Average house price compared with resident median annual pay.
Canterbury Wages, Employment and Property Affordability
Resident earnings, employment, unemployment and affordability context for reading Canterbury prices and rents.
Jan 2025-Dec 2025 / ASHE 2025
Canterbury wages, employment and affordability
Resident earnings and labour-market context help explain local affordability, rental pressure and housing demand.
Resident population
162,100
ONS 2024
Median resident annual pay
£38,220
Canterbury
Median resident weekly pay
£735
Full-time employees
Employment rate
68.5%
Aged 16-64
Unemployment rate
4.2%
Economically active
Average monthly rent compared with estimated monthly earnings.
Labour market rates are from the ONS Annual Population Survey profile shown by Nomis. Where the local APS unemployment value is suppressed, the ONS model-based unemployment estimate is used. Earnings are ONS ASHE resident-analysis median full-time employee earnings. Annual pay is annualised from weekly pay for display context.
Incomes Explain Affordability Pressure
Wage and employment data does not predict house prices by itself. It gives demand-side context: how average prices and rents compare with resident earnings, whether employment conditions support demand, and where affordability pressure may limit the buyer or renter pool.
Canterbury has a resident population of 162,100, according to the 2024 ONS population estimate used alongside the 2025 labour-market figures. That gives some context for the local housing market.
It is a sizeable city, but still much smaller than the national labour market backdrop, so local earnings and jobs conditions matter when thinking about affordability.