United Kingdom · South East · Local Authority
Test Valley
Non-metropolitan district · South East, England · population ~127k · 57 state-funded schools
Affordable to rent, but a struggle to buy into. Test Valley offers monthly rents at £1,203, well below the South East median of £1,345, and a house price to annual pay multiple of 8.8x, which is also favourable compared to the regional average. However, weekly earnings are only £795.30, below the South East average. Recorded crime is low at 52.4 per 1,000, and the deprivation score of 11.93 is also better than the regional median. This location suits those prioritising lower living costs and safety over higher earning potential.
Written from the indicators on this page, 2026-08 data.
The signature
How Test Valley ranks across 361 UK Local Authorities
Pay
£41,356/yr
High
Better than 65% of UK LAs
House price
£365,000
Expensive
Worse than 73% of UK LAs
Rent
£1,203/mo
Expensive
Worse than 64% of UK LAs
Council tax
£2,306/yr
Cheap
Better than 79% of UK LAs
Crime
52.4/1k
Safest
Better than 84% of UK LAs
Deprivation
11.9
Least deprived
Better than 83% of UK LAs
Schools
85.7%
Concerning
Worse than 92% 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
57 state-funded schools · Ofsted Feb 2026
48 of 56 (85.7%) 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
57 schools · pins coloured by Ofsted grade
Grades, phase and pupil numbers for all 57 schools, sortable and filterable.
Schools in Test Valley →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.