Average house price compared with resident median annual pay.
Southend-on-Sea Wages, Employment and Property Affordability
Resident earnings, employment, unemployment and affordability context for reading Southend-on-Sea prices and rents.
Jan 2025-Dec 2025 / ASHE 2025
Southend-on-Sea wages, employment and affordability
Resident earnings and labour-market context help explain local affordability, rental pressure and housing demand.
Resident population
185,256
ONS 2024
Median resident annual pay
£42,130
Southend-on-Sea
Median resident weekly pay
£810
Full-time employees
Employment rate
80.2%
Aged 16-64
Unemployment rate
3.6%
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.
Southend-on-Sea has a resident population of 185,256, based on the 2024 estimate used alongside the 2025 labour-market profile. That provides useful context.
It is a sizeable local economy, with a labour market that matters for day-to-day housing affordability pressures, but it should not be read as a direct predictor of property values.