Placetrics
City · East of England

Living in East Suffolk

30 neighbourhoods · 145 sub-areas
Crime vs nat. avg
2.4× safer
2.4× safer than nat. · 41.7 / 1k / yr · #31 of 318 cities
Good schools
100%
#1 of 296 cities
Commute to hub
151 min
#289 of 318 cities
Jobs density
0.38
#203 of 318 cities
Avg rent
£831/mo
+5.0% YoY · #82 of 314 cities
Council tax
£172/mo
Estimated (Band D)
Section 1 / 8

Neighbourhoods in East Suffolk

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.

30 neighbourhoods · 145 sub-areas

Rent, scores and YoY change at a glance.

Lowestoft Central£628+5.0%8521
Pakefield North£652+5.0%8475
Lowestoft Harbour & Kirkley£652+5.0%5740
Normanston & Oulton Broad East£660+5.0%7756
Gunton West£673+5.0%7739
Pakefield South & Kessingland£676+5.0%8188
Carlton Colville£708+5.0%6984
Oulton Broad West£712+5.0%9698
Oulton£715+5.0%8182
Beccles£744+5.0%7773
Felixstowe West£748+5.0%7771
Trimley & Kirton£772+5.0%7989
Gunton East, Corton & Somerleyton£787+5.0%5482
Bungay & the Saints£792+5.0%5779
Felixstowe Seafront£808+5.0%8169
Halesworth & Wangford£825+5.0%6083
Leiston & Aldeburgh£842+5.0%3174
Worlingham & Barnby£850+5.0%6493
Southwold, Reydon & Wrentham£871+5.0%2786
Rendlesham, Orford & Hollesley£885+5.0%4592
Felixstowe East£915+5.0%7998
Kesgrave West & Rushmere£917+5.0%7895
Kesgrave East & Martlesham£922+5.0%5797
Saxmundham & Coldfair Green£925+5.0%3183
Wickham Market & Melton£966+5.0%4783
Woodbridge£979+5.0%4876
Framlingham & Hacheston£989+5.0%3194
Bixley, Warren Heath & Nacton£991+5.0%8497
Yoxford, Wenhaston & Walberswick£993+5.0%586
Westerfield, Grundisburgh & Bredfield£1,028+5.0%2695

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 East Suffolk

Three short answers to "where should I focus?" in East Suffolk. 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).

  1. 1.Lowestoft Central£628/mo
  2. 2.Pakefield North£652/mo
  3. 3.Lowestoft Harbour & Kirkley£652/mo
  4. 4.Normanston & Oulton Broad East£660/mo
  5. 5.Gunton West£673/mo
Top 5 most desirable

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

  1. 1.Oulton Broad West96/100
  2. 2.Lowestoft Central85/100
  3. 3.Pakefield North84/100
  4. 4.Bixley, Warren Heath & Nacton84/100
  5. 5.Pakefield South & Kessingland81/100
Section 3 / 8

Cost of living

Median rent and council tax across East Suffolk.

Avg rent
£831/mo
#82 of 314 cities
Sale price
£279,000
-0.7% YoY
Yrs to deposit
4.7 yr
Rent & price breakdownBy bedroom count · property type · affordability
council-area level rent by bedroom
ONS PIPR median for the council area
1 bed£595/mo
2 bed£783/mo
3 bed£928/mo
4 bed£1,331/mo
Sale price by property type
HMLR HPI average
Detached£408,755
Semi-detached£267,861
Terraced£207,781
Flat£142,217
Affordability
Price-to-earnings9.4×
Rent / take-home33%
Council tax (estimated, full council area)£2,063/yr
Mortgage (25y, 5%)£1,499/mo

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

Section 4 / 8

Safety in East Suffolk

Crime in East Suffolk runs at 2.4× safer than the national average. Best 10% (#31 of 318 cities) The supporting per-1,000-residents-per-year rate is 41.7, 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
41.7
#31 of 318 cities
Crime detailTop crime types · safest neighbourhoods in this council area
All crime categories
incidents / 1,000 residents / year — sorted high → low
Violent & sexual offences
17.5
Anti-social behaviour
4.6
Criminal damage & arson
4.3
Other theft
2.8
Shoplifting
2.6
Public order
2.5
Burglary
2.0
Vehicle crime
1.9
Other crime
1.5
Bicycle theft
1.3
Drugs
1.1
Robbery
0.7
Possession of weapons
0.7
Theft from the person
0.6
Safest neighbourhoods in East Suffolk
by safety score (higher = safer)
Felixstowe East98/100
Oulton Broad West98/100
Bixley, Warren Heath & Nacton97/100

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 East Suffolk

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

Good or Outstanding
100%
#1 of 296 cities
Good w/in 2 km
40%
#90 of 318 cities
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 East Suffolk
by school score
Bungay & the Saints91/100
Pakefield North88/100
Oulton85/100

Ofsted school inspection ratings, latest inspection per school.

Section 6 / 8

Transport in East Suffolk

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

Best hub
151 min
#289 of 318 cities
To London
151 min
Median across local areas
To Leeds
298 min
Median across local areas
To Sheffield
300 min
Median across local areas
Transport detailAll city commute times · mode share · best-connected neighbourhoods
Commute to major UK cities
public transport, off-peak typical
London
151 min
Leeds
298 min
Sheffield
300 min
Birmingham
302 min
Bristol
343 min
Manchester
344 min
Cardiff
364 min
Liverpool
383 min
Edinburgh
431 min
Glasgow
527 min
How residents travel to work
Census 2021, mode share
Car60%Public1%Active10%WFH24%
Best-connected neighbourhoods in East Suffolk
by transport score
Felixstowe Seafront80/100
Felixstowe East75/100
Beccles71/100

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

Section 7 / 8

Job access from East Suffolk

East Suffolk has 0.38 jobs per resident locally. Below median

Jobs per resident
0.38
#203 of 318 cities
5y jobs growth
+6.4%
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 jobs43 min
PT — 5,000 jobs67 min
Local job mix by sector
ONS BRES, % of local jobs
Retail & hospitality
24.8%
Health & social care
10.5%
Manufacturing
9.8%
Education
8.3%
Construction
5.8%
Professional & business svcs
5.2%
Tech & ICT
3.9%
Finance & insurance
0.7%

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

FAQ

Frequently asked about East Suffolk

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 East Suffolk?
The median monthly rent across East Suffolk is £831, 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 East Suffolk?
The cheapest neighbourhood in East Suffolk by estimated median rent is Lowestoft Central at approximately £628/month. The full top-five cheapest list and our methodology are above.
What's the best neighbourhood to live in East Suffolk?
By our composite liveability score (which blends safety, transport, schools, rent affordability and EPC), the top-ranked neighbourhood in East Suffolk is Oulton Broad West at 96/100. The score is editorial; see /methodology/scoring/liveability for the formula.
Is East Suffolk a safe area?
East Suffolk has an average safety score of 77/100 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 East Suffolk?
The most common council tax band in East Suffolk is not yet published, with the Band D annual charge currently around £299. Council tax is set at the local authority level so the same banding applies to every postcode within East Suffolk.
What is the average salary in East Suffolk?
The median annual resident salary in East Suffolk is £30,261, per ONS ASHE 2025. This is salary for people who live in East Suffolk, not for people who commute in to work there. Workplace median salary is published separately.
What is the average house price in East Suffolk?
The average property price in East Suffolk is approximately £280,757 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 East Suffolk?
Gross rental yield in East Suffolk is approximately 3.3% — 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 East Suffolk?
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 4.7 years in East Suffolk. Faster if you save more, slower if rents are eating into savings.
Is gigabit broadband available in East Suffolk?
100% of premises in East Suffolk 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 East Suffolk?
3.0% of 16-64 residents in East Suffolk 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 East Suffolk?
East Suffolk contains 30 neighbourhood neighbourhoods covering 145 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.
Set up your move

What you need on day one

Set up your home
Slot
Compare broadband at East Suffolk
See providers, speeds and prices for this postcode
Compare deals
Set up your home
Slot
Switch energy on your move-in date
Compare gas + electricity tariffs
Switch tariff
Cover your stuff
Slot
Renters' contents insurance
From £5/month — bundle with car or pet cover
Get a quote
Buying instead?
Slot
See if you'd qualify for a mortgage here
Whole-of-market broker — eligibility check, no fee
Check eligibility
Section 8 / 8

All sub-areas in East Suffolk

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.