The relationship between average house prices and average earnings in England and Wales has changed substantially over recent decades.
In 1997, the average sale price for a home in England and Wales was 3 to 4 times that of the average salary for a full-time worker. By 2025, these affordability ratios had doubled in both England and Wales, meaning the average house price was 6 to 8 times the average worker’s annual earnings in many areas. You can read more in our Housing affordability in England and Wales bulletin.
We consider an area affordable if average homes cost up to 5 times the average earnings of those working nearby. We call this the affordability threshold.
Enter your postcode in the calculator below to see how house prices in your neighbourhood compare with local average earnings.
You can provide more information about your personal circumstances to get tailored mortgage cost and savings information.
This tool was last updated on 26 March 2026
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About the tool
This tool combines median house prices by Middle-layer Super Output Area (MSOA) from the Housing affordability in England and Wales publication with gross annual earnings for full-time workers by local authority from the Employee earnings in the UK datasets.
Further quality information about these datasets can be found in the Housing affordability in England and Wales QMI.
Other housing content
Our Housing Affordability in England and Wales bulletin compares median local authority house prices with the earnings of those working in the same area. Our Explore Local Statistics service does the same, using the average earnings of residents in an area, rather than workers.
The UK House Price Index (HPI) uses a different method to calculate house prices over time. You can explore how private rent and house prices in your area are changing based on HPI in the Housing prices in your area tool.
Glossary
Affordability ratio
For this tool, we calculate affordability ratios by dividing the median house sales price in a neighbourhood (MSOA) over a 12-month period by the median annual gross full-time earnings for workers in that local authority area.
Affordability threshold
We use a threshold of five years of earnings as a broad indicator of affordability. This is described in our Housing affordability in England and Wales Quality and Methodology Information (QMI).
House sale prices
This tool uses House Price Statistics for Small Areas (HPSSAs) as the measure of house prices. They reflect the median prices paid for residential properties in England and Wales and are available at varying geographies.
Local average earnings
We use the median annual gross full-time earnings for workers in the relevant local authority area to calculate affordability ratios. These are published in our House price to workplace-based earnings ratio dataset.
Neighbourhood
The local areas displayed in the tool are Middle-layer Super Output Areas, or MSOAs. Learn more about small area geographies in our Census 2021 guidance. Our Open Geography portal and Nomis provide more contextual information about MSOAs; for example, whether an MSOA is in a national park, or which "Travel to Work Area" a local area is in.