Wigan Council Tax 2026
North West, England · 153,850 domestic properties
According to MHCLG, Council Tax levels set by local authorities in England 2026-27, Wigan's Band D Council Tax is £2,152.68 for 2026-27, the 295th highest of 350 UK billing authorities (higher than 16% of them) and 8% below the UK average of £2,337.00. Nearest published Band D rates sit with Pembrokeshire, Torfaen, Merton, Dudley, then Bromley, Ealing. Closest published housing-stock shapes include St Helens, Salford, North Lincolnshire, Halton.
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 Pembrokeshire, Torfaen, Merton, Dudley, then Bromley, Ealing. See our methodology page for the full source-to-figure lineage.
- £2,152.68
- Band D charge · 2026 statutory
- Below the UK average
- +5.98%
- year-on-year vs £2,031.28
- Upper-quarter rise
- -7.9%
- vs UK avg £2,337.00
- £4,305.36
- Band H · 18/9 of Band D
Nearest published Band D rates sit with Pembrokeshire, Torfaen, Merton, Dudley, then Bromley, Ealing. Closest published housing-stock shapes include St Helens, Salford, North Lincolnshire, Halton. Open Pembrokeshire for the closest published Band D on the same vintage.
Wigan · year-on-year Band D
What changed for Wigan
Wigan's Band D Council Tax rose from £2,031.28 (2025-26) to £2,152.68 (2026-27). Among 350 billing authorities by percentage rise, it ranks 45.
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 changesWigan bands A-H schedule
Per-band charge 2026
Wigan's nearest Band D charges nationwide
Wigan is 295th of 350 on the national Band D list at £2,152.68. Nearest published Band D rates sit with Pembrokeshire, Torfaen, Merton, Dudley, then Bromley, Ealing. The six closest published 2026-27 rates, led by Pembrokeshire, 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 North West ranking further down when you care about local neighbours, and the stock-weighted average when you care what most of Wigan's 153,850 dwellings actually pay. Closest published housing-stock shapes include St Helens, Salford, North Lincolnshire, Halton.
| Council | Band D | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| Pembrokeshire | £2,166.15 | +£13.47 |
| Torfaen | £2,155.68 | +£3.00 |
| Merton | £2,146.76 | −£5.92 |
| Dudley | £2,144.84 | −£7.84 |
| Bromley | £2,140.04 | −£12.64 |
| Ealing | £2,138.53 | −£14.15 |
Band A–H charge table (2026/2027)
| Band | Annual Charge | Monthly | Sole occupant (−25%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | £1,435.12 | £143.51 | £1,076.34 |
| B | £1,674.31 | £167.43 | £1,255.73 |
| C | £1,913.49 | £191.35 | £1,435.12 |
| D | £2,152.68 | £215.27 | £1,614.51 |
| E | £2,631.05 | £263.11 | £1,973.29 |
| F | £3,109.43 | £310.94 | £2,332.07 |
| G | £3,587.80 | £358.78 | £2,690.85 |
| H | £4,305.36 | £430.54 | £3,229.02 |
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 Wigan's 153,850 properties actually pay
Most homes in Wigan sit in Band A, the bottom of the valuation list: 69,080 of 153,850 dwellings (44.9%). Band A is charged at two-thirds of the Band D rate, so the headline figure above describes a property type that is in the minority here. Bands A and B between them account for 67.6% of the stock. 84.4% 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 £1,725.27 per dwelling, £427.41 (19.9%) below the £2,152.68 Band D headline, because most of the stock sits in bands charged at less than the Band D rate. On that measure Wigan is 312th of 318 authorities with published stock counts, against a £2,269.00 average. No billing authority in North West charges less per dwelling across its stock than Wigan does.
How to read this stock pattern
Band D is a poor description of the largest group in Wigan's housing stock. The dominant group is Band A, where the statutory charge is two-thirds of the Band D rate, while the reference band describes a different part of the valuation list. The £1,725.27 stock-weighted figure is therefore the more representative area-level comparison. It does not predict an individual bill, because discounts, exemptions and the property's actual valuation band still determine liability.
This is a two-band centre rather than a single-band market. Bands A and B together contain 67.6% 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.
Wigan forms the lower edge of the North West peer set after each authority's housing mix is taken into account. Its position is therefore not just a low Band D headline: the weighted average remains lowest across the region's published stock profiles. The ranking is an area comparison, not a promise about a particular address, and the band table below retains the within-council variation that the rank compresses.
Closest housing-stock shape: Walsall
Walsall is an exceptionally close stock-shape match for Wigan: moving 1.9% 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 is lower on the ladder at Band C: Wigan has 16.8% of dwellings there, against 16.0% in Walsall. That extra lower-band weight pulls its stock profile away from the peer.
- A smaller distinction is lower on the ladder at Band A: Wigan has 44.9% of dwellings there, against 44.1% in Walsall. That extra lower-band weight pulls its stock profile away from the peer.
- A smaller distinction sits at lower Band B, where Walsall holds 23.5% of its stock and Wigan holds 22.7%. The peer is more bottom-weighted at this rung of the valuation list.
- A smaller distinction is an upper-band difference at Band F. Walsall records 2.0% of dwellings there, compared with 1.3% in Wigan, so the peer carries more of its stock at that higher rung.
How the wider profile compares
Wigan has the stronger combined lower-band tilt: Bands A to C account for 0.9% more of its stock than they do in Walsall. The nearest match still leaves that bottom-of-ladder difference visible.
Walsall carries the heavier upper tail across Bands E and above, exceeding Wigan's combined share there by 0.8%. Total-variation distance counts those absolute band gaps without assuming they offset the lower-band pattern.
Both profiles peak in Band A, 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 0.0% and 0.1%. 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 Wigan
- Band B leans toward Walsall
- Band C leans toward Wigan
- Band D is closely balanced
- Band E is closely balanced
- Band F leans toward Walsall
- 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 Wigan: St Helens (2.4% redistribution distance); Salford (2.9% redistribution distance); North Lincolnshire (3.6% redistribution distance); Halton (3.8% redistribution distance). Ranked across every published band in the England valuation system, this shortlist shows whether Walsall stands alone or sits in a cluster of similarly shaped authorities.
| Band | Properties | Share of stock | Annual charge |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | 69,080 | 44.9% | £1,435.12 |
| B | 34,900 | 22.7% | £1,674.31 |
| C | 25,900 | 16.8% | £1,913.49 |
| D | 13,490 | 8.8% | £2,152.68 |
| E | 7,750 | 5.0% | £2,631.05 |
| F | 2,020 | 1.3% | £3,109.43 |
| G | 650 | 0.4% | £3,587.80 |
| H | 60 | 0.0% | £4,305.36 |
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 Wigan 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.
- Lincoln£1,762.31
- Newham£1,755.27
- Sandwell£1,734.82
- City of London£1,727.17
- Sunderland£1,685.90
Wigan's nearest year-on-year movers
Wigan moved Band D from £2,031.28 to £2,152.68 (+5.98%, competition rank 45th of 350). The closest published movements sit with East Renfrewshire, Orkney Islands, Manchester.
- East Renfrewshire6.00%
- Orkney Islands6.00%
- Manchester5.91%
- Glasgow City5.90%
- Bolton5.88%
- Tameside5.86%
How Wigan compares in North West
Among the 35 billing authorities in North West, Wigan's 2026-27 Band D charge of £2,152.68 ranks 35th of 35, higher than 0% of them (£330.32 below the North West average of £2,483.00). Its nearest-charged neighbours in the region:
Regional low-charge outlier: this authority sits in the least costly fifth of North West.
| Region rank | Council | Band D 2026-27 |
|---|---|---|
| 33rd | Manchester | £2,312.04 |
| 34th | Trafford | £2,291.70 |
| 35th | Wigan | £2,152.68 |
Regional rank out of 35 North West billing authorities by 2026-27 Band D charge (1 = dearest). See the full UK ranking or the complete directory.
Questions answered from Wigan's data
These answers use Wigan's £2,152.68 Band D rate, the England statutory multipliers, and the VOA stock mix (modal Band A, 84.4% below D).
Is Wigan Council Tax above the UK average?
Wigan's 2026-27 Band D rate is £2,152.68, 7.9% below the UK average of £2,337.00. It has competition rank 295th of 350, with equal charges sharing a rank. Nearest published Band D rates sit with Pembrokeshire, Torfaen, Merton, Dudley, then Bromley, Ealing.
Which councils have charges closest to Wigan?
The closest published Band D rates are Pembrokeshire (£2,166.15), Torfaen (£2,155.68), Merton (£2,146.76), Dudley (£2,144.84), Bromley (£2,140.04), Ealing (£2,138.53). The comparison table above shows the six nearest authorities and the exact difference from Wigan.
What is the average Council Tax bill in Wigan?
Across Wigan's 153,850 domestic properties, the stock-weighted average charge is £1,725.27 for 2026-27. That is £427.41 below the £2,152.68 Band D rate, because the most common band here is Band A (44.9% of the stock) and 84.4% of dwellings are banded below D. Closest published housing-stock shapes include St Helens, Salford, North Lincolnshire, Halton. Property counts are from the VOA 2025 stock release; the weighting is our calculation.
How did Wigan Council Tax change for 2026-27?
Band D moved from £2,031.28 to £2,152.68, a 5.98% rise. Its competition rank by annual increase is 45th of 350; the closest movements include East Renfrewshire, Orkney Islands, Manchester.
Advice boundary for Wigan
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. Wigan is a metropolitan borough: own charge plus policing and fire precepts, with parish elements uncommon. Nearest published Band D rates sit with Pembrokeshire, Torfaen, Merton, Dudley, then Bromley, Ealing. Closest published housing-stock shapes include St Helens, Salford, North Lincolnshire, Halton. For a binding figure consult your Wigan 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 Wigan are the area Band D and statutory band multiples with no county tier. Nearest published Band D rates sit with Pembrokeshire, Torfaen, Merton, Dudley, then Bromley, Ealing.