United Kingdom · London · Local Authority
Merton
Local Authority · London, England · population ~206k · 56 state-funded schools
High pay, high costs. Merton offers the best schools in London, with 100% of pupils in Good or Outstanding places, and recorded crime is significantly below the London median at 60.5 per 1,000. However, this comes at a price: median rent consumes a substantial 48.3% of gross median pay, and house prices stand at 10.5 times annual earnings. While earnings are strong at £994.30 weekly, higher than 97% of English authorities, the cost of living means Merton suits those prioritising educational outcomes and lower crime over affordability.
Written from the indicators on this page, 2026-08 data.
The signature
How Merton ranks across 361 UK Local Authorities
Pay
£51,704/yr
Very high
Better than 98% of UK LAs
House price
£545,000
Very expensive
Worse than 95% of UK LAs
Rent
£2,083/mo
Very expensive
Worse than 97% of UK LAs
Council tax
£2,147/yr
Cheapest
Better than 93% of UK LAs
Crime
60.5/1k
Low
Better than 69% of UK LAs
Deprivation
14.7
Low
Better than 68% of UK LAs
Schools
100.0%
Very strong
Better than 96% 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
56 state-funded schools · Ofsted Feb 2026
56 of 56 (100%) rated Good or Outstanding under Ofsted's legacy framework. How we count →
The map
56 schools · pins coloured by Ofsted grade
Grades, phase and pupil numbers for all 56 schools, sortable and filterable.
Schools in Merton →Places with similar signatures
Nearest by quintile position across pay · housing · tax · crime · IMD · schools
Merton 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.