By council
County Durham council tax 2026/27
A large unitary county with a parish or town council in most communities and bills that start well below the English average in the lowest band.
Durham, Band A, 2026/27
£1,748a year
First payment £173.10, then 9 of £175.00
| Band A charge | £1,748.10 |
| Bill for the year | £1,748.10 |
Band A at 6/9 of Band D.
Where the council tax goes
How Durham compares
Band D here is £2,622.15, number 23 of 296 in England (1 = dearest). The same band in Wandsworth, the cheapest, costs £685 on the same terms.
Think the band is wrong? How a band challenge works
Durham County Council's Band D figure for 2026/27 is £2,622.15, an average that includes the precepts of 129 parish and town councils and rose by 2.8 % from £2,551.17. The calculator opens on Band A, the band charged at six ninths of Band D: two adults there pay £1,748.10 a year and a single adult £1,311.07, or £175.00 a month over ten months. Of the Band D total, £2,071.11 goes to the county council itself, £122.18 on average to the parish, £300.74 to the police and £128.12 to fire and rescue. In the North East, Durham comes 2 of 12 by Band D, from the dearest, and its figure is £231 above the English average of £2,391.52. Homes empty for years can pay up to four times the normal charge.
Figures checked by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · How the bill is worked out
County Durham, every band
| Band | Share of D | Two adults | Living alone | Each of 10 payments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Band A | 6/9 | £1,748.10 | £1,311.07 | £174.81 |
| Band B | 7/9 | £2,039.45 | £1,529.59 | £203.95 |
| Band C | 8/9 | £2,330.80 | £1,748.10 | £233.08 |
| Band D | 9/9 | £2,622.15 | £1,966.61 | £262.22 |
| Band E | 11/9 | £3,204.85 | £2,403.64 | £320.49 |
| Band F | 13/9 | £3,787.55 | £2,840.66 | £378.76 |
| Band G | 15/9 | £4,370.25 | £3,277.69 | £437.03 |
| Band H | 18/9 | £5,244.30 | £3,933.22 | £524.43 |
Bands follow the values of April 1991, and house prices in the North East were then among the lowest in England, so lower bands are common across the county. That is why this page starts on Band A rather than Band D. Each step up to Band D adds one ninth of the Band D charge; above it the steps grow to two and then three ninths.
A county of parishes
County Durham has 129 parish and town councils, from small villages to some of the larger towns. The council's own charge, together with the police and fire precepts, is £2,499.97 at Band D everywhere; the parish precept then varies from place to place, which is why the £122.18 in the figures above is only an average. Look for the parish line on your bill to see the real amount. The last column of the table shows how much weight this local layer has in Durham compared with its neighbours.
| Council | Band A | Band B | Band D | Parish average at D |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Durham | £1,748.10 | £2,039.45 | £2,622.15 | £122.18 |
| Northumberland | £1,731.29 | £2,019.84 | £2,596.94 | £103.24 |
| Gateshead | £1,810.54 | £2,112.30 | £2,715.81 | £0.29 |
| Sunderland | £1,464.76 | £1,708.89 | £2,197.14 | £0.89 |
| Hartlepool | £1,706.80 | £1,991.27 | £2,560.20 | £3.32 |
| Stockton-on-Tees | £1,726.55 | £2,014.31 | £2,589.83 | £17.73 |
| Darlington | £1,662.55 | £1,939.65 | £2,493.83 | £8.10 |
The North East average Band D is £2,525.66. The North East page ranks all 12 councils, and Newcastle upon Tyne has its own page.
Empty and second homes
Since 1 April 2025, County Durham has added a 100 % premium to second homes. Homes empty and unfurnished pay 100 % extra between one and five years, 200 % from five years and 300 % from ten. For the first year a vacant home pays the full charge, with no empty discount. The exceptions in the government guidance, for example for homes on the market or awaiting probate, apply in Durham too, and the empty property page explains how to claim one.
Reductions that matter in the lower bands
A home adapted for a disabled resident, for example with an extra bathroom or space for a wheelchair, is charged one band lower. In Band A there is no lower band, so the charge falls to five ninths of Band D: £1,456.75 instead of £1,748.10. The GOV.UK rules and the Disabled Band Reduction guide explain the test. Households on a low income can apply for Council Tax Reduction, which Durham runs under its own local scheme and which the calculator does not include. It is applied after every discount shown on this page, so the figures above are the starting point for any claim.