Bedford Council Tax 2026
East of England, England · 81,150 domestic properties
According to MHCLG, Council Tax levels set by local authorities in England 2026-27, Bedford's Band D Council Tax is £2,471.74 for 2026-27, the 123rd highest of 350 UK billing authorities (higher than 65% of them) and 6% above the UK average of £2,337.00. Nearest published Band D rates sit with Mid Sussex, Conwy, Tonbridge & Malling, Torbay, then Chichester, Gwynedd. Closest published housing-stock shapes include Stroud, Lichfield, Folkestone & Hythe, Rugby.
How we calculate this rank & percentile
We compare every UK billing authority with a published 2026-27 Band D rate (350 in total). Rank is one plus the number with a higher charge, so equal charges share a rank. Percentile is round(authorities with a lower charge ÷ 350 × 100). The UK average is the simple mean of every council's Band D rate in our coverage set. Because the rank spans all three nations, it compares what each authority charges, not what each charge buys. English bands rest on 1991 property values in eight bands, A to H, while Scotland uses its own 1991 thresholds and Wales revalued to 2003 values with a ninth band. An English Band D home is therefore not the same property profile as a Welsh or Scottish one. Nearest published Band D rates sit with Mid Sussex, Conwy, Tonbridge & Malling, Torbay, then Chichester, Gwynedd. See our methodology page for the full source-to-figure lineage.
- £2,471.74
- Band D charge · 2026 statutory
- Above the UK average
- +5.14%
- year-on-year vs £2,350.94
- Middle-half rise
- +5.8%
- vs UK avg £2,337.00
- £4,943.48
- Band H · 18/9 of Band D
Nearest published Band D rates sit with Mid Sussex, Conwy, Tonbridge & Malling, Torbay, then Chichester, Gwynedd. Closest published housing-stock shapes include Stroud, Lichfield, Folkestone & Hythe, Rugby. Open Mid Sussex for the closest published Band D on the same vintage.
Bedford · year-on-year Band D
What changed for Bedford
Bedford's Band D Council Tax rose from £2,350.94 (2025-26) to £2,471.74 (2026-27). Among 350 billing authorities by percentage rise, it ranks 102.
How to read this Band D change
This is a change in the published Band D charge, not advice about household bills. Precepts, discounts, and banding decide the amount you pay.
See UK year-on-year changesBedford bands A-H schedule
Per-band charge 2026
Bedford's nearest Band D charges nationwide
Bedford is 123rd of 350 on the national Band D list at £2,471.74. Nearest published Band D rates sit with Mid Sussex, Conwy, Tonbridge & Malling, Torbay, then Chichester, Gwynedd. The six closest published 2026-27 rates, led by Mid Sussex, ignore geography on purpose, so a map neighbour is not mistaken for a charge twin. Read the difference column as a pound gap; cross-check the East of England ranking further down when you care about local neighbours, and the stock-weighted average when you care what most of Bedford's 81,150 dwellings actually pay. Closest published housing-stock shapes include Stroud, Lichfield, Folkestone & Hythe, Rugby.
| Council | Band D | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| Mid Sussex | £2,474.26 | +£2.52 |
| Conwy | £2,472.82 | +£1.08 |
| Tonbridge & Malling | £2,471.83 | +£0.09 |
| Torbay | £2,470.25 | −£1.49 |
| Chichester | £2,469.68 | −£2.06 |
| Gwynedd | £2,468.77 | −£2.97 |
Band A–H charge table (2026/2027)
| Band | Annual Charge | Monthly | Sole occupant (−25%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | £1,647.83 | £164.78 | £1,235.87 |
| B | £1,922.46 | £192.25 | £1,441.85 |
| C | £2,197.10 | £219.71 | £1,647.82 |
| D | £2,471.74 | £247.17 | £1,853.80 |
| E | £3,021.02 | £302.10 | £2,265.77 |
| F | £3,570.29 | £357.03 | £2,677.72 |
| G | £4,119.57 | £411.96 | £3,089.68 |
| H | £4,943.48 | £494.35 | £3,707.61 |
England 1991 valuation ranges (Band A–H)
- Band A: Up to £40,000 (1991 valuation)
- Band B: £40,001 to £52,000
- Band C: £52,001 to £68,000
- Band D: £68,001 to £88,000 (reference band)
- Band E: £88,001 to £120,000
- Band F: £120,001 to £160,000
- Band G: £160,001 to £320,000
- Band H: Over £320,000
Source: MHCLG, Council Tax levels set by local authorities in England 2026-27 (area Band D) + statutory England band ratios documented in our methodology. Monthly figure is the annual charge / 10 (most councils use 10 monthly instalments). The sole-occupant column applies the statutory 25% single-person discount, payable when only one adult lives in the property.
What Bedford's 81,150 properties actually pay
Bedford's housing stock peaks below the reference point, in Band C, which covers 20,240 of 81,150 dwellings (24.9%). A Band C home is charged at eight-ninths of the Band D rate, which is why the typical bill here lands under the headline figure. It takes 3 bands — B, C, D — to cover half the stock, a wider spread than most authorities show. 61.8% of dwellings on the England valuation list here are banded below D.
Weighting each band's statutory charge by the number of properties in it gives a stock-weighted average of £2,378.54 per dwelling, £93.20 (3.8%) below the £2,471.74 Band D headline, because most of the stock sits in bands charged at less than the Band D rate. On that measure Bedford is 103rd of 318 authorities with published stock counts, against a £2,269.00 average. That places Bedford 19th of the 45 billing authorities in East of England, above the regional median of £2,255.65.
How to read this stock pattern
Bedford's largest property group sits in the lower half of the valuation ladder rather than at the Band D reference used in national tables. Its modal Band C charge is eight-ninths of the Band D rate, and 61.8% of the published stock lies below D. The headline alone does not show how often each band occurs. The stock-weighted amount applies the full distribution for an area-level comparison, while remaining an average rather than a household quotation.
Bedford has a broad valuation-band profile: the largest 3 groups are needed before the cumulative share passes half of the stock. No single band dominates the local picture, which makes a one-band headline especially incomplete. The weighted result is useful for comparing this authority with peers, but the spread across 8 published bands matters just as much. A broad mix also means the area-level mean is less representative of any one household than it is in a concentrated council.
Bedford occupies the middle half of the East of England stock-weighted distribution, above its £2,255.65 median. The regional result gives more context than a UK-wide rank without turning the difference into a superlative. It also shows that the council's band mix, not only its published Band D rate, determines where it sits among nearby authorities. The remaining distance from the median is an area-level comparison rather than a household saving or premium.
Closest housing-stock shape: South Staffordshire
South Staffordshire is an exceptionally close stock-shape match for Bedford: moving 2.1% of dwellings between valuation bands would make the two published distributions align. That is a stricter comparison than sharing a modal band, because all published bands contribute to the distance.
Four largest band differences
- The largest separation is lower on the ladder at Band B: Bedford has 23.6% of dwellings there, against 22.1% in South Staffordshire. That extra lower-band weight pulls its stock profile away from the peer.
- A smaller distinction is an upper-band difference at Band G. South Staffordshire records 5.0% of dwellings there, compared with 4.1% in Bedford, so the peer carries more of its stock at that higher rung.
- A smaller distinction sits at lower Band A, where South Staffordshire holds 14.0% of its stock and Bedford holds 13.3%. The peer is more bottom-weighted at this rung of the valuation list.
- A smaller distinction is lower on the ladder at Band C: Bedford has 24.9% of dwellings there, against 24.5% in South Staffordshire. That extra lower-band weight pulls its stock profile away from the peer.
How the wider profile compares
Bedford has the stronger combined lower-band tilt: Bands A to C account for 1.3% more of its stock than they do in South Staffordshire. The nearest match still leaves that bottom-of-ladder difference visible.
South Staffordshire carries the heavier upper tail across Bands E and above, exceeding Bedford's combined share there by 1.5%. Total-variation distance counts those absolute band gaps without assuming they offset the lower-band pattern.
Both profiles peak in Band C, so the peer match agrees on the most common valuation group as well as the full-distribution distance. The band-by-band gaps above show why a shared mode does not make the profiles interchangeable.
Band F is the most stable point in the comparison, with shares of 7.2% and 7.3%. Reading that near-match beside the largest gaps prevents the peer label from hiding where the two published distributions actually agree.
Show every band direction
- Band A leans toward South Staffordshire
- Band B leans toward Bedford
- Band C is closely balanced
- Band D is closely balanced
- Band E is closely balanced
- Band F is closely balanced
- Band G leans toward South Staffordshire
- Band H is closely balanced
This sequence is read from the lowest published band to the highest.
Other close England matches for Bedford: Stroud (2.8% redistribution distance); Lichfield (3.3% redistribution distance); Folkestone & Hythe (3.7% redistribution distance); Rugby (4.1% redistribution distance). Ranked across every published band in the England valuation system, this shortlist shows whether South Staffordshire stands alone or sits in a cluster of similarly shaped authorities.
| Band | Properties | Share of stock | Annual charge |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | 10,810 | 13.3% | £1,647.83 |
| B | 19,140 | 23.6% | £1,922.46 |
| C | 20,240 | 24.9% | £2,197.10 |
| D | 12,570 | 15.5% | £2,471.74 |
| E | 9,000 | 11.1% | £3,021.02 |
| F | 5,840 | 7.2% | £3,570.29 |
| G | 3,300 | 4.1% | £4,119.57 |
| H | 250 | 0.3% | £4,943.48 |
Property-stock source, rounding and weighting notes
Property counts: VOA, Council Tax: stock of properties 2025 (Table CTSOP1.0_SUP, as at 9 September 2025), Open Government Licence v3.0. Counts are published rounded to the nearest 10, so shares are approximate and may not sum to exactly 100%. The stock-weighted average is our calculation: each band's 2026/2027 charge multiplied by its property count, divided by the total. It is a mean across the whole stock, not a bill any individual household receives.
Authorities charging a similar average across their stock
These are the closest authorities to Bedford on the stock-weighted measure, which is a different ordering from the Band D neighbours above because it accounts for how each area's properties are banded.
- North Devon£2,387.71
- Dartford£2,379.88
- Bexley£2,377.37
- South Gloucestershire£2,376.53
- Cheshire West and Chester£2,374.54
Bedford's nearest year-on-year movers
Bedford moved Band D from £2,350.94 to £2,471.74 (+5.14%, competition rank 102nd of 350). The closest published movements sit with Eastleigh, Kirklees, West Berkshire.
- Eastleigh5.14%
- Kirklees5.14%
- West Berkshire5.14%
- Leeds5.13%
- Southend-on-Sea5.13%
- Telford and the Wrekin5.13%
How Bedford compares in East of England
Among the 45 billing authorities in East of England, Bedford's 2026-27 Band D charge of £2,471.74 ranks 8th of 45, higher than 82% of them (£80.74 above the East of England average of £2,391.00). Its nearest-charged neighbours in the region:
Regional high-charge outlier: this authority sits in the costliest fifth of East of England.
| Region rank | Council | Band D 2026-27 |
|---|---|---|
| 6th | East Cambridgeshire | £2,485.18 |
| 7th | South Norfolk | £2,482.87 |
| 8th | Bedford | £2,471.74 |
| 9th | Ipswich | £2,468.25 |
| 10th | Cambridge | £2,467.02 |
Regional rank out of 45 East of England billing authorities by 2026-27 Band D charge (1 = dearest). See the full UK ranking or the complete directory.
Questions answered from Bedford's data
These answers use Bedford's £2,471.74 Band D rate, the England statutory multipliers, and the VOA stock mix (modal Band C, 61.8% below D).
Is Bedford Council Tax above the UK average?
Bedford's 2026-27 Band D rate is £2,471.74, 5.8% above the UK average of £2,337.00. It has competition rank 123rd of 350, with equal charges sharing a rank. Nearest published Band D rates sit with Mid Sussex, Conwy, Tonbridge & Malling, Torbay, then Chichester, Gwynedd.
Which councils have charges closest to Bedford?
The closest published Band D rates are Mid Sussex (£2,474.26), Conwy (£2,472.82), Tonbridge & Malling (£2,471.83), Torbay (£2,470.25), Chichester (£2,469.68), Gwynedd (£2,468.77). The comparison table above shows the six nearest authorities and the exact difference from Bedford.
What is the average Council Tax bill in Bedford?
Across Bedford's 81,150 domestic properties, the stock-weighted average charge is £2,378.54 for 2026-27. That is £93.20 below the £2,471.74 Band D rate, because the most common band here is Band C (24.9% of the stock) and 61.8% of dwellings are banded below D. Closest published housing-stock shapes include Stroud, Lichfield, Folkestone & Hythe, Rugby. Property counts are from the VOA 2025 stock release; the weighting is our calculation.
How did Bedford Council Tax change for 2026-27?
Band D moved from £2,350.94 to £2,471.74, a 5.14% rise. Its competition rank by annual increase is 102nd of 350; the closest movements include Eastleigh, Kirklees, West Berkshire.
Advice boundary for Bedford
They are not personalised advice - expand a question for the figure that matches the tables above for the 2026-27 vintage, then follow the methodology or gov.uk links for a binding bill on a specific property.
Council Tax figure, precept and liability disclaimer
Council Tax charges shown on this page are derived from the published England Band D dataset and statutory England band ratios. They are intended as informational guidance, not as a personalised tax statement or legal advice. Your actual bill depends on your property's assigned band and on any discounts or exemptions that apply to your household. Bedford is unitary, so this figure combines its own charge (including adult social care) with police and fire precepts where separate, plus any average parish precept. Nearest published Band D rates sit with Mid Sussex, Conwy, Tonbridge & Malling, Torbay, then Chichester, Gwynedd. Closest published housing-stock shapes include Stroud, Lichfield, Folkestone & Hythe, Rugby. For a binding figure consult your Bedford Council Tax bill or the official gov.uk Council Tax service. Figures published in 2026 reflect the 2026/2027 financial year only.
UK tools, directories and band challenge
- Compare councils side-by-side →
- Browse all UK councils →
- Band D national rollup →
- Challenge your band guide →
Charges shown for Bedford are the area Band D and statutory band multiples with no county tier. Nearest published Band D rates sit with Mid Sussex, Conwy, Tonbridge & Malling, Torbay, then Chichester, Gwynedd.