United Kingdom · East of England · Local Authority
Southend-on-Sea
Unitary authority · East of England, England · population ~183k · 52 state-funded schools
Low council tax, but high crime and poor schools. Southend-on-Sea has a Band D council tax of £2,265, among the lowest in the East of England, and a median house price of £340,000, just below the regional median. However, this comes with significant trade-offs. Recorded crime is high at 95.6 per 1,000, and only 88.7% of pupils are in Good or Outstanding schools, below the East of England median. Rent consumes a substantial 36.4% of median gross pay, and house prices are a high 8.1 times annual earnings. This location may suit those prioritising lower council tax bills and a lower entry price for housing, but who are less concerned about crime rates or school performance.
Written from the indicators on this page, 2026-08 data.
The signature
How Southend-on-Sea ranks across 361 UK Local Authorities
Pay
£42,130/yr
High
Better than 69% of UK LAs
House price
£340,000
Expensive
Worse than 65% of UK LAs
Rent
£1,278/mo
Expensive
Worse than 70% of UK LAs
Council tax
£2,265/yr
Cheapest
Better than 86% of UK LAs
Crime
95.6/1k
Highest
Worse than 80% of UK LAs
Deprivation
22.4
High
Worse than 65% of UK LAs
Schools
90.4%
Weak
Worse than 70% 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
52 state-funded schools · Ofsted Feb 2026
47 of 52 (90.4%) rated Good or Outstanding under Ofsted's legacy framework. How we count →
The map
52 schools · pins coloured by Ofsted grade
Grades, phase and pupil numbers for all 52 schools, sortable and filterable.
Schools in Southend-on-Sea →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.