Placetrics
City · East of England

Living in Southend-on-Sea

17 neighbourhoods · 108 sub-areas
Crime vs nat. avg
0.67× nat.
33% below nat. avg · 66.9 / 1k / yr · #178 of 318 cities
Good schools
100%
#1 of 296 cities
Commute to hub
60 min
#123 of 318 cities
Jobs density
0.35
#240 of 318 cities
Avg rent
£1,278/mo
+5.6% YoY · #214 of 314 cities
Council tax
£165/mo
Estimated (Band D)
Section 1 / 8

Neighbourhoods in Southend-on-Sea

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.

17 neighbourhoods · 108 sub-areas

Rent, scores and YoY change at a glance.

Southend Central£1,012+5.6%8127
Victoria£1,033+5.6%8512
Kursaal£1,061+5.6%7118
Westborough£1,150+5.6%9685
St Lukes£1,170+5.6%8054
Chalkwell£1,198+5.6%7450
Shoeburyness£1,208+5.6%4565
Eastwood£1,234+5.6%7177
Prittlewell£1,263+5.6%6445
Eastwood Park£1,326+5.6%4384
Leigh£1,335+5.6%8480
Blenheim Park£1,336+5.6%5472
West Shoebury£1,353+5.6%5476
Belfairs£1,365+5.6%7086
Southchurch£1,369+5.6%4455
Thorpe Bay£1,496+5.6%5589
West Leigh£1,777+5.6%7291

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 Southend-on-Sea

Three short answers to "where should I focus?" in Southend-on-Sea. 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.Southend Central£1,012/mo
  2. 2.Victoria£1,033/mo
  3. 3.Kursaal£1,061/mo
  4. 4.Westborough£1,150/mo
  5. 5.St Lukes£1,170/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.Westborough96/100
  2. 2.Victoria85/100
  3. 3.Leigh84/100
  4. 4.Southend Central81/100
  5. 5.St Lukes80/100
Top 5 best value

Highest liveability per pound of rent — desirable areas where rent stays close to or below the Southend-on-Sea median.

  1. 1.Westborough£1,150/mo96/100 liveability
  2. 2.Victoria£1,033/mo85/100 liveability
  3. 3.Southend Central£1,012/mo81/100 liveability
  4. 4.St Lukes£1,170/mo80/100 liveability
  5. 5.Kursaal£1,061/mo71/100 liveability
Section 3 / 8

Cost of living

Median rent and council tax across Southend-on-Sea.

Avg rent
£1,278/mo
#214 of 314 cities
Sale price
£336,500
+1.6% YoY
Yrs to deposit
5.1 yr
Rent & price breakdownBy bedroom count · property type · affordability
council-area level rent by bedroom
ONS PIPR median for the council area
1 bed£859/mo
2 bed£1,092/mo
3 bed£1,329/mo
4 bed£1,829/mo
Sale price by property type
HMLR HPI average
Detached£648,130
Semi-detached£431,654
Terraced£334,891
Flat£201,180
Affordability
Price-to-earnings10.1×
Rent / take-home46%
Council tax (estimated, full council area)£1,980/yr
Mortgage (25y, 5%)£1,789/mo

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

Section 4 / 8

Safety in Southend-on-Sea

Crime in Southend-on-Sea runs at 33% below the national average. Below median (#178 of 318 cities) The supporting per-1,000-residents-per-year rate is 66.9, 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
66.9
#178 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
31.3
Anti-social behaviour
5.7
Criminal damage & arson
4.7
Other theft
4.4
Vehicle crime
4.4
Public order
4.0
Burglary
2.9
Drugs
2.6
Shoplifting
2.5
Other crime
1.8
Robbery
1.3
Possession of weapons
1.2
Bicycle theft
1.0
Theft from the person
0.6
Safest neighbourhoods in Southend-on-Sea
by safety score (higher = safer)
West Leigh91/100
Thorpe Bay89/100
Belfairs86/100

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 Southend-on-Sea

100% of schools serving Southend-on-Sea 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
50%
#7 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 Southend-on-Sea
by school score
Southchurch98/100
Leigh98/100
St Lukes97/100

Ofsted school inspection ratings, latest inspection per school.

Section 6 / 8

Transport in Southend-on-Sea

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

To London
60 min
Median across local areas
To Birmingham
176 min
Median across local areas
To Bristol
188 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
60 min
Birmingham
176 min
Bristol
188 min
Cardiff
209 min
Sheffield
217 min
Manchester
226 min
Leeds
228 min
Liverpool
236 min
Edinburgh
342 min
Glasgow
371 min
How residents travel to work
Census 2021, mode share
Car43%Public8%Active11%WFH32%
Best-connected neighbourhoods in Southend-on-Sea
by transport score
Southend Central98/100
Victoria97/100
Chalkwell96/100

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

Section 7 / 8

Job access from Southend-on-Sea

Southend-on-Sea has 0.35 jobs per resident locally. Bottom quartile

Jobs per resident
0.35
#240 of 318 cities
5y jobs growth
-3.7%
Job access detailReachability tiers · sector mix in this council area
Reachable jobs by mode
Drive — 100 jobs6 min
PT — 100 jobs5 min
Drive — 500 jobs7 min
PT — 500 jobs9 min
Drive — 5,000 jobs10 min
PT — 5,000 jobs18 min
Local job mix by sector
ONS BRES, % of local jobs
Retail & hospitality
23.3%
Health & social care
18.2%
Education
12.4%
Professional & business svcs
7.7%
Manufacturing
5.8%
Construction
4.9%
Finance & insurance
2.0%
Tech & ICT
1.9%

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

FAQ

Frequently asked about Southend-on-Sea

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 Southend-on-Sea?
The median monthly rent across Southend-on-Sea is £1,278, 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 Southend-on-Sea?
The cheapest neighbourhood in Southend-on-Sea by estimated median rent is Southend Central at approximately £1,012/month. The full top-five cheapest list and our methodology are above.
What's the best neighbourhood to live in Southend-on-Sea?
By our composite liveability score (which blends safety, transport, schools, rent affordability and EPC), the top-ranked neighbourhood in Southend-on-Sea is Westborough at 96/100. The score is editorial; see /methodology/scoring/liveability for the formula.
Is Southend-on-Sea a safe area?
Southend-on-Sea has an average safety score of 60/100 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 Southend-on-Sea?
The most common council tax band in Southend-on-Sea is not yet published, with the Band D annual charge currently around £1,897. Council tax is set at the local authority level so the same banding applies to every postcode within Southend-on-Sea.
What is the average salary in Southend-on-Sea?
The median annual resident salary in Southend-on-Sea is £33,594, per ONS ASHE 2025. This is salary for people who live in Southend-on-Sea, not for people who commute in to work there. Workplace median salary is published separately.
What is the average house price in Southend-on-Sea?
The average property price in Southend-on-Sea is approximately £330,364 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 Southend-on-Sea?
Gross rental yield in Southend-on-Sea is approximately 3.9% — 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 Southend-on-Sea?
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 5.1 years in Southend-on-Sea. Faster if you save more, slower if rents are eating into savings.
Is gigabit broadband available in Southend-on-Sea?
100% of premises in Southend-on-Sea 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 Southend-on-Sea?
4.4% of 16-64 residents in Southend-on-Sea 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 Southend-on-Sea?
Southend-on-Sea contains 17 neighbourhood neighbourhoods covering 108 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 Southend-on-Sea

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 108 sub-areas. Drill into any neighbourhood above for the full sub-area list.