United Kingdom · South East · Local Authority
Reading
Unitary authority · South East, England · population ~160k · 62 state-funded schools
Expensive to live in, hard to rent in. Reading's median house price is 8.4 times median annual pay, a multiple that is below the South East median of £382,250, and weekly earnings of £804.90 are only slightly lower than the regional average. However, renting is a significant burden, with monthly rents at £1,579 taking up 45.3% of gross median earnings, a share that is higher than 84% of England authorities. Recorded crime per 1,000 is also high at 95.7, well above the South East median. This suits those prioritising home ownership over renting, and who can absorb higher living costs for proximity to decent earnings.
Written from the indicators on this page, 2026-08 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 77% 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
61 state-funded schools · Ofsted Feb 2026
58 of 60 (96.7%) 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
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.