Revealed - the cheapest and dearest places to rent in England

Professional cleaning firm Prompt Cleaners has created a league table of regions and local authorities where renting is cheapest and dearest.

The firm looked at average rents per area compared to average salaries for those in employment.

Having a mean monthly rent of £597 and monthly salaries averaging £2,215.20, the North East is the most affordable region in England in terms of renting. 

However, there are low cost renting locations outside of this region too.

Hyndburn, located in the North West of England, proves the assertion that salary size has little to do with the affordability of rent. With average monthly pay estimated at £2,349.60, the district ranks 203rd in the Employee Earnings in the UK dataset published by the ONS. However, due to relatively low mean rent levels (£509 per month), local employees spend just 21.66 per cent of their salaries on rent - the lowest percentage in England.

Three more localities in the North West are among the top 10 most affordable places to rent a home - Copeland (2nd), Allerdale (3rd) and Burnley (5th). The portion of the monthly salaries that local employees set aside for rent is 22.1, 22.9, and 23.6 per cent respectively.

The second English region with the most affordable residential rental prices is Yorkshire and the Humber. With a £538 mean monthly rent and salaries averaging £2,217.2 per month, Barnsley town ranks 9th in terms of rent affordability.

The top 10 areas where renting a home is most cost-effective are rounded up by Hartlepool (6th), Darlington (7th) and County Durham (10th). The employees in these three North Eastern localities spend 23.68, 23.72, and 24.4 per cent of their average monthly earnings on rent respectively.

At the other end of the scale, predictably, eight out of the 10 areas with the highest salary percentage spent on rent are in and around London. The other two are Oxford (58 per cent) and Bristol (61.4 per cent).

Westminster is the area in England where the highest percentage of salary (79.36 per cent) is needed to cover the average monthly rent - £3,036 vs £3,825.6. According to the Office of National Statistics, the mean monthly pay in 322 of the 355 areas in the Employee Earnings in the UK dataset cannot cover the average rental prices in Westminster.

Other areas in the London region where renting is particularly less advantageous are Camden, Hammersmith & Fulham, Inner London, Southwark, Merton, Hackney, and Kensington and Chelsea. The portion of the mean monthly salaries that local employees need to set aside for rent varies between 59.5 and 67.5 per cent.

Here’s the regional league table:

North East - 26.95 per cent

North West - 31.34 per cent

Yorkshire and Humber - 31.21 per cent

West Midlands - 32.6 per cent

East Midlands - 31.07 per cent

East of England - 38.14 per cent

South and West - 41.4 per cent

South of England and Home Counties - 41.25 per cent;

Greater London - 56.16 per cent.