United Kingdom · East of England · Local Authority
Braintree
Non-metropolitan district · East of England, England · population ~153k · 63 state-funded schools
Solid earnings potential meets a steep barrier to entry in Braintree. While weekly pay of £825.50 sits above the regional median, the cost of housing remains a significant hurdle, with a median house price reaching 8 times annual earnings. Rent is equally demanding, consuming 34.3% of gross median pay. On the positive side, the local tax burden is relatively light, with Band D council tax at £2,280, ranking among the lowest in the East of England. Crime rates are also favourable, sitting well below the regional median at 53.6 per 1,000 residents. This location suits professionals who can leverage the stronger-than-average local pay to manage high property costs, provided they are comfortable with the trade-off of a high mortgage multiple.
Written from the indicators on this page, 2026-10 data.
The signature
How Braintree ranks across 361 UK Local Authorities
Pay
£42,926/yr
High
Better than 73% of UK LAs
House price
£345,000
Expensive
Worse than 67% of UK LAs
Rent
£1,227/mo
Expensive
Worse than 66% of UK LAs
Council tax
£2,280/yr
Cheapest
Better than 84% of UK LAs
Crime
53.6/1k
Safest
Better than 83% of UK LAs
Deprivation
14.7
Low
Better than 68% of UK LAs
Schools
93.7%
Mid
Better than 58% of UK LAs
Colour shows quintile position against 361 UK Local Authorities. Green is the best position for someone moving here; red is the worst. Direction is set per indicator — higher pay, lower rent, less crime, less deprivation are all green.
Schools
72 state-funded schools · Ofsted Sep 2026
59 of 63 (93.7%) rated Good or Outstanding under Ofsted's legacy framework. 9 schools are on the post-2024 report-card framework and don't roll up into the legacy total. How we count →
The map
63 schools · pins coloured by Ofsted grade
Grades, phase and pupil numbers for all 63 schools, sortable and filterable.
Schools in Braintree →Places with similar signatures
Nearest by quintile position across pay · housing · tax · crime · IMD · schools
What we don't know yet
Commute times · GP appointment availability · broadband speeds · air quality at LA level · green-space proximity · public transport coverage. These matter for a relocation decision. We'll add them when the source data is reliable nationally and consistent across LA boundaries.