Average house price compared with resident median annual pay.
Portsmouth Wages, Employment and Property Affordability
Resident earnings, employment, unemployment and affordability context for reading Portsmouth prices and rents.
Apr 2025-Mar 2026 / ASHE 2026
Portsmouth wages, employment and affordability
Resident earnings and labour-market context help explain local affordability, rental pressure and housing demand.
Resident population
211,475
ONS 2025
Median resident annual pay
£36,457
Portsmouth
Median resident weekly pay
£701
Full-time employees
Employment rate
77.8%
Aged 16-64
Unemployment rate
4.9%
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.
Portsmouth has a resident population of 211,475, so the local labour market sits within a sizeable city economy. On the ONS and Nomis measures, this matters for property affordability because pay, work and inactivity help frame how much spending power households may have, even though they do not directly determine housing costs.