United Kingdom · North East · Local Authority
County Durham
Unitary authority · North East, England · population ~533k · 260 state-funded schools
Low prices and low pay; that is the trade-off in County Durham. The median house price of £143,000 is the lowest in the North East, and rent takes a manageable 22.1% of median gross pay. However, median weekly earnings are also the lowest in the region at £661.30, a multiple of just 4.2x annual pay. Recorded crime is below the regional median at 89.4 per 1,000, but council tax is among the highest. This suits those prioritising affordability over career ceiling, though school performance is below the regional median at 92.6%.
Written from the indicators on this page, 2026-08 data.
The signature
How County Durham ranks across 361 UK Local Authorities
Pay
£34,388/yr
Very low
Worse than 95% of UK LAs
House price
£143,000
Most affordable
Better than 97% of UK LAs
Rent
£632/mo
Most affordable
Better than 97% of UK LAs
Council tax
£2,622/yr
Most expensive
Worse than 93% of UK LAs
Crime
89.4/1k
High
Worse than 73% of UK LAs
Deprivation
26.8
High
Worse than 80% of UK LAs
Schools
92.3%
Mid
Worse than 56% 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
260 state-funded schools · Ofsted Feb 2026
239 of 259 (92.3%) rated Good or Outstanding under Ofsted's legacy framework. 1 school is on the post-2024 report-card framework and don't roll up into the legacy total. How we count →
The map
260 schools · pins coloured by Ofsted grade
Grades, phase and pupil numbers for all 260 schools, sortable and filterable.
Schools in County Durham →Places with similar signatures
Nearest by quintile position across pay · housing · tax · crime · IMD · schools
County Durham head-to-heads
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.