Dartford Council Tax 2026
South East, England · 50,730 domestic properties
According to MHCLG, Council Tax levels set by local authorities in England 2026-27, Dartford's Band D Council Tax is £2,375.15 for 2026-27, the 203rd highest of 350 UK billing authorities (higher than 42% of them) and 2% above the UK average of £2,337.00. Nearest published Band D rates sit with Sutton, Flintshire, Cannock Chase, Wychavon, then Milton Keynes, Cheltenham. Closest published housing-stock shapes include Rochford, Bexley, Croydon, Redbridge.
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 Sutton, Flintshire, Cannock Chase, Wychavon, then Milton Keynes, Cheltenham. See our methodology page for the full source-to-figure lineage.
- £2,375.15
- Band D charge · 2026 statutory
- Near the UK average
- +4.15%
- year-on-year vs £2,280.55
- Lower-quarter rise
- +1.6%
- vs UK avg £2,337.00
- £4,750.30
- Band H · 18/9 of Band D
Nearest published Band D rates sit with Sutton, Flintshire, Cannock Chase, Wychavon, then Milton Keynes, Cheltenham. Closest published housing-stock shapes include Rochford, Bexley, Croydon, Redbridge. Open Sutton for the closest published Band D on the same vintage.
Dartford · year-on-year Band D
What changed for Dartford
Dartford's Band D Council Tax rose from £2,280.55 (2025-26) to £2,375.15 (2026-27). Among 350 billing authorities by percentage rise, it ranks 291.
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 changesDartford bands A-H schedule
Per-band charge 2026
Dartford's nearest Band D charges nationwide
Dartford is 203rd of 350 on the national Band D list at £2,375.15. Nearest published Band D rates sit with Sutton, Flintshire, Cannock Chase, Wychavon, then Milton Keynes, Cheltenham. The six closest published 2026-27 rates, led by Sutton, 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 South East ranking further down when you care about local neighbours, and the stock-weighted average when you care what most of Dartford's 50,730 dwellings actually pay. Closest published housing-stock shapes include Rochford, Bexley, Croydon, Redbridge.
| Council | Band D | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| Sutton | £2,378.64 | +£3.49 |
| Flintshire | £2,376.17 | +£1.02 |
| Cannock Chase | £2,375.83 | +£0.68 |
| Wychavon | £2,373.19 | −£1.96 |
| Milton Keynes | £2,372.21 | −£2.94 |
| Cheltenham | £2,369.52 | −£5.63 |
Band A–H charge table (2026/2027)
| Band | Annual Charge | Monthly | Sole occupant (−25%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | £1,583.43 | £158.34 | £1,187.57 |
| B | £1,847.34 | £184.73 | £1,385.50 |
| C | £2,111.24 | £211.12 | £1,583.43 |
| D | £2,375.15 | £237.52 | £1,781.36 |
| E | £2,902.96 | £290.30 | £2,177.22 |
| F | £3,430.77 | £343.08 | £2,573.08 |
| G | £3,958.58 | £395.86 | £2,968.94 |
| H | £4,750.30 | £475.03 | £3,562.73 |
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 Dartford's 50,730 properties actually pay
Dartford's housing stock peaks below the reference point, in Band C, which covers 15,390 of 50,730 dwellings (30.3%). 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. Bands C and D between them account for 59.3% of the stock. 47.3% 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 £2,379.88 per dwelling, £4.73 (0.2%) above the £2,375.15 Band D headline. On that measure Dartford is 102nd of 318 authorities with published stock counts, against a £2,269.00 average. That places Dartford 41st of the 64 billing authorities in South East, below the regional median of £2,511.00.
How to read this stock pattern
Dartford'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 47.3% 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.
This is a two-band centre rather than a single-band market. Bands C and D together contain 59.3% of dwellings, so neither band should be presented as a complete account of the area. The stock-weighted result combines both groups and the smaller tails into one comparable measure. The table shows where that mean comes from and prevents the distribution being flattened into an overconfident "typical property" claim.
Dartford occupies the middle half of the South East stock-weighted distribution, below its £2,511.00 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: Brent
Brent is the closest full-distribution match for Dartford. The profiles are close rather than identical: 4.3% of dwellings would need to shift between valuation bands for their published shares to align. The comparison therefore tests the whole ladder, not just the largest band.
Four largest band differences
- The largest separation is lower on the ladder at Band B: Dartford has 13.5% of dwellings there, against 10.4% in Brent. That extra lower-band weight pulls its stock profile away from the peer.
- A smaller distinction is an upper-band difference at Band E. Brent records 17.3% of dwellings there, compared with 15.4% in Dartford, so the peer carries more of its stock at that higher rung.
- A smaller distinction appears in the upper part of the ladder at Band F. Dartford places 6.0% of dwellings there versus 4.9% for Brent, giving this profile the heavier upper-band tail at that point.
- A smaller distinction sits at lower Band A, where Brent holds 4.5% of its stock and Dartford holds 3.4%. The peer is more bottom-weighted at this rung of the valuation list.
How the wider profile compares
Dartford has the stronger combined lower-band tilt: Bands A to C account for 1.4% more of its stock than they do in Brent. The nearest match still leaves that bottom-of-ladder difference visible.
Brent carries the heavier upper tail across Bands E and above, exceeding Dartford's combined share there by 1.1%. 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 H is the most stable point in the comparison, with shares of 0.1% and 0.2%. 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 Brent
- Band B leans toward Dartford
- Band C leans toward Brent
- Band D is closely balanced
- Band E leans toward Brent
- Band F leans toward Dartford
- 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 Dartford: Rochford (4.8% redistribution distance); Bexley (4.9% redistribution distance); Croydon (5.6% redistribution distance); Redbridge (5.8% redistribution distance). Ranked across every published band in the England valuation system, this shortlist shows whether Brent stands alone or sits in a cluster of similarly shaped authorities.
| Band | Properties | Share of stock | Annual charge |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | 1,750 | 3.4% | £1,583.43 |
| B | 6,830 | 13.5% | £1,847.34 |
| C | 15,390 | 30.3% | £2,111.24 |
| D | 14,690 | 29.0% | £2,375.15 |
| E | 7,830 | 15.4% | £2,902.96 |
| F | 3,050 | 6.0% | £3,430.77 |
| G | 1,120 | 2.2% | £3,958.58 |
| H | 70 | 0.1% | £4,750.30 |
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 Dartford 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
- Bedford£2,378.54
- Bexley£2,377.37
- South Gloucestershire£2,376.53
- Cheshire West and Chester£2,374.54
Dartford's nearest year-on-year movers
Dartford moved Band D from £2,280.55 to £2,375.15 (+4.15%, competition rank 291st of 350). The closest published movements sit with East Staffordshire, Folkestone & Hythe, Stafford.
- East Staffordshire4.16%
- Folkestone & Hythe4.16%
- Stafford4.16%
- Bassetlaw4.15%
- Colchester4.14%
- Epping Forest4.14%
How Dartford compares in South East
Among the 64 billing authorities in South East, Dartford's 2026-27 Band D charge of £2,375.15 ranks 50th of 64, higher than 22% of them (£99.85 below the South East average of £2,475.00). Its nearest-charged neighbours in the region:
| Region rank | Council | Band D 2026-27 |
|---|---|---|
| 48th | Hart | £2,400.02 |
| 49th | Southampton | £2,381.48 |
| 50th | Dartford | £2,375.15 |
| 51st | Milton Keynes | £2,372.21 |
| 52nd | Winchester | £2,359.76 |
Regional rank out of 64 South East billing authorities by 2026-27 Band D charge (1 = dearest). See the full UK ranking or the complete directory.
Questions answered from Dartford's data
These answers use Dartford's £2,375.15 Band D rate, the England statutory multipliers, and the VOA stock mix (modal Band C, 47.3% below D).
Is Dartford Council Tax above the UK average?
Dartford's 2026-27 Band D rate is £2,375.15, 1.6% above the UK average of £2,337.00. It has competition rank 203rd of 350, with equal charges sharing a rank. Nearest published Band D rates sit with Sutton, Flintshire, Cannock Chase, Wychavon, then Milton Keynes, Cheltenham.
Which councils have charges closest to Dartford?
The closest published Band D rates are Sutton (£2,378.64), Flintshire (£2,376.17), Cannock Chase (£2,375.83), Wychavon (£2,373.19), Milton Keynes (£2,372.21), Cheltenham (£2,369.52). The comparison table above shows the six nearest authorities and the exact difference from Dartford.
What is the average Council Tax bill in Dartford?
Across Dartford's 50,730 domestic properties, the stock-weighted average charge is £2,379.88 for 2026-27. That is £4.73 above the £2,375.15 Band D rate, because the most common band here is Band C (30.3% of the stock) and 47.3% of dwellings are banded below D. Closest published housing-stock shapes include Rochford, Bexley, Croydon, Redbridge. Property counts are from the VOA 2025 stock release; the weighting is our calculation.
How did Dartford Council Tax change for 2026-27?
Band D moved from £2,280.55 to £2,375.15, a 4.15% rise. Its competition rank by annual increase is 291st of 350; the closest movements include East Staffordshire, Folkestone & Hythe, Stafford.
Advice boundary for Dartford
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. This area Band D is a two-tier total for Dartford: district charge plus county, police, fire where separate, and the average parish precept across the district. Nearest published Band D rates sit with Sutton, Flintshire, Cannock Chase, Wychavon, then Milton Keynes, Cheltenham. Closest published housing-stock shapes include Rochford, Bexley, Croydon, Redbridge. For a binding figure consult your Dartford 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 Dartford are the area Band D and statutory band multiples, already including county, police, fire and average parish precepts where they apply. Nearest published Band D rates sit with Sutton, Flintshire, Cannock Chase, Wychavon, then Milton Keynes, Cheltenham.