Average house price compared with resident median annual pay.
New Forest Wages, Employment and Property Affordability
Resident earnings, employment, unemployment and affordability context for reading New Forest prices and rents.
Jan 2025-Dec 2025 / ASHE 2025
New Forest wages, employment and affordability
Resident earnings and labour-market context help explain local affordability, rental pressure and housing demand.
Resident population
176,116
ONS 2024
Median resident annual pay
£38,111
New Forest
Median resident weekly pay
£733
Full-time employees
Employment rate
80.7%
Aged 16-64
Unemployment rate
2.9%
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.
New Forest’s labour market picture sits a little above the Great Britain average on participation, but below it on pay. The ONS Annual Population Survey profile shown by Nomis, together with ASHE resident earnings, gives a useful snapshot of local affordability context for people who live and work here.