Living in Exeter

A 2-bed flat in Exeter runs around £1,125 a month — roughly in line with the UK median of about £1,200. A 1-bed is around £910, and a 3-bed climbs to about £1,353. Those figures feel reasonable until you pair them with local salaries: the median resident earns around £29,500 a year, which means rent can swallow close to 65% of take-home pay for a single earner in a 1-bed. Council tax (Band D) adds roughly £208 a month on top. The median home price is just under £310,000, and at current savings rates you're looking at around five years to build a deposit. Rents rose about 2% last year — moderate by South West standards.

Exeter's crime rate runs at around 121 incidents per 1,000 residents annually — well above the UK average of roughly 80 per 1,000. That's a figure worth taking seriously, though it's partly shaped by the city centre's concentration of nightlife and footfall around a dense urban core. Anti-social behaviour and theft tend to drive the headline number in most city centres of this type. The outer residential areas generally see lower rates. If safety is a priority, looking at properties away from the central cluster is worth factoring into your search.

Around 22% of schools within typical catchment distance in Exeter are rated Good or Outstanding by Ofsted — well below the national share of around 89%. The nearest Outstanding school is roughly 7.2 km away, which is a meaningful distance for families relying on proximity. That said, the overall school count within 2km of most residents is substantial. If school quality is a deciding factor, it's worth researching specific catchments carefully rather than assuming coverage is consistent across the city.

Exeter's main rail station is roughly 880 metres from the centre — about an 11-minute walk. The rail commute to London takes around two and a half hours by public transport; Birmingham is about two hours and thirty-eight minutes. There's no metro or tram network. Around 40% of residents drive to work, and 31% work from home — one of the higher WFH rates in the region, which matters if you're weighing up a car-free lifestyle. Broadband is strong: 97% of properties have gigabit-capable connections and no homes fall below the minimum standard.

Exeter skews young — 30% of residents are aged 18–34, largely driven by the university population and graduates who stay on. The 35–49 cohort is smaller at around 18%, and just under a third of households are single-person. Around 57% of homes are owner-occupied, with 25% in private rental and 16% in social housing. The city is relatively less diverse than comparable English cities, with an ethnic diversity index of 17.9 and 85% of residents UK-born. Just over a third of residents hold a degree-level qualification — above the national average and consistent with a university city profile.