UK single renters are bearing the brunt of soaring rent costs, with no one to share the bill. With more than 8 million people living alone in the UK, and with rent prices continuing to rise faster than wages, a single person’s choice of where to live can mean the difference between financial comfort and ongoing money stress.

OddsMonkey’s comprehensive analysis of 62 UK cities shows huge differences in housing affordability for singles, with renters in the most expensive cities spending more than twice the proportion of their income on rent compared with the most affordable cities. OddsMonkey has used official data from the Office for National Statistics to provide a clear ranking of the biggest and smallest financial burdens single Brits face by renting a one-bedroom home.

Being single will be a financial nightmare in 2026: Interactive map

The map above reveals the stark contrasts in affordability across the UK, with huge differences between the north and south clearly visible. Southern coastal cities and historic university towns dominate the least affordable rankings, with Brighton and Hove topping the list, with single people in these cities facing a heavy financial burden with more than half of their income spent solely on rent. Oxford, Bath and St Albans follow, along with other popular southern cities such as Bristol, Cambridge and Exeter.

By contrast, the top ten cheapest cities paint a completely different picture: northern cities such as Durham, Kingston upon Hull and Doncaster, Scottish cities including Perth, Inverness and Aberdeen, and midlands such as Stoke-on-Trent and Derby offer better value for single renters. This geographical clustering highlights how regional wage differences and housing market pressures combine to create very different financial realities for single Brits, depending on where they choose to live.

Cities where single people spend the highest proportion of their income on housing

Brighton and Hove is ranked as the most expensive city for single renters, with residents spending 36.8% of their monthly income on housing, based on average one-bedroom rents of £1,203 and a median income of £3,269.

Oxford is close behind, with an average one-bedroom rent of £1,316, accounting for 36.75% of the median monthly income (£3,581).

In third place is Bath, where single renters spend 35.32% of their income on housing, with an average monthly rent of £1,144 and a median income of £3,239.

St Albans ranks fourth, with the average monthly cost of a one-bedroom house at £1,244, equivalent to 35.01% of the median monthly income of £3,533.

Rounding out the top five is Bristol, with average monthly rents of £1,208, accounting for 33.29% of the median income (£3,629).

The 20 cities where singles spend the highest proportion of income on housing

Cities where singles spend the lowest proportion of income on housing

Durham emerged as the most affordable city for single renters, with the average monthly cost of a one-bedroom house being £434. The median monthly income is £2,794, meaning only 15.53% of income is spent on rent, the lowest proportion in the study.

Perth ranked second, with single residents spending 15.79% of their monthly income on housing, with an average one-bedroom rent of £513 and a median income of £3,248.

Kingston upon Hull is close behind, with average monthly rents of £475, accounting for 15.83% of the median income (£3,001).

Inverness ranked fourth, with single renters spending 15.96% of their income on housing. The average rent for a one-bedroom apartment is £521, while the median monthly income is £3,265.

Rounding out the top five is Doncaster, where the average monthly cost of a one-bedroom house is £477, equivalent to 16.41% of the median monthly income (£2,906).

The 20 cities with the lowest housing expenditure-to-income ratio for singles

Full ranking

methodology

The study analyzed 62 cities across the UK to identify where single people face the greatest financial burden of renting. London locations were not included in this study.

We collected data from two official sources from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Rental prices are taken from the ONS Private Rent and House Price Bulletin (December 2025), which provides average monthly rents for one-bedroom properties as of November 2025. Earnings data comes from the ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (2025), which shows the median total weekly earnings of full-time employees as of April 2025.

To compare rental costs and income, we first converted to monthly data by multiplying weekly income by 4.33 (the average number of weeks in a month). We then calculated the rent for a one-bedroom property in each city as a percentage of monthly income.

Cities are ranked based on the ratio of rent to income, with higher percentages indicating greater financial stress for single renters.