Norfolk statistics: population, house prices, council tax and pay

By Tom Fletcher Property and Relocation Editor Apr 23, 2026 · Updated Oct 1, 2026

4 min read

Norfolk houses cost less than the English average, about £24,000 less in the July 2026 house price index, but Norfolk pay is lower too. Set against local full-time earnings, a median-priced Norfolk home cost 7.65 years’ pay in 2025, almost exactly the English figure of 7.63. The county is also older and more dependent on the car than England as a whole. Each figure below is given with its source. You can quote or reproduce any of them with credit to Norfolk Living Guide and a link to this page.

Population

Norfolk had 945,427 residents in the ONS mid-2025 estimates, up from 940,468 a year earlier. By district:

• King’s Lynn and West Norfolk 156,943
• South Norfolk 150,396
• Breckland 148,095
• Norwich 145,676
• Broadland 139,652
• North Norfolk 103,708
• Great Yarmouth 100,957

The county covers 5,372 sq km, which works out at about 176 people per sq km. A quarter of residents (25.4%) are 65 or over, against 19.1% across England, and the median age is about 46 against about 41 for England, both calculated from the ONS single-year-of-age estimates for mid-2025. North Norfolk had the highest median age of any local authority in England and Wales at the 2021 Census: 54.

House prices

The UK House Price Index for July 2026, published by HM Land Registry on 16 September 2026, puts the Norfolk average at £269,185, up 0.7% on a year earlier. England’s average is £293,479, up 1.1%. District averages and annual change:

• Broadland £313,407, up 2.9%
• South Norfolk £311,587, up 1.5%
• North Norfolk £292,563, down 3.1%
• Breckland £268,905, up 0.6%
• King’s Lynn and West Norfolk £265,715, up 3.0%
• Norwich £224,323, down 2.3%
• Great Yarmouth £209,114, up 0.7%

These are index figures, adjusted for the mix of homes sold. Asking prices on the property portals usually read higher, so do not compare the two directly.

Council tax

Band D for 2026-27, before any parish or town council precept, from the MHCLG council tax tables and each council’s published charges:

• Breckland £2,311.65
• Broadland £2,323.08
• King’s Lynn and West Norfolk £2,345.61
• North Norfolk £2,366.82
• South Norfolk £2,368.17
• Great Yarmouth £2,386.42
• Norwich £2,503.43

The English average Band D for 2026-27 is £2,392. Norwich has no parishes, so its figure is what every Band D home in the city pays; everywhere else, the town or parish precept goes on top.

Getting to London

• Norwich to London Liverpool Street: Greater Anglia, direct, half-hourly. Fastest 1h 39m, most trains 1h 47m to 1h 54m.
• Diss to London Liverpool Street: the same trains, fastest 1h 22m, most trains 1h 30m to 1h 38m.
• Annual standard season ticket at 2026 prices: Norwich to London £10,716, or £12,076 with a Travelcard; Diss to London £9,976 (National Rail season ticket calculator).

Outside the rail corridors most households drive. At the 2021 Census, 82.6% of Norfolk households had at least one car or van, against 76.5% across England.

Schools

The January 2026 school census (DfE, Schools, pupils and their characteristics 2025/26) counts 344 state-funded primary schools in Norfolk, 54 state-funded secondaries and 16 state-funded special schools, plus 35 independent schools. For any one school, read its latest Ofsted report.

Work and earnings

• Median gross weekly pay for full-time workers living in Norfolk: £719.40, against £769.50 for England (ONS ASHE 2025).
• House prices against earnings: the median Norfolk home cost 7.65 times median full-time workplace earnings (£35,940) in 2025. The ratio is 7.63 for England, 6.51 in Norwich and 9.32 in North Norfolk.
• Unemployment, aged 16 to 64: 4.0%, against 4.7% for England (Annual Population Survey, April 2025 to March 2026).
• Self-employed: 14.1% of Norfolk residents in work aged 16 to 64, against 12.6% for England (same survey).

Crime

Police in Norfolk recorded 61.5 crimes per 1,000 people in the year to March 2026, excluding fraud, against 84.7 for England and Wales. The rate ranges from 34.8 in Broadland to 108.9 in Norwich (ONS police force area tables).

Land and coast

• Highest point: Beacon Hill, on the Cromer Ridge south of West Runton, 105m.
• The Broads: more than 125 miles (200 km) of navigable rivers and broads across Norfolk and Suffolk, with the same protection as a national park under the Norfolk and Suffolk Broads Act 1988 (National Parks UK).
• Norfolk Coast National Landscape, formerly the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty: 453 sq km from the Wash to Winterton, about 8% of the county.
• The Norfolk Coast Path runs 84 miles from Hunstanton to Hopton-on-Sea.

Broadband

From thinkbroadband’s Norfolk figures generated on 19 September 2026: 80.5% of premises can get a gigabit-capable connection and 77.2% can get full fibre, against 85.8% full fibre for England. Superfast (30 Mbps or more) reaches 97.7%. 0.83% of premises cannot get 10 Mbps, the threshold for the legal broadband universal service obligation.

Using these figures

You can use any figure here in editorial or commercial work, credited to Norfolk Living Guide with a link to this page. For raw data or a comment, email info@norfolklivingguide.co.uk.

Figures checked in September 2026.