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.
Apr 2025-Mar 2026 / ASHE 2026
Southend-on-Sea wages, employment and affordability
Resident earnings and labour-market context help explain local affordability, rental pressure and housing demand.
Resident population
185,214
ONS 2025
Median resident annual pay
£42,130
Southend-on-Sea
Median resident weekly pay
£810
Full-time employees
Employment rate
79.2%
Aged 16-64
Unemployment rate
4.5%
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 had a resident population of 185,214 in 2025, so the local labour market sits within a sizeable coastal city economy. The latest ONS and Nomis profile, using the Annual Population Survey, shows an employment rate of 79.2% for 2026.
That is above the Great Britain figure of 75.5%.