Wales and its nine council tax bands
Wales uses nine council tax bands, A to I, against England's eight. The Welsh list in force since 1 April 2005 rests on values at 1 April 2003 and has a ninth band, I, at the top. At 31 March 2026 the Welsh list held 1,493,990 homes; band C is the most common band (21.7%) and the middle home is in band C.
Band I holds 5,690 homes, 0.4% of the Welsh list. Bands A and B together take 35.1%, and band F or above 13.3%.
Wales, 1,493,990 homes. Valuation Office counts at 31 March 2026.
Why Welsh and English bands are kept apart
A Welsh band C home was valued between £65,001 and £91,000 at 2003 prices; an English band C home between £52,001 and £68,000 at 1991 prices. The letters match but the ranges and dates do not, so this site never ranks a Welsh council against an English one on band shares. Property type, bedrooms and build period are recorded the same way on both lists and are compared across the border.
All 22 councils
| Council | Homes | Bands A–B | Band F+ | Band I homes | Middle home |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blaenau Gwent | 33,300 | 82.2% | 1.4% | 20 | Band A |
| Merthyr Tydfil | 27,670 | 75.3% | 2.7% | 10 | Band A |
| Rhondda Cynon Taf | 112,200 | 64.8% | 4.6% | 70 | Band B |
| Neath Port Talbot | 67,350 | 61.4% | 3.3% | 20 | Band B |
| Caerphilly | 81,470 | 52.3% | 4.2% | 80 | Band B |
| Torfaen | 43,540 | 44.6% | 7.5% | 30 | Band C |
| Gwynedd | 62,980 | 40.2% | 8.9% | 90 | Band C |
| Swansea | 116,820 | 40.2% | 11.8% | 550 | Band C |
| Bridgend | 66,340 | 39.2% | 9.8% | 110 | Band C |
| Carmarthenshire | 90,710 | 37.5% | 10.4% | 70 | Band C |
| Isle of Anglesey | 36,320 | 32.9% | 11.4% | 60 | Band C |
| Newport | 72,480 | 30.9% | 13.4% | 190 | Band C |
| Wrexham | 62,290 | 27.9% | 14.3% | 290 | Band C |
| Pembrokeshire | 64,060 | 25.4% | 13.6% | 90 | Band D |
| Denbighshire | 46,860 | 24.8% | 13.9% | 170 | Band C |
| Conwy | 58,540 | 23.7% | 13.2% | 160 | Band C |
| Powys | 67,430 | 23.3% | 21.9% | 210 | Band D |
| Flintshire | 71,920 | 19.7% | 16.5% | 220 | Band D |
| Ceredigion | 36,400 | 18.7% | 13.8% | 20 | Band D |
| Cardiff | 168,160 | 15.4% | 22.3% | 1,490 | Band D |
| Vale of Glamorgan | 62,620 | 13.2% | 27.2% | 1,060 | Band D |
| Monmouthshire | 44,530 | 9.0% | 36.1% | 670 | Band E |
The south Wales valleys hold the lowest bands. In Blaenau Gwent, 82.2% of homes are in bands A and B, and in Merthyr Tydfil 75.3%. At the other end, Monmouthshire has 36.1% of its homes in band F or above, followed by the Vale of Glamorgan and Cardiff.
Band C is the most common band in 8 councils and band B in 7; band A leads in 3, band D in 3 and band E in 1.
The Welsh housing stock
Welsh homes are older than English ones and have more bedrooms on average. Of Welsh homes, 22.5% were built before 1900, against 14.9% in England, and the average home has 2.83 bedrooms against 2.66. Terraced houses are the largest group (29.0%), and flats are less common than in England (14.6% against 24.4%).
Recent building is slower. Homes built from 2016 to 2026 make up 5.4% of the Welsh list and 8.4% of the English one. Over the year to March 2026 the Welsh list grew by a net 8,230 homes (0.55%). The middle Welsh home built since 2016 is in band D; the middle older home is in band C.
The Wales page lists every council with its band mix, and each Welsh council page compares it with Wales as a whole.
Each type of home on the Welsh ladder
| Type | Band A | Band B | Band C | Band D | Band E | Band F | Band G | Band H | Band I |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flats and maisonettes | 42.4% | 26.2% | 15.2% | 8.3% | 5.1% | 2.0% | 0.5% | 0.1% | 0.0% |
| Terraced houses | 18.9% | 35.3% | 26.3% | 11.2% | 5.5% | 2.1% | 0.6% | 0.1% | 0.0% |
| Semi-detached houses | 6.3% | 20.9% | 35.6% | 22.3% | 9.0% | 4.3% | 1.2% | 0.3% | 0.1% |
| Detached houses | 0.2% | 0.7% | 3.5% | 16.5% | 32.2% | 26.8% | 14.6% | 3.8% | 1.7% |
| Bungalows | 7.0% | 9.9% | 19.8% | 26.4% | 23.8% | 9.8% | 2.8% | 0.5% | 0.1% |
Band I holds 1.7% of Welsh detached houses, the highest share of any type. Terraced houses gather in band B, which holds 35.3% of them.
Band I and recent building
Band I homes are concentrated in a handful of councils: Cardiff (1,490), the Vale of Glamorgan (1,060) and Monmouthshire (670) hold 56.6% of the Welsh total between them.
The newest stock in Wales is in the Vale of Glamorgan, where 9.3% of homes were built from 2016 to 2026, followed by Cardiff (8.7%). The lowest share is in Neath Port Talbot, at 2.6%.
How the Welsh councils differ beyond the bands
Average home size runs from 2.67 bedrooms in Cardiff to 3.01 in Monmouthshire. The oldest stock is in Gwynedd, where 44.1% of homes were built before 1900, and the fastest growth over the year to March 2026 was in Pembrokeshire, at +1.04%.
These measures use the same definitions on both sides of the border, so the Welsh council pages rank them among all 318 councils in England and Wales, while their band measures are ranked among the 22 Welsh councils only. To set a Welsh council beside an English one on property types, bedrooms and age, use the comparison tool; it leaves the band rows out when the two areas are in different countries.
A year of change on the Welsh list
Set against the list published a year earlier, the Welsh stock grew in every band. Band D added the most homes, a net 1,880, ahead of band C (+1,510) and band E (+1,450); band A grew by +900. Band I went from 5,670 to 5,690 homes. As in England, these are net changes to the list, which include corrections and demolitions as well as new homes.
| Band | March 2025 | March 2026 | Net change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Band A | 215,600 | 216,500 | +900 |
| Band B | 307,160 | 308,470 | +1,310 |
| Band C | 323,350 | 324,860 | +1,510 |
| Band D | 241,410 | 243,290 | +1,880 |
| Band E | 201,150 | 202,600 | +1,450 |
| Band F | 122,890 | 123,650 | +760 |
| Band G | 55,310 | 55,650 | +340 |
| Band H | 13,220 | 13,290 | +70 |
| Band I | 5,670 | 5,690 | +20 |
How rare band I is
Band I remains a small band everywhere. It reaches 1% of homes in 2 of the 22 councils, and in 10 it holds less than 0.2%. The council pages for Wales give each one's band I count next to its band H count.
Source: Valuation Office Agency (now the Valuation Office, part of HM Revenue & Customs), Council Tax: stock of properties, 2026. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. See how the figures work.