What is the average rent in Birmingham?

The median monthly rent across Birmingham is £1,086, 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 Birmingham?

The cheapest neighbourhood in Birmingham by estimated median rent is Washwood Heath at approximately £795/month. The full top-five cheapest list and our methodology are above.

What's the best neighbourhood to live in Birmingham?

By our composite liveability score (which blends safety, transport, schools, rent affordability and EPC), the top-ranked neighbourhood in Birmingham is Small Heath Park at 98/100. The score is editorial; see /methodology/scoring/liveability for the formula.

Is Birmingham a safe area?

Birmingham has an average safety score of 46/100 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 Birmingham?

The most common council tax band in Birmingham is not yet published, with the Band D annual charge currently around £2,033. Council tax is set at the local authority level so the same banding applies to every postcode within Birmingham.

What is the average salary in Birmingham?

The median annual resident salary in Birmingham is £30,180, per ONS ASHE 2025. This is salary for people who live in Birmingham, not for people who commute in to work there. Workplace median salary is published separately.

What is the average house price in Birmingham?

The average property price in Birmingham is approximately £232,266 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 Birmingham?

Gross rental yield in Birmingham is approximately 5.4% — 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 Birmingham?

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 3.7 years in Birmingham. Faster if you save more, slower if rents are eating into savings.

Is gigabit broadband available in Birmingham?

100% of premises in Birmingham 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 Birmingham?

10.1% of 16-64 residents in Birmingham 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 Birmingham?

Birmingham contains 132 neighbourhood neighbourhoods covering 659 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 · West Midlands

Living in Birmingham

132 neighbourhoods · 659 sub-areas

Updated May 2026

Where on the UK

Crime vs nat. avg

≈ nat. avg

In line with nat. avg · 100.7 / 1k / yr · #291 of 318 cities

Police.uk crime data · Feb 2026

Good schools

100%

#1 of 296 cities

Ofsted inspections · Feb 2026

Commute to hub

18 min

#35 of 318 cities

DfT Journey Times 2019 · 2019 (programme paused)

Jobs density

0.49

#87 of 318 cities

ONS BRES · 2024

Avg rent

£1,086/mo

+3.5% YoY · #170 of 314 cities

ONS Rent Index (PIPR) · Mar 2026

Council tax

£155/mo

Estimated (Band D)

MHCLG Council Tax Band D · 2026

Section 1 / 8

Neighbourhoods in Birmingham

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.

132 neighbourhoods · 659 sub-areas

Rent, scores and YoY change at a glance.


Washwood Heath	£795	+3.5%	85	44
Saltley West	£817	+3.5%	85	27
Brookvale	£858	+3.5%	77	22
Birchfield West	£861	+3.5%	80	35
Birmingham 142	£875	+3.5%	81	28
Stockland Green - Marsh Hill	£884	+3.5%	70	21
Bordesley	£910	+3.5%	97	45
Handsworth East	£926	+3.5%	85	31
Upper Witton	£933	+3.5%	72	66
Birmingham 143	£934	+3.5%	87	42
Turves Green	£935	+3.5%	80	24
Shard End & Kingfisher	£935	+3.5%	77	39
Yardley Fields	£941	+3.5%	88	45
Kingstanding South East	£942	+3.5%	67	28
Glebe Farm	£942	+3.5%	87	31
Gravelly Hill & South Erdington	£944	+3.5%	82	22
Allens Cross	£945	+3.5%	73	47
Frankley	£946	+3.5%	48	29
Queslett	£958	+3.5%	73	58
Kitts Green	£960	+3.5%	79	14
Buckland End	£961	+3.5%	78	33
Kingstanding South West	£962	+3.5%	82	76
Hay Mills & Tyseley	£962	+3.5%	79	20
Bartley Green & Shenley Fields	£969	+3.5%	59	27
Winson Green & Gib Heath	£970	+3.5%	85	15
Central	£973	+3.5%	84	7
Woodgate	£973	+3.5%	67	38
Attwood Green & Park Central	£975	+3.5%	85	21
Bordesley Green North	£976	+3.5%	97	64
Old Oscott	£980	+3.5%	81	54
Acocks Green West	£980	+3.5%	79	40
Belchers Lane & Eastfield Road	£981	+3.5%	96	41
Kent's Moat	£982	+3.5%	84	48
Perry Beeches East	£987	+3.5%	79	75
Castle Vale	£989	+3.5%	73	35
Short Heath	£991	+3.5%	71	37
Acocks Green East	£991	+3.5%	78	20
Billesley Common	£993	+3.5%	59	29
Rubery East	£995	+3.5%	58	42
Woodgate Valley	£998	+3.5%	70	40
Perry Beeches West	£999	+3.5%	92	82
Perry Common - College Road	£1,001	+3.5%	59	34
Erdington Town	£1,006	+3.5%	76	18
Birmingham 141	£1,007	+3.5%	71	27
West Heath	£1,008	+3.5%	94	83
Hockley & Jewellery Quarter	£1,008	+3.5%	85	17
Nechells	£1,010	+3.5%	77	21
Fox Hollies	£1,010	+3.5%	77	40
Lifford & Walkers Heath	£1,012	+3.5%	75	52
Stechford	£1,014	+3.5%	73	17

Showing 1–50 of 132

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 Birmingham

Three short answers to "where should I focus?" in Birmingham. 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 Birmingham median.

Section 3 / 8

Cost of living

Median rent and council tax across Birmingham.

Avg rent

£1,086/mo

#170 of 314 cities

ONS Rent Index (PIPR) · Mar 2026

Council tax

£155/mo

MHCLG Council Tax Band D · 2026

Sale price

£220,750

+0.7% YoY

HM Land Registry Price Paid · Jan 2025

Yrs to deposit

3.7 yr

Rent & price breakdownBy bedroom count · property type · affordability

council-area level rent by bedroom

ONS PIPR median for the council area

1 bed£821/mo

2 bed£992/mo

3 bed£1,119/mo

4 bed£1,563/mo

Sale price by property type

HMLR HPI average

Detached£440,005

Semi-detached£272,385

Terraced£219,717

Flat£144,119

Affordability

Price-to-earnings7.3×

Rent / take-home43%

Council tax (estimated, full council area)£1,859/yr

Mortgage (25y, 5%)£1,167/mo

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

Section 4 / 8

Safety in Birmingham

Crime in Birmingham runs at in line with the national average. Bottom 10% (#291 of 318 cities) The supporting per-1,000-residents-per-year rate is 100.7, 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.

ContextRates are per resident. As a major workday and tourist destination, the daytime population here is much larger than the resident base — so the per-resident figure overstates a typical resident's exposure.

Total crime / 1k / yr

100.7

#291 of 318 cities

Police.uk crime data · Feb 2026

Violent / 1k / yr

46.9

Police.uk crime data · Feb 2026

Burglary / 1k / yr

4.8

Police.uk crime data · Feb 2026

ASB / 1k / yr

5.8

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

46.9

Vehicle crime

8.5

Criminal damage & arson

7.9

Anti-social behaviour

5.8

Public order

5.0

Other theft

4.8

Burglary

4.8

Shoplifting

3.3

Drugs

2.6

Possession of weapons

2.5

Robbery

2.1

Other crime

2.0

Theft from the person

1.1

Bicycle theft

0.8

Safest neighbourhoods in Birmingham

by safety score (higher = safer)

Little Sutton & Roughley97/100

Walmley97/100

Wylde Green97/100

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 Birmingham

100% of schools serving Birmingham 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

40%

#90 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 Birmingham

by school score

Handsworth Wood99/100

Little Bromwich98/100

Small Heath Park97/100

Ofsted school inspection ratings, latest inspection per school.

Section 6 / 8

Transport in Birmingham

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

Best hub

18 min

#35 of 318 cities

DfT Journey Times 2019 · 2019 (programme paused)

To Birmingham

18 min

Median across local areas

DfT Journey Times 2019 · 2019 (programme paused)

To Sheffield

83 min

Median across local areas

DfT Journey Times 2019 · 2019 (programme paused)

To London

99 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

Birmingham

18 min

Sheffield

83 min

London

99 min

Bristol

102 min

Manchester

108 min

Liverpool

112 min

Cardiff

134 min

Leeds

140 min

Glasgow

266 min

Edinburgh

271 min

How residents travel to work

Census 2021, mode share

Car53%Public13%Active8%WFH22%

Best-connected neighbourhoods in Birmingham

by transport score

Five Ways North99/100

Central99/100

Winson Green & Gib Heath98/100

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

Section 7 / 8

Job access from Birmingham

Birmingham has 0.49 jobs per resident locally. Above median

Jobs per resident

0.49

#87 of 318 cities

ONS BRES · 2024

Drive to 5,000+ jobs

12 min

DfT Journey Times 2019 · 2019 (programme paused)

PT to 5,000+ jobs

23 min

DfT Journey Times 2019 · 2019 (programme paused)

5y jobs growth

+4.3%

ONS Jobs Density · 2024

Job access detailReachability tiers · sector mix in this council area

Reachable jobs by mode

Drive — 100 jobs6 min

PT — 100 jobs6 min

Drive — 500 jobs7 min

PT — 500 jobs10 min

Drive — 5,000 jobs12 min

PT — 5,000 jobs23 min

Local job mix by sector

ONS BRES, % of local jobs

Retail & hospitality

19.6%

Health & social care

17.4%

Professional & business svcs

11.3%

Education

9.8%

Manufacturing

4.9%

Finance & insurance

4.2%

Tech & ICT

3.5%

Construction

3.4%

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

FAQ

Frequently asked about Birmingham

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 Birmingham?: The median monthly rent across Birmingham is £1,086, 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 Birmingham?: The cheapest neighbourhood in Birmingham by estimated median rent is Washwood Heath at approximately £795/month. The full top-five cheapest list and our methodology are above.
What's the best neighbourhood to live in Birmingham?: By our composite liveability score (which blends safety, transport, schools, rent affordability and EPC), the top-ranked neighbourhood in Birmingham is Small Heath Park at 98/100. The score is editorial; see /methodology/scoring/liveability for the formula.
Is Birmingham a safe area?: Birmingham has an average safety score of 46/100 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 Birmingham?: The most common council tax band in Birmingham is not yet published, with the Band D annual charge currently around £2,033. Council tax is set at the local authority level so the same banding applies to every postcode within Birmingham.
What is the average salary in Birmingham?: The median annual resident salary in Birmingham is £30,180, per ONS ASHE 2025. This is salary for people who live in Birmingham, not for people who commute in to work there. Workplace median salary is published separately.
What is the average house price in Birmingham?: The average property price in Birmingham is approximately £232,266 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 Birmingham?: Gross rental yield in Birmingham is approximately 5.4% — 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 Birmingham?: 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 3.7 years in Birmingham. Faster if you save more, slower if rents are eating into savings.
Is gigabit broadband available in Birmingham?: 100% of premises in Birmingham 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 Birmingham?: 10.1% of 16-64 residents in Birmingham 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 Birmingham?: Birmingham contains 132 neighbourhood neighbourhoods covering 659 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 Birmingham

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 Birmingham

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

Planning to move to Birmingham? See the moving checklist →