

100%

#1 of 296 cities

Ofsted inspections · Feb 2026

Outstanding only

Ofsted inspections · Feb 2026

Good w/in 2 km

33%

#171 of 318 cities

Ofsted (spatial) · Feb 2026

Schools rated

Ofsted inspections · Feb 2026

School breakdownOfsted distribution · best neighbourhoods for schools

Ofsted rating distribution

Good100%

Outstanding (count)0

Good (count)1

Requires improvement0

Inadequate0

Best neighbourhoods for schools in Central Bedfordshire

by school score

Westoning, Harlington & Silsoe82/100

Toddington, Heath & Reach79/100

Marston Moretaine, Lidlington & Woburn76/100

Ofsted school inspection ratings, latest inspection per school.

Section 6 / 8

Transport in Central Bedfordshire

Modelled door-to-door commute from this council area to nearby employment hubs. Closest first.

Best hub

74 min

#167 of 318 cities

DfT Journey Times 2019 · 2019 (programme paused)

To London

74 min

Median across local areas

DfT Journey Times 2019 · 2019 (programme paused)

To Birmingham

133 min

Median across local areas

DfT Journey Times 2019 · 2019 (programme paused)

To Manchester

173 min

Median across local areas

DfT Journey Times 2019 · 2019 (programme paused)

Transport detailAll city commute times · mode share · best-connected neighbourhoods

Commute to major UK cities

public transport, off-peak typical

London

74 min

Birmingham

133 min

Manchester

173 min

Sheffield

178 min

Leeds

179 min

Liverpool

184 min

Bristol

191 min

Cardiff

215 min

Edinburgh

304 min

Glasgow

334 min

How residents travel to work

Census 2021, mode share

Car54%Public3%Active6%WFH36%

Best-connected neighbourhoods in Central Bedfordshire

by transport score

Flitwick West84/100

Flitwick East82/100

Biggleswade West76/100

DfT Journey Time Statistics + ONS Travel-to-Work.

Section 7 / 8

Job access from Central Bedfordshire

Central Bedfordshire has 0.38 jobs per resident locally. Below median

Jobs per resident

0.38

#204 of 318 cities

ONS BRES · 2024

Drive to 5,000+ jobs

21 min

DfT Journey Times 2019 · 2019 (programme paused)

PT to 5,000+ jobs

38 min

DfT Journey Times 2019 · 2019 (programme paused)

5y jobs growth

+1.6%

ONS Jobs Density · 2024

Job access detailReachability tiers · sector mix in this council area

Reachable jobs by mode

Drive — 100 jobs7 min

PT — 100 jobs8 min

Drive — 500 jobs7 min

PT — 500 jobs11 min

Drive — 5,000 jobs21 min

PT — 5,000 jobs38 min

Local job mix by sector

ONS BRES, % of local jobs

Retail & hospitality

25.1%

Education

10.9%

Manufacturing

9.9%

Professional & business svcs

7.7%

Construction

6.7%

Health & social care

6.2%

Tech & ICT

2.2%

Finance & insurance

0.7%

ONS BRES (jobs density) + DfT job-accessibility minutes.

FAQ

Frequently asked about Central Bedfordshire

Short answers to the questions we get most often. Each answer is anchored in the data above and links onward where you can dig deeper.

What is the average rent in Central Bedfordshire?: The median monthly rent across Central Bedfordshire is £1,238, based on ONS Private Rental Prices data. Individual neighbourhoods vary — see the shortlist above for the cheapest and most desirable areas.
Where is the cheapest place to rent in Central Bedfordshire?: The cheapest neighbourhood in Central Bedfordshire by estimated median rent is Dunstable Central at approximately £1,058/month. The full top-five cheapest list and our methodology are above.
What's the best neighbourhood to live in Central Bedfordshire?: By our composite liveability score (which blends safety, transport, schools, rent affordability and EPC), the top-ranked neighbourhood in Central Bedfordshire is Linslade West at 84/100. The score is editorial; see /methodology/scoring/liveability for the formula.
Is Central Bedfordshire a safe area?: Central Bedfordshire has an average safety score of 74/100 across its constituent neighbourhoods (higher is safer). The score is the national percentile rank of police-recorded crimes per 1,000 residents per year, inverted so 100 means the safest 1% of England + Wales.
What is council tax in Central Bedfordshire?: The most common council tax band in Central Bedfordshire is not yet published, with the Band D annual charge currently around £2,096. Council tax is set at the local authority level so the same banding applies to every postcode within Central Bedfordshire.
What is the average salary in Central Bedfordshire?: The median annual resident salary in Central Bedfordshire is £36,622, per ONS ASHE 2025. This is salary for people who live in Central Bedfordshire, not for people who commute in to work there. Workplace median salary is published separately.
What is the average house price in Central Bedfordshire?: The average property price in Central Bedfordshire is approximately £358,631 according to HM Land Registry's House Price Index. Individual neighbourhoods vary — typically ±20% around this council area median.
What's the rental yield in Central Bedfordshire?: Gross rental yield in Central Bedfordshire is approximately 3.6% — the council-area level median rent annualised over the council-area level median sale price. Net yield (after agency, void, maintenance and tax) typically runs 30–40% lower.
How long does it take to save a deposit in Central Bedfordshire?: Saving a 10% deposit at the council area median sale price on the council area median salary, while putting away 10% of takehome pay each month, takes approximately 4.9 years in Central Bedfordshire. Faster if you save more, slower if rents are eating into savings.
Is gigabit broadband available in Central Bedfordshire?: 100% of premises in Central Bedfordshire are gigabit-capable per Ofcom Connected Nations 2025. Coverage is patchier in older terraces and rural fringes — check your specific postcode for service availability.
What's the unemployment rate in Central Bedfordshire?: 2.6% of 16-64 residents in Central Bedfordshire are on the DWP Claimant Count — Universal Credit while seeking work, or Jobseeker's Allowance. That's the live monthly local indicator. It's narrower than the ONS Labour Force Survey "ILO unemployment rate" (which counts anyone actively job-seeking on a separate denominator) and narrower again than Census 2021's "% unemployed" (which is calculated against all 16+ residents and so isn't directly comparable).
How many neighbourhoods are in Central Bedfordshire?: Central Bedfordshire contains 33 neighbourhood neighbourhoods covering 175 sub-areas (local areas). Browse the full list at the bottom of this page or use the neighbourhood map above to drill into a specific area.

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Section 8 / 8

All sub-areas in Central Bedfordshire

Every local area, ordered by crawl priority. Most readers want the neighbourhood-level view — these are for deep-link cases or external search-engine arrivals.

Showing 80 of 175 sub-areas. Drill into any neighbourhood above for the full sub-area list.

Planning to move to Central Bedfordshire? See the moving checklist →