Blackburn with Darwen Council Tax 2026

How to read this stock pattern

Band D is a poor description of the largest group in Blackburn with Darwen's housing stock. The dominant group is Band A, where the statutory charge is two-thirds of the Band D rate, while the reference band describes a different part of the valuation list. The £1,931.18 stock-weighted figure is therefore the more representative area-level comparison. It does not predict an individual bill, because discounts, exemptions and the property's actual valuation band still determine liability.

The distribution is unusually concentrated: one band alone contains 55.8% of all published dwellings. That gives the modal-band comparison real descriptive weight and makes the gap between its charge and Band D easier to interpret. It also means the statutory charge shown for that band applies to the largest share of the local stock before discounts or exemptions. The table remains necessary because the other 7 bands describe the minority of properties that the headline cannot represent.

Blackburn with Darwen falls in the lower quarter of the North West stock-weighted ordering, below the regional median of £2,089.63. Its Band D figure may sit elsewhere in the national table, but applying the local stock mix produces a cheaper regional comparison. That difference is precisely why both measures are shown. Neither replaces an address-level bill, which depends on the property's valuation band and any applicable reductions.

Closest housing-stock shape: Newcastle upon Tyne

Newcastle upon Tyne is an exceptionally close stock-shape match for Blackburn with Darwen: moving 1.5% 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 A: Blackburn with Darwen has 55.8% of dwellings there, against 55.2% in Newcastle upon Tyne. That extra lower-band weight pulls its stock profile away from the peer.
• A smaller distinction falls on the reference band itself. Band D contains 7.8% of Blackburn with Darwen's stock but 7.2% of Newcastle upon Tyne's, so the national headline describes more of the local distribution here.
• A smaller distinction is an upper-band difference at Band F. Newcastle upon Tyne records 1.9% of dwellings there, compared with 1.3% in Blackburn with Darwen, so the peer carries more of its stock at that higher rung.
• A smaller distinction is an upper-band difference at Band G. Newcastle upon Tyne records 1.4% of dwellings there, compared with 0.9% in Blackburn with Darwen, so the peer carries more of its stock at that higher rung.

How the wider profile compares

Show every band direction

• Band A leans toward Blackburn with Darwen
• Band B is closely balanced
• Band C is closely balanced
• Band D leans toward Blackburn with Darwen
• Band E is closely balanced
• Band F leans toward Newcastle upon Tyne
• Band G is closely balanced
• Band H is closely balanced

This sequence is read from the lowest published band to the highest.

Other close England matches for Blackburn with Darwen: Durham (2.5% redistribution distance); Barnsley (2.6% redistribution distance); Manchester (3.2% redistribution distance); Sheffield (3.5% redistribution distance). Ranked across every published band in the England valuation system, this shortlist shows whether Newcastle upon Tyne stands alone or sits in a cluster of similarly shaped authorities.