United Kingdom · South East · Local Authority
Reading
Unitary authority · South East, England · population ~160k · 62 state-funded schools
Accessible to the capital but expensive to live in, Reading presents a difficult balance between high housing costs and modest local wages. Rent consumes 45.3% of median gross pay, a significant burden, while the median house price sits at 8.4 times median annual earnings. Beyond the financial strain, the area faces challenges with public services and safety, as the crime rate of 95.7 per 1,000 residents sits well above the regional median. Council tax is also among the higher end of the spectrum at £2,613. These figures suggest that while the location offers a foothold in the South East, it requires a high tolerance for both housing costs and local crime levels. It is a choice for those who value proximity to major employment hubs over affordability.
Written from the indicators on this page, 2026-10 data.
The signature
How Reading ranks across 361 UK Local Authorities
Pay
£41,855/yr
High
Better than 67% of UK LAs
House price
£350,000
Expensive
Worse than 69% of UK LAs
Rent
£1,579/mo
Very expensive
Worse than 86% of UK LAs
Council tax
£2,613/yr
Most expensive
Worse than 92% of UK LAs
Crime
95.7/1k
Highest
Worse than 81% of UK LAs
Deprivation
19.6
Mid
Around UK average
Schools
96.7%
Strong
Better than 78% 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
71 state-funded schools · Ofsted Sep 2026
59 of 61 (96.7%) rated Good or Outstanding under Ofsted's legacy framework. 10 schools are on the post-2024 report-card framework and don't roll up into the legacy total. How we count →
The map
62 schools · pins coloured by Ofsted grade
Grades, phase and pupil numbers for all 62 schools, sortable and filterable.
Schools in Reading →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.