Swansea Council Tax 2026
Wales · 115,920 domestic properties
Swansea Band D is £2,238.29 for 2026-27, the 282nd highest of 350 UK billing authorities (4% below the UK average of £2,337.00).
According to Welsh Government / StatsWales, Council Tax levels 2026-27, Swansea's published Band D Council Tax is £2,238.29 for 2026-27 (UNDER). Competition rank is 282nd of 350 (higher than 19% of authorities).
- £2,238.29 Band D · UNDER
- 282nd of 350 authorities
- -4.2% vs UK average
According to Welsh Government / StatsWales, Council Tax levels 2026-27, Swansea's Band D Council Tax is £2,238.29 for 2026-27 (UNDER), the 282nd highest of 350 UK billing authorities (higher than 19% of them) and 4% below 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. Wales revalued its housing stock to 2003 values and uses nine bands, A to I, rather than the eight used in England and Scotland. A Welsh Band D property therefore sits at a different point in the housing stock than an English Band D one, and the rank should be read as a charge comparison only. See our methodology page for the full source-to-figure lineage.
- £2,238.29
- Band D charge · 2026 statutory
- Below the UK average
- +4.45%
- year-on-year vs £2,142.88
- Middle-half rise
- -4.2%
- vs UK avg £2,337.00
- £5,222.68
- Band I · 21/9 of Band D
Swansea · year-on-year Band D
What changed for Swansea
Swansea's Band D Council Tax rose from £2,142.88 (2025-26) to £2,238.29 (2026-27). Among 350 billing authorities by percentage rise, it ranks 261.
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
Swansea 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.
- £2,238.29 Published Band D 2026-27 UNDER
- 282nd of 350 UK authorities 19th percentile
- +4.5% Year-on-year Band D MID
- 115,920 VOA dwellings on list LOWBAND
Band D charge neighbourhood
Published 2026-27 Band D among the nearest pound-gap peers (snapshot 2026-10-02).
Derived position reading
What the Swansea Band D figure shows
The published Band D charge of £2,238.29 places Swansea 282nd 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 4.2% below the simple UK average of £2,337.00, while the percentile shows that 19% of the recorded authorities have a lower Band D charge.
The more useful local comparison is Wales. Here, Swansea ranks 16th among 22 billing authorities, against a regional average of £2,326.00. 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.
Swansea bands A-I schedule
Per-band charge 2026
Band A–I charge table (2026/2027)
| Band | Annual Charge | Monthly | Sole occupant (−25%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | £1,492.19 | £149.22 | £1,119.14 |
| B | £1,740.89 | £174.09 | £1,305.67 |
| C | £1,989.59 | £198.96 | £1,492.19 |
| D | £2,238.29 | £223.83 | £1,678.72 |
| E | £2,735.69 | £273.57 | £2,051.77 |
| F | £3,233.09 | £323.31 | £2,424.82 |
| G | £3,730.48 | £373.05 | £2,797.86 |
| H | £4,476.58 | £447.66 | £3,357.44 |
| I | £5,222.68 | £522.27 | £3,917.01 |
Wales 2003 valuation ranges (Band A–I)
- Band A: Up to £44,000 (2003 valuation)
- Band B: £44,001 to £65,000
- Band C: £65,001 to £91,000
- Band D: £91,001 to £123,000 (reference band)
- Band E: £123,001 to £162,000
- Band F: £162,001 to £223,000
- Band G: £223,001 to £324,000
- Band H: £324,001 to £424,000
- Band I: Over £424,000
Source: Welsh Government / StatsWales, Council Tax levels 2026-27 (area Band D) + statutory Wales 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 Swansea's 115,920 properties actually pay
Swansea's housing stock peaks below the reference point, in Band B, which covers 28,660 of 115,920 dwellings (24.7%). A Band B home is charged at seven-ninths of the Band D rate, which is why the typical bill here lands under the headline figure. VOA CTSOP stamp LOWBAND: 61.7% of dwellings here are banded below D.
Stock-weighted average £2,161.85 is £76.44 (3.4%) below Band D £2,238.29 - 194th of 318 authorities with published counts (corpus mean £2,269.00). That places Swansea 16th of the 22 billing authorities in Wales, below the regional median of £2,258.00.
Swansea property mix · A–C / D / E–I · LOWBAND
Sums to 115,920 VOA dwellings, band mix, not a household bill.
Closest housing-stock shape: Bridgend
Bridgend is the closest full-distribution match for Swansea. 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 is at reference Band D: its share is 15.0% in Swansea and 16.7% in Bridgend. The familiar benchmark represents a larger slice of the peer's housing stock.
- A smaller distinction is lower on the ladder at Band B: Swansea has 24.7% of dwellings there, against 23.2% in Bridgend. 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 G. Swansea places 3.4% of dwellings there versus 2.3% for Bridgend, giving this profile the heavier upper-band tail at that point.
- A smaller distinction sits at lower Band C, where Bridgend holds 22.4% of its stock and Swansea holds 21.6%. The peer is more bottom-weighted at this rung of the valuation list.
Other close Wales matches for Swansea: Gwynedd (4.6% redistribution distance); Carmarthenshire (7.6% redistribution distance); Newport (9.5% redistribution distance); Isle of Anglesey (10.1% redistribution distance).
| Band | Properties | Share of stock | Annual charge |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | 17,750 | 15.3% | £1,492.19 |
| B | 28,660 | 24.7% | £1,740.89 |
| C | 25,060 | 21.6% | £1,989.59 |
| D | 17,370 | 15.0% | £2,238.29 |
| E | 13,250 | 11.4% | £2,735.69 |
| F | 8,190 | 7.1% | £3,233.09 |
| G | 3,890 | 3.4% | £3,730.48 |
| H | 1,200 | 1.0% | £4,476.58 |
| I | 550 | 0.5% | £5,222.68 |
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 Swansea on stock-weighted charge (LOWBAND) - a different ordering from Band D twins.
- Waltham Forest£2,165.48
- Chorley£2,165.16
- Redditch£2,164.50
- Bury£2,161.13
- Hinckley & Bosworth£2,156.63
Swansea's nearest year-on-year movers · MID
Swansea moved Band D from £2,142.88 to £2,238.29 (+4.45%, MID; competition rank 261st of 350). Closest published movements: Cardiff, Warwick, Erewash.
How Swansea compares in Wales
Among the 22 billing authorities in Wales, Swansea's 2026-27 Band D charge of £2,238.29 ranks 16th of 22, higher than 27% of them (£87.71 below the Wales average of £2,326.00). Its nearest-charged neighbours in the region:
| Region rank | Council | Band D 2026-27 |
|---|---|---|
| 14th | Rhondda Cynon Taf | £2,289.43 |
| 15th | Isle of Anglesey | £2,260.73 |
| 16th | Swansea | £2,238.29 |
| 17th | Vale of Glamorgan | £2,231.54 |
| 18th | Pembrokeshire | £2,166.15 |
Regional rank out of 22 Wales 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 Wales Band D dataset and statutory Wales 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. Swansea's overall average Band D (bands A to I) combines the council charge with police and average community council precepts. For a binding figure consult your Swansea 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 Swansea are the overall average Band D across bands A to I, including police and community precepts.