Worcester Council Tax 2026
West Midlands, England · 48,050 domestic properties
According to MHCLG, Council Tax levels set by local authorities in England 2026-27, Worcester's Band D Council Tax is £2,405.81 for 2026-27, the 184th highest of 350 UK billing authorities (higher than 47% of them) and 3% above the UK average of £2,337.00. Nearest published Band D rates sit with Gravesham, Amber Valley, Oadby & Wigston, Hertsmere, then Swale, Charnwood. Closest published housing-stock shapes include High Peak, Gosport, Thanet, Hinckley & Bosworth.
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 Gravesham, Amber Valley, Oadby & Wigston, Hertsmere, then Swale, Charnwood. See our methodology page for the full source-to-figure lineage.
- £2,405.81
- Band D charge · 2026 statutory
- Above the UK average
- +7.69%
- year-on-year vs £2,233.93
- Among the steepest rises
- +2.9%
- vs UK avg £2,337.00
- £4,811.62
- Band H · 18/9 of Band D
Nearest published Band D rates sit with Gravesham, Amber Valley, Oadby & Wigston, Hertsmere, then Swale, Charnwood. Closest published housing-stock shapes include High Peak, Gosport, Thanet, Hinckley & Bosworth. Open Gravesham for the closest published Band D on the same vintage.
Worcester · year-on-year Band D
What changed for Worcester
Worcester's Band D Council Tax rose from £2,233.93 (2025-26) to £2,405.81 (2026-27). Among 350 billing authorities by percentage rise, it ranks 23.
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 changesWorcester bands A-H schedule
Per-band charge 2026
Worcester's nearest Band D charges nationwide
Worcester is 184th of 350 on the national Band D list at £2,405.81. Nearest published Band D rates sit with Gravesham, Amber Valley, Oadby & Wigston, Hertsmere, then Swale, Charnwood. The six closest published 2026-27 rates, led by Gravesham, 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 West Midlands ranking further down when you care about local neighbours, and the stock-weighted average when you care what most of Worcester's 48,050 dwellings actually pay. Closest published housing-stock shapes include High Peak, Gosport, Thanet, Hinckley & Bosworth.
| Council | Band D | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| Gravesham | £2,408.24 | +£2.43 |
| Amber Valley | £2,407.69 | +£1.88 |
| Oadby & Wigston | £2,406.85 | +£1.04 |
| Hertsmere | £2,405.83 | +£0.02 |
| Swale | £2,405.65 | −£0.16 |
| Charnwood | £2,405.64 | −£0.17 |
Band A–H charge table (2026/2027)
| Band | Annual Charge | Monthly | Sole occupant (−25%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | £1,603.87 | £160.39 | £1,202.90 |
| B | £1,871.19 | £187.12 | £1,403.39 |
| C | £2,138.50 | £213.85 | £1,603.88 |
| D | £2,405.81 | £240.58 | £1,804.36 |
| E | £2,940.43 | £294.04 | £2,205.32 |
| F | £3,475.06 | £347.51 | £2,606.30 |
| G | £4,009.68 | £400.97 | £3,007.26 |
| H | £4,811.62 | £481.16 | £3,608.72 |
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 Worcester's 48,050 properties actually pay
Worcester's housing stock peaks below the reference point, in Band B, which covers 15,590 of 48,050 dwellings (32.4%). 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. Bands B and C between them account for 57.5% of the stock. 76.4% 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 £2,105.34 per dwelling, £300.47 (12.5%) below the £2,405.81 Band D headline, because most of the stock sits in bands charged at less than the Band D rate. On that measure Worcester is 213th of 318 authorities with published stock counts, against a £2,269.00 average. That places Worcester 18th of the 30 billing authorities in West Midlands, below the regional median of £2,132.00.
How to read this stock pattern
Worcester'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 76.4% 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.
This is a two-band centre rather than a single-band market. Bands B and C together contain 57.5% 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.
Worcester occupies the middle half of the West Midlands stock-weighted distribution, below its £2,132.00 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: Redditch
Redditch is the closest full-distribution match for Worcester. The profiles are close rather than identical: 4.3% 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: Worcester has 25.1% of dwellings there, against 21.0% in Redditch. That extra lower-band weight pulls its stock profile away from the peer.
- Another material separation sits at lower Band A, where Redditch holds 21.2% of its stock and Worcester holds 18.9%. The peer is more bottom-weighted at this rung of the valuation list.
- A smaller distinction is an upper-band difference at Band E. Redditch records 9.1% of dwellings there, compared with 7.5% in Worcester, so the peer carries more of its stock at that higher rung.
- A smaller distinction is an upper-band difference at Band G. Redditch records 1.3% of dwellings there, compared with 0.9% in Worcester, so the peer carries more of its stock at that higher rung.
How the wider profile compares
Worcester has the stronger combined lower-band tilt: Bands A to C account for 2.0% more of its stock than they do in Redditch. The nearest match still leaves that bottom-of-ladder difference visible.
Redditch carries the heavier upper tail across Bands E and above, exceeding Worcester's combined share there by 2.0%. Total-variation distance counts those absolute band gaps without assuming they offset the lower-band pattern.
Both profiles peak in Band B, 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 D is the most stable point in the comparison, with shares of 11.8% and 11.8%. 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 Redditch
- Band B is closely balanced
- Band C leans toward Worcester
- Band D is closely balanced
- Band E leans toward Redditch
- 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 Worcester: High Peak (5.5% redistribution distance); Gosport (5.5% redistribution distance); Thanet (6.0% redistribution distance); Hinckley & Bosworth (6.3% redistribution distance). Ranked across every published band in the England valuation system, this shortlist shows whether Redditch stands alone or sits in a cluster of similarly shaped authorities.
| Band | Properties | Share of stock | Annual charge |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | 9,080 | 18.9% | £1,603.87 |
| B | 15,590 | 32.4% | £1,871.19 |
| C | 12,040 | 25.1% | £2,138.50 |
| D | 5,670 | 11.8% | £2,405.81 |
| E | 3,590 | 7.5% | £2,940.43 |
| F | 1,620 | 3.4% | £3,475.06 |
| G | 450 | 0.9% | £4,009.68 |
| H | 10 | 0.0% | £4,811.62 |
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 Worcester 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.
- Staffordshire Moorlands£2,113.88
- Harlow£2,106.28
- North Northamptonshire£2,103.94
- King's Lynn & West Norfolk£2,099.20
- Wirral£2,097.29
Worcester's nearest year-on-year movers
Worcester moved Band D from £2,233.93 to £2,405.81 (+7.69%, competition rank 23rd of 350). The closest published movements sit with Wychavon, West Dunbartonshire, Dundee City.
Steep-rise signal for Worcester: the increase is at least 7%, so the movement cohort, not councils with a similar current charge, is the sharper budget-change comparison.
- Wychavon7.82%
- West Dunbartonshire7.80%
- Dundee City7.75%
- Bromsgrove7.64%
- Redditch7.58%
- Bournemouth, Christchurch & Poole7.54%
How Worcester compares in West Midlands
Among the 30 billing authorities in West Midlands, Worcester's 2026-27 Band D charge of £2,405.81 ranks 15th of 30, higher than 50% of them (£5.81 above the West Midlands average of £2,400.00). Its nearest-charged neighbours in the region:
| Region rank | Council | Band D 2026-27 |
|---|---|---|
| 13th | Warwick | £2,461.55 |
| 14th | Malvern Hills | £2,450.92 |
| 15th | Worcester | £2,405.81 |
| 16th | Cannock Chase | £2,375.83 |
| 17th | Wychavon | £2,373.19 |
Regional rank out of 30 West Midlands billing authorities by 2026-27 Band D charge (1 = dearest). See the full UK ranking or the complete directory.
Questions answered from Worcester's data
These answers use Worcester's £2,405.81 Band D rate, the England statutory multipliers, and the VOA stock mix (modal Band B, 76.4% below D).
Is Worcester Council Tax above the UK average?
Worcester's 2026-27 Band D rate is £2,405.81, 2.9% above the UK average of £2,337.00. It has competition rank 184th of 350, with equal charges sharing a rank. Nearest published Band D rates sit with Gravesham, Amber Valley, Oadby & Wigston, Hertsmere, then Swale, Charnwood.
Which councils have charges closest to Worcester?
The closest published Band D rates are Gravesham (£2,408.24), Amber Valley (£2,407.69), Oadby & Wigston (£2,406.85), Hertsmere (£2,405.83), Swale (£2,405.65), Charnwood (£2,405.64). The comparison table above shows the six nearest authorities and the exact difference from Worcester.
What is the average Council Tax bill in Worcester?
Across Worcester's 48,050 domestic properties, the stock-weighted average charge is £2,105.34 for 2026-27. That is £300.47 below the £2,405.81 Band D rate, because the most common band here is Band B (32.4% of the stock) and 76.4% of dwellings are banded below D. Closest published housing-stock shapes include High Peak, Gosport, Thanet, Hinckley & Bosworth. Property counts are from the VOA 2025 stock release; the weighting is our calculation.
How did Worcester Council Tax change for 2026-27?
Band D moved from £2,233.93 to £2,405.81, a 7.69% rise. Its competition rank by annual increase is 23rd of 350; the closest movements include Wychavon, West Dunbartonshire, Dundee City.
Advice boundary for Worcester
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. This area Band D is a two-tier total for Worcester: district charge plus county, police, fire where separate, and the average parish precept across the district. Nearest published Band D rates sit with Gravesham, Amber Valley, Oadby & Wigston, Hertsmere, then Swale, Charnwood. Closest published housing-stock shapes include High Peak, Gosport, Thanet, Hinckley & Bosworth. For a binding figure consult your Worcester 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 Worcester are the area Band D and statutory band multiples, already including county, police, fire and average parish precepts where they apply. Nearest published Band D rates sit with Gravesham, Amber Valley, Oadby & Wigston, Hertsmere, then Swale, Charnwood.