Wiltshire Council Tax 2026

How to read this stock pattern

Wiltshire'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 55.2% 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.

Wiltshire 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.

Wiltshire sits in the upper quarter of South West on the stock-weighted ordering, above the regional median of £2,376.53. This narrows the comparison from a UK rank to authorities facing the same broad regional context, while still correcting each one for its different band mix. The placement says the council's average published stock is relatively costly within that peer set; it does not convert the mean into an individual household charge.

Closest housing-stock shape: Rushcliffe

Rushcliffe is the closest full-distribution match for Wiltshire. 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 lower on the ladder at Band C: Wiltshire has 25.2% of dwellings there, against 21.8% in Rushcliffe. That extra lower-band weight pulls its stock profile away from the peer.
• Another material separation sits at lower Band B, where Rushcliffe holds 20.6% of its stock and Wiltshire holds 18.4%. The peer is more bottom-weighted at this rung of the valuation list.
• A smaller distinction is at reference Band D: its share is 17.7% in Wiltshire and 18.4% in Rushcliffe. The familiar benchmark represents a larger slice of the peer's housing stock.
• A smaller distinction is an upper-band difference at Band F. Rushcliffe records 8.4% of dwellings there, compared with 7.9% in Wiltshire, so the peer carries more of its stock at that higher rung.

How the wider profile compares

Show every band direction

• Band A is closely balanced
• Band B leans toward Rushcliffe
• Band C leans toward Wiltshire
• Band D leans toward Rushcliffe
• Band E is closely balanced
• Band F is closely balanced
• 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 Wiltshire: East Devon (4.2% redistribution distance); Arun (4.7% redistribution distance); Dorset Council (4.7% redistribution distance); Central Bedfordshire (4.9% redistribution distance). Ranked across every published band in the England valuation system, this shortlist shows whether Rushcliffe stands alone or sits in a cluster of similarly shaped authorities.