LONDON RENT BY BOROUGH
One city.
32 borough rent benchmarks.
Compare the same size of home across London’s boroughs. Use the monthly ONS rent table to find areas to investigate, then open the map to see what your income could leave after rent, bills and commuting.
Try the London rent affordability map ↗ONS August 2026 average private rents, released 16 September 2026. These starting examples use Waltham Forest, not a London-wide average. Includes new and existing tenancies; these are not live asking rents. Check the ONS monthly rental dataset ↗
Average London rent by borough and bedroom size
Choose the same bedroom category to compare areas. The all-property figure reflects the local mix of homes; it is not the average of the bedroom columns. A whole-home rent is different from the cost of a single room. All 32 London boroughs are listed below, with City of London shown separately; missing figures remain unavailable.
Swipe across to see all figures →
| Borough / council area | 1 bedroom | 2 bedrooms | 3 bedrooms | 4+ bedrooms | All sizes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Barking and Dagenham | £1,377 | £1,721 | £1,899 | £2,519 | £1,698 |
| Barnet | £1,500 | £1,858 | £2,256 | £3,192 | £1,949 |
| Bexley | £1,229 | £1,526 | £1,865 | £2,424 | £1,537 |
| Brent | £1,577 | £1,934 | £2,271 | £3,052 | £2,014 |
| Bromley | £1,312 | £1,641 | £1,990 | £2,926 | £1,684 |
| Camden | £2,054 | £2,621 | £3,055 | £3,967 | £2,819 |
| Croydon | £1,265 | £1,573 | £1,858 | £2,667 | £1,582 |
| Ealing | £1,629 | £2,033 | £2,406 | £3,287 | £2,109 |
| Enfield | £1,422 | £1,764 | £2,098 | £2,807 | £1,827 |
| Greenwich | £1,563 | £1,932 | £2,242 | £3,001 | £1,995 |
| Hackney | £2,001 | £2,489 | £2,846 | £3,674 | £2,658 |
| Hammersmith and Fulham | £2,000 | £2,622 | £2,992 | £4,181 | £2,825 |
| Haringey | £1,639 | £2,034 | £2,356 | £3,186 | £2,219 |
| Harrow | £1,394 | £1,715 | £2,064 | £2,789 | £1,778 |
| Havering | £1,217 | £1,542 | £1,847 | £2,496 | £1,565 |
| Hillingdon | £1,252 | £1,586 | £1,913 | £2,634 | £1,570 |
| Hounslow | £1,583 | £1,947 | £2,241 | £3,076 | £1,952 |
| Islington | £2,178 | £2,697 | £3,005 | £4,229 | £2,868 |
| Kensington and Chelsea | £2,640 | £3,428 | £4,074 | £5,650 | £3,690 |
| Kingston upon Thames | £1,379 | £1,755 | £2,154 | £2,836 | £1,811 |
| Lambeth | £1,882 | £2,342 | £2,682 | £3,715 | £2,525 |
| Lewisham | £1,457 | £1,789 | £2,057 | £2,714 | £1,829 |
| Merton | £1,639 | £2,024 | £2,407 | £3,267 | £2,172 |
| Newham | £1,630 | £1,993 | £2,212 | £2,672 | £1,928 |
| Redbridge | £1,368 | £1,681 | £1,981 | £2,711 | £1,726 |
| Richmond upon Thames | £1,732 | £2,222 | £2,684 | £3,907 | £2,333 |
| Southwark | £1,876 | £2,348 | £2,732 | £3,608 | £2,474 |
| Sutton | £1,239 | £1,554 | £1,899 | £2,492 | £1,556 |
| Tower Hamlets | £1,992 | £2,418 | £2,750 | £3,378 | £2,453 |
| Waltham Forest | £1,400 | £1,723 | £2,023 | £2,565 | £1,763 |
| Wandsworth | £1,938 | £2,463 | £2,810 | £3,818 | £2,632 |
| Westminster | £2,548 | £3,305 | £3,895 | £5,424 | £3,196 |
| City of London | Unavailable | Unavailable | Unavailable | Unavailable | Unavailable |
Select an area to open its budget calculation in the London rent map. Unavailable does not mean rent-free.
What could your salary leave after London rent?
These examples use a one-bedroom home at the Waltham Forest borough benchmark of £1,400 a month, plus £900 monthly bills and living costs and £200 commuting. Waltham Forest is an example borough, not the average for London. Money left still needs to cover savings and any spending you have not included.
Swipe across to see all figures →
| Annual salary | Take-home / month | Rent / month | Money left / month |
|---|---|---|---|
| £30,000 | £2,093 | £1,400 | -£407 |
| £40,000 | £2,693 | £1,400 | £193 |
| £50,000 | £3,293 | £1,400 | £793 |
| £60,000 | £3,780 | £1,400 | £1,280 |
Figures are rounded after calculation. These are examples, not salary recommendations or landlord approval thresholds. Enter your own income, pension, student loan and costs in the London map. You can enter known take-home instead of an annual salary.
Where do London rents vary most?
These comparisons use the August 2026 release shown in the table, with the same bedroom category on both sides.
For one-bedroom homes, the lowest borough average is £1,217 in Havering. The highest is £2,640 in Kensington and Chelsea. The gap is £1,423 a month before differences in bills or commuting.
For two-bedroom homes, the lowest borough average is £1,526 in Bexley. The highest is £3,428 in Kensington and Chelsea. The gap is £1,902 a month before differences in bills or commuting.
Inner and outer London: compare the whole budget
A borough boundary is a starting point, not a price for every street. Inner and outer London include different types of homes, transport options and neighbourhoods. Moving further from work can change fares, journey time and the number of days you want to commute. Compare a specific home’s rent and your actual journey before treating a cheaper borough average as a saving.
Turn a borough shortlist into a budget
Select a borough in the table to open the interactive London rent map. Choose your home size, enter take-home pay or salary, then add living costs and commuting. Compare up to four areas, including places in Manchester, Birmingham and Leeds, on the same budget. When you have a listing, replace the benchmark with its actual rent.
Renting in London: useful questions
How much rent can I afford in London?
Start with your monthly take-home and subtract your bills, commuting and the amount you want to keep. What remains is your rent budget. For example, £4,200 take-home minus £900 living costs, £200 commuting and a £1,000 minimum leaves a £2,100 rent budget. Change these example inputs for your own situation; a positive result does not guarantee a suitable home or a successful tenancy application.
Are these borough averages or neighbourhood rents?
Each figure covers the named local authority, with different homes and neighbourhoods inside it. A Walthamstow search, for example, uses the Waltham Forest borough average. City of London is listed separately and has no rent benchmark in the current data. Use an actual listing price when you have one.
Can I use an actual rent or share a home?
Yes. The hub lets you replace a council benchmark with your actual monthly rental cost. You can also enter your agreed percentage of a whole-home benchmark. A rent override is already your cost and is not divided again. Bedroom changes clear overrides so an old rent is not carried into a different property size.
Why might a listing cost more than the ONS average?
The ONS series includes rents paid under existing tenancies as well as new tenancies, across the whole council area. A current listing describes a particular home, location and set of terms. Compare actual listings before choosing a home; recent ONS observations can also be revised.
Reviewed 27 September 2026 by PayPrecise. Rent evidence: ONS PIPR monthly dataset. Salary assumptions: HMRC 2026/27 rates. Geometry: GLA borough boundaries, 2011, simplified for display. Contains OS and National Statistics data © Crown copyright and database right 2015. Geometry: Open Government Licence v2. ONS rent data: Open Government Licence v3.0.