St Albans Council Tax 2026
East of England, England · 63,560 domestic properties
St Albans Band D is £2,419.22 for 2026-27, the 172nd highest of 350 UK billing authorities (4% above the UK average of £2,337.00).
According to MHCLG, Council Tax levels set by local authorities in England 2026-27, St Albans's published Band D Council Tax is £2,419.22 for 2026-27 (OVER). Competition rank is 172nd of 350 (higher than 51% of authorities).
- £2,419.22 Band D · OVER
- 172nd of 350 authorities
- +3.5% vs UK average
According to MHCLG, Council Tax levels set by local authorities in England 2026-27, St Albans's Band D Council Tax is £2,419.22 for 2026-27 (OVER), the 172nd highest of 350 UK billing authorities (higher than 51% of them) and 4% above the UK average of £2,337.00.
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. See our methodology page for the full source-to-figure lineage.
- £2,419.22
- Band D charge · 2026 statutory
- Above the UK average
- +4.91%
- year-on-year vs £2,305.95
- Middle-half rise
- +3.5%
- vs UK avg £2,337.00
- £4,838.44
- Band H · 18/9 of Band D
St Albans · year-on-year Band D
What changed for St Albans
St Albans's Band D Council Tax rose from £2,305.95 (2025-26) to £2,419.22 (2026-27). Among 350 billing authorities by percentage rise, it ranks 177.
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 changesMHCLG/VOA position brief
St Albans Band D posture in the 2026-27 corpus
Entity-varying stamps from the joined MHCLG, Scottish CTAS and StatsWales extract plus VOA CTSOP stock counts, ABS(charge) peers, not map neighbours.
- £2,419.22 Published Band D 2026-27 OVER
- 172nd of 350 UK authorities 51st percentile
- +4.9% Year-on-year Band D MID
- 63,560 VOA dwellings on list UPPER
Band D charge neighbourhood
Published 2026-27 Band D among the nearest pound-gap peers (snapshot 2026-10-02).
Derived position reading
What the St Albans Band D figure shows
The published Band D charge of £2,419.22 places St Albans 172nd out of 350 UK billing authorities when ordered from the highest charge down. That position is derived from the full authority table, rather than from a single quoted comparison. It is 3.5% above the simple UK average of £2,337.00, while the percentile shows that 51% of the recorded authorities have a lower Band D charge.
The more useful local comparison is East of England. Here, St Albans ranks 21st among 45 billing authorities, against a regional average of £2,391.00. The table of nearby authorities therefore compares published charges in the same geography, not property values or the level of service a household receives. Equal Band D charges share a position, so the ranking does not invent a difference where the underlying values match.
Band D is a statutory reference point, not a bill for every household. Charges for the other bands are calculated from the applicable national ratios, and discounts or exemptions can change an individual bill. This page is best used to understand the current published schedule and how this authority sits within the recorded 2026-27 council-tax corpus.
St Albans bands A-H schedule
Per-band charge 2026
Band A–H charge table (2026/2027)
| Band | Annual Charge | Monthly | Sole occupant (−25%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | £1,612.81 | £161.28 | £1,209.61 |
| B | £1,881.62 | £188.16 | £1,411.22 |
| C | £2,150.42 | £215.04 | £1,612.82 |
| D | £2,419.22 | £241.92 | £1,814.42 |
| E | £2,956.82 | £295.68 | £2,217.62 |
| F | £3,494.43 | £349.44 | £2,620.82 |
| G | £4,032.03 | £403.20 | £3,024.02 |
| H | £4,838.44 | £483.84 | £3,628.83 |
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 St Albans's 63,560 properties actually pay
St Albans is one of the authorities where Band D genuinely is the commonest band — 16,550 of 63,560 dwellings (26.0%). The headline rate above therefore describes the typical home here, rather than sitting above it as it does in most of the country. VOA CTSOP stamp UPPER: 23.0% of dwellings here are banded below D.
Stock-weighted average £2,872.96 is £453.74 (18.8%) above Band D £2,419.22 - 16th of 318 authorities with published counts (corpus mean £2,269.00). No billing authority in East of England charges more per dwelling across its stock than St Albans does.
St Albans property mix · A–C / D / E–H · UPPER
Sums to 63,560 VOA dwellings, band mix, not a household bill.
Closest housing-stock shape: Surrey Heath
Surrey Heath is the closest full-distribution match for St Albans. The profiles are close rather than identical: 3.8% 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 appears in the upper part of the ladder at Band E. St Albans places 20.6% of dwellings there versus 17.8% for Surrey Heath, giving this profile the heavier upper-band tail at that point.
- A smaller distinction sits at lower Band B, where Surrey Heath holds 6.8% of its stock and St Albans holds 5.1%. The peer is more bottom-weighted at this rung of the valuation list.
- A smaller distinction appears in the upper part of the ladder at Band H. St Albans places 2.2% of dwellings there versus 1.4% for Surrey Heath, giving this profile the heavier upper-band tail at that point.
- A smaller distinction is an upper-band difference at Band G. Surrey Heath records 13.8% of dwellings there, compared with 13.0% in St Albans, so the peer carries more of its stock at that higher rung.
Other close England matches for St Albans: Epsom & Ewell (5.0% redistribution distance); Windsor & Maidenhead (5.2% redistribution distance); Three Rivers (5.3% redistribution distance); Wokingham (6.0% redistribution distance).
| Band | Properties | Share of stock | Annual charge |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | 880 | 1.4% | £1,612.81 |
| B | 3,230 | 5.1% | £1,881.62 |
| C | 10,540 | 16.6% | £2,150.42 |
| D | 16,550 | 26.0% | £2,419.22 |
| E | 13,110 | 20.6% | £2,956.82 |
| F | 9,540 | 15.0% | £3,494.43 |
| G | 8,280 | 13.0% | £4,032.03 |
| H | 1,430 | 2.2% | £4,838.44 |
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
Closest to St Albans on stock-weighted charge (UPPER) - a different ordering from Band D twins.
- Woking£2,914.95
- Buckinghamshire£2,887.01
- Three Rivers£2,863.88
- Wokingham£2,860.70
- South Oxfordshire£2,853.05
St Albans's nearest year-on-year movers · MID
St Albans moved Band D from £2,305.95 to £2,419.22 (+4.91%, MID; competition rank 177th of 350). Closest published movements: East Hertfordshire, Mid Suffolk, Vale of White Horse.
- East Hertfordshire4.92%
- Mid Suffolk4.91%
- Vale of White Horse4.91%
- Arun4.90%
- Cumberland4.90%
- Fareham4.90%
How St Albans compares in East of England
Among the 45 billing authorities in East of England, St Albans's 2026-27 Band D charge of £2,419.22 ranks 21st of 45, higher than 53% of them (£28.22 above the East of England average of £2,391.00). Its nearest-charged neighbours in the region:
| Region rank | Council | Band D 2026-27 |
|---|---|---|
| 19th | King's Lynn & West Norfolk | £2,430.13 |
| 20th | Three Rivers | £2,422.31 |
| 21st | St Albans | £2,419.22 |
| 22nd | Great Yarmouth | £2,414.41 |
| 23rd | Dacorum | £2,408.51 |
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.
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 St Albans: district charge plus county, police, fire where separate, and the average parish precept across the district. For a binding figure consult your St Albans Council Tax bill or the official gov.uk Council Tax service. Figures published in 2026 reflect the 2026/2027 financial year only.
UK directories, Band D rollup and band challenge
Charges shown for St Albans are the area Band D and statutory band multiples, already including county, police, fire and average parish precepts where they apply.