Rugby Council Tax 2026

How to read this stock pattern

Rugby'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 64.8% 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.

Rugby 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.

Rugby occupies the middle half of the West Midlands stock-weighted distribution, above its £2,132.00 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: Cheltenham

Cheltenham is the closest full-distribution match for Rugby. The profiles are close rather than identical: 3.1% 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 at reference Band D: its share is 14.3% in Rugby and 16.4% in Cheltenham. The familiar benchmark represents a larger slice of the peer's housing stock.
• A smaller distinction appears in the upper part of the ladder at Band F. Rugby places 6.8% of dwellings there versus 4.9% for Cheltenham, giving this profile the heavier upper-band tail at that point.
• A smaller distinction appears in the upper part of the ladder at Band E. Rugby places 10.2% of dwellings there versus 9.2% for Cheltenham, giving this profile the heavier upper-band tail at that point.
• A smaller distinction sits at lower Band C, where Cheltenham holds 24.6% of its stock and Rugby holds 24.1%. The peer is more bottom-weighted at this rung of the valuation list.

How the wider profile compares

Show every band direction

• Band A is closely balanced
• Band B is closely balanced
• Band C is closely balanced
• Band D leans toward Cheltenham
• Band E leans toward Rugby
• Band F leans toward Rugby
• 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 Rugby: Stafford (4.1% redistribution distance); West Northamptonshire (4.1% redistribution distance); Bedford (4.1% redistribution distance); Forest of Dean (4.2% redistribution distance). Ranked across every published band in the England valuation system, this shortlist shows whether Cheltenham stands alone or sits in a cluster of similarly shaped authorities.