United Kingdom · Yorkshire and The Humber · Local Authority
Wakefield
Metropolitan district · Yorkshire and The Humber, England · population ~352k · 140 state-funded schools
Affordable to buy into, but with a cost of living that bites. Wakefield’s median house price is 5.6 times median annual pay, a multiple that is below the regional average, yet rent consumes a significant 26.4% of gross median earnings, the highest share in the region. While council tax is lower than the Yorkshire and The Humber median, recorded crime is also higher than 89% of English authorities. The proportion of pupils in Good or Outstanding schools, at 91.5%, is below the regional median. This may suit those prioritising lower upfront property costs over disposable income and educational outcomes.
Written from the indicators on this page, 2026-08 data.
The signature
How Wakefield ranks across 361 UK Local Authorities
Pay
£35,833/yr
Very low
Worse than 86% of UK LAs
House price
£200,000
Most affordable
Better than 80% of UK LAs
Rent
£787/mo
Affordable
Better than 76% of UK LAs
Council tax
£2,297/yr
Cheapest
Better than 80% of UK LAs
Crime
108.4/1k
Highest
Worse than 90% of UK LAs
Deprivation
27.3
Most deprived
Worse than 82% of UK LAs
Schools
91.2%
Weak
Worse than 65% 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
140 state-funded schools · Ofsted Feb 2026
124 of 136 (91.2%) rated Good or Outstanding under Ofsted's legacy framework. 4 schools are on the post-2024 report-card framework and don't roll up into the legacy total. How we count →
The map
140 schools · pins coloured by Ofsted grade
Grades, phase and pupil numbers for all 140 schools, sortable and filterable.
Schools in Wakefield →Places with similar signatures
Nearest by quintile position across pay · housing · tax · crime · IMD · schools
Wakefield 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.