By council
Manchester council tax 2026/27
The city charge, plus two precepts set by the Mayor of Greater Manchester: one for policing, one for fire and other mayoral services.
Manchester, Band A, 2026/27
£1,541a year
First payment £155.36, then 9 of £154.00
| Band A charge | £1,541.36 |
| Bill for the year | £1,541.36 |
Band A at 6/9 of Band D.
Where the council tax goes
How Manchester compares
Band D here is £2,312.04, number 234 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
Manchester City Council's Band D council tax for 2026/27 is £2,312.04 for two adults, up from £2,183.03 in 2025/26, an increase of 5.9 %. Most homes in the city are in the lowest bands, so a more typical bill is the Band A charge of £1,541.36 a year, or £1,156.02 for an adult living alone. Two of the lines on that bill are set not by the city but by the Mayor of Greater Manchester: a police and crime precept of £285.30 and a general precept of £153.95 at Band D, which pays mainly for the fire and rescue service. There is no separate fire authority line. Among the ten Greater Manchester boroughs, Manchester ranks 8 of 10 by Band D from the highest, so only a few neighbours charge less.
Figures checked by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · How the bill is worked out
All eight bands in Manchester
| Band | Share of D | Two adults | Living alone | Each of 10 payments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Band A | 6/9 | £1,541.36 | £1,156.02 | £154.14 |
| Band B | 7/9 | £1,798.25 | £1,348.69 | £179.83 |
| Band C | 8/9 | £2,055.15 | £1,541.36 | £205.52 |
| Band D | 9/9 | £2,312.04 | £1,734.03 | £231.20 |
| Band E | 11/9 | £2,825.83 | £2,119.37 | £282.58 |
| Band F | 13/9 | £3,339.61 | £2,504.71 | £333.96 |
| Band G | 15/9 | £3,853.40 | £2,890.05 | £385.34 |
| Band H | 18/9 | £4,624.08 | £3,468.06 | £462.41 |
A Band A home pays six ninths of Band D and a Band H home eighteen ninths. The band was fixed on 1991 values, so recent price rises in the city centre have not moved any home into a higher band.
The Mayor's two precepts
Greater Manchester has an elected mayor who also holds the powers of police and crime commissioner. That is why the bill shows two mayoral lines. The police and crime precept, £285.30 at Band D, funds Greater Manchester Police and rose by the £15 that police bodies could add this year. The general precept, £153.95, covers the fire and rescue service and a set of mayoral programmes; the Combined Authority puts the larger part of it towards fire cover.
Together the two take £439.25 of a Band D bill, or 19.0 % of it. The city council keeps the remaining £1,872.79, of which £35.68 is the adult social care precept. Manchester has no parish councils, so nothing else is added.
Ten boroughs, one mayor
Since the mayoral precepts are the same everywhere, the ranking below is driven only by each borough's own charge, shown in the middle column. Sorted from the cheapest:
| Borough | Band A | Borough charge at D | Band D total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wigan | £1,435.12 | £1,713.43 | £2,152.68 |
| Trafford | £1,527.80 | £1,852.45 | £2,291.70 |
| Manchester | £1,541.36 | £1,872.79 | £2,312.04 |
| Bolton | £1,599.83 | £1,960.49 | £2,399.74 |
| Tameside | £1,631.47 | £2,007.96 | £2,447.21 |
| Bury | £1,703.43 | £2,115.90 | £2,555.15 |
| Salford | £1,729.63 | £2,155.20 | £2,594.45 |
| Rochdale | £1,733.89 | £2,161.58 | £2,600.83 |
| Oldham | £1,734.82 | £2,162.98 | £2,602.23 |
| Stockport | £1,745.93 | £2,179.65 | £2,618.90 |
Trafford was one of a handful of councils given a higher limit this year, 7.5 % instead of the usual 4.99 %. Stockport, Oldham and Rochdale have the dearest totals. For Liverpool, Lancashire, Cheshire and Cumbria too, see the North West overview.
Students, sharers and single adults
Manchester has one of the largest student populations in the country, and the rules for them are national. A house shared only by full-time students owes nothing; a mixed house pays, with the students ignored when the adults are counted. The GOV.UK page for students and the student guide explain the certificates involved. A working adult sharing with students is treated as living alone and gets 25 % off, the single person discount.
Before you rely on the figure
The calculator does not know about Council Tax Support, the city's scheme for low incomes, which comes off after every discount. Premiums on second homes and on homes empty for a year or more are local choices: check what Manchester charges this year and type the rate in. The page on the 2026 increase explains how the limits worked for every council.