Somerset Council Tax 2026

How to read this stock pattern

Somerset'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 B charge is seven-ninths of the Band D rate, and 64.5% 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.

Somerset 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.

Somerset occupies the middle half of the South West stock-weighted distribution, above its £2,376.53 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: Forest of Dean

Forest of Dean is an exceptionally close stock-shape match for Somerset: moving 2.3% 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 sits at lower Band A, where Forest of Dean holds 17.5% of its stock and Somerset holds 15.9%. The peer is more bottom-weighted at this rung of the valuation list.
• A smaller distinction is lower on the ladder at Band B: Somerset has 26.5% of dwellings there, against 25.4% in Forest of Dean. That extra lower-band weight pulls its stock profile away from the peer.
• A smaller distinction appears in the upper part of the ladder at Band F. Somerset places 6.2% of dwellings there versus 5.4% for Forest of Dean, giving this profile the heavier upper-band tail at that point.
• A smaller distinction sits at lower Band C, where Forest of Dean holds 22.5% of its stock and Somerset holds 22.0%. The peer is more bottom-weighted at this rung of the valuation list.

How the wider profile compares

Show every band direction

• Band A leans toward Forest of Dean
• Band B leans toward Somerset
• Band C leans toward Forest of Dean
• Band D is closely balanced
• Band E is closely balanced
• Band F leans toward Somerset
• 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 Somerset: Shropshire (2.6% redistribution distance); Huntingdonshire (2.8% redistribution distance); Mid Suffolk (4.1% redistribution distance); Charnwood (4.4% redistribution distance). Ranked across every published band in the England valuation system, this shortlist shows whether Forest of Dean stands alone or sits in a cluster of similarly shaped authorities.