Renting in Chelmsford

Average Rent in Chelmsford: £1,400/mo

Rent in Chelmsford before the rush.

Median asking rent across 2,648 live Chelmsford listings on 6 portals from £400/mo, broken down by property size below — plus how rents have moved, where they are highest and lowest, and what landed on the market this week.

Median asking rent

£1,400 /month

2,648 live listings · 6 portals

Median monthly rent in Chelmsford by property size
Size	Median rent	Listings
Studio	£925/mo	41
1 bed	£1,150/mo	791
2 bed	£1,500/mo	774
3 bed	£1,800/mo	371
4+ bed	£2,300/mo	237
Room (house share)	£725/mo	434

Asking rents from live listings on Rightmove, OnTheMarket, OpenRent, PrimeLocation, SpareRoom and Leaders · Updated 12 September 2026. Weekly prices normalised to monthly.

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Renting in Chelmsford

What it costs to rent in Chelmsford

Chelmsford currently has 2,648 rental properties listed across the portals we track, with a median rent of £1,400 a month. 75 new homes appeared in the past week alone. Among the houses and flats listed, roughly 36% are houses and the rest are flats.

Rents vary sharply by postcode. The most affordable outcode we track is SS8 at around £700/mo, while CM11 sits nearer £2,300/mo. For a wider view of where the UK’s cheapest rents are, see our guide to the cheapest cities to rent in the UK.

Dwellio watches Rightmove, OnTheMarket, OpenRent, PrimeLocation, SpareRoom and Leaders for Chelmsford around the clock — so a new listing reaches your inbox before most renters have refreshed the app. Here’s how our rental alerts work. Looking further afield? You can browse rentals in every UK city.

Rent by property size

Average rent in Chelmsford by bedrooms

Median monthly asking rent for each property size, from 2,648 live listings across 6 property sites (September 2026).

Average studio rent in Chelmsford

£925/mo

The median asking rent for a studio in Chelmsford is £925 a month, 34% below the city-wide median of £1,400, based on 41 studios currently on the market.

Average rent for a 1-bed flat in Chelmsford

£1,150/mo

The median asking rent for a 1-bed home in Chelmsford is £1,150 a month, 18% below the city-wide median of £1,400, based on 791 listings currently on the market.

Average rent for a 2-bed flat or house in Chelmsford

£1,500/mo

The median asking rent for a 2-bed home in Chelmsford is £1,500 a month, 7% above the city-wide median of £1,400, based on 774 listings currently on the market.

Average rent for a 3-bed house in Chelmsford

£1,800/mo

The median asking rent for a 3-bed home in Chelmsford is £1,800 a month, 29% above the city-wide median of £1,400, based on 371 listings currently on the market.

Average rent for a 4-bed house in Chelmsford

£2,300/mo

The median asking rent for a four-bedroom-plus home in Chelmsford is £2,300 a month, 64% above the city-wide median of £1,400, based on 237 listings currently on the market.

Average room rent in Chelmsford

£725/mo

The median asking rent for a room in a Chelmsford house share is £725 a month, 48% below the city-wide median of £1,400, based on 434 rooms currently listed, mostly on SpareRoom and OpenRent.

Medians exclude prices that fail our junk-listing floor. Room rents are per room, not per property.

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Rent trend · ONS PIPR

How Chelmsford rents have moved

Office for National Statistics Price Index of Private Rents — official monthly average rent across all tenures in Chelmsford. Latest: £1,442/mo (Jul 26, +3.3% YoY).

Latest

£1,442

Jul 26

Annual

+3.3%

vs last year

5-yr ago

£1,082

Aug 21

Total change

+33%

since 2021

Source: Office for National Statistics · Price Index of Private Rents (PIPR). Updated monthly with a ~2-month lag. ONS uses Broad Rental Market Areas in Scotland — figures may aggregate beyond the city itself.

Affordability · ONS ASHE

What share of Chelmsford pay goes on rent?

Renters in Chelmsford spend an estimated 48% of the local median gross salary on rent — based on the ONS Price Index of Private Rents and ASHE Table 8 (2025).

Median rent

£1,442/mo

£17,304/yr

Median pay

£35,791/yr

gross, ASHE 2025

Rent burden

48%

Stretched — above the 30% rent-burden threshold.

0%30% threshold80%

Sources: Office for National Statistics — Price Index of Private Rents (latest month) and Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings Table 8.7a (median annual gross pay, place of residence). The 30% line is the conventional rent-burden threshold above which housing costs are considered to crowd out other essentials.

Property types

What’s on offer in Chelmsford

Flats & apartments

955

49% of listings

Houses

535

28% of listings

Rooms

434

22% of listings

Bungalows

1% of listings

Property mix · houses

Houses to rent in Chelmsford — what's on the market

Terraced houses make up 39% of the 548 houses currently advertised in Chelmsford.

Terraced
39%216
Semi-detached
23%126
Other house
21%114
Detached
14%79
Bungalow
2%13

Rent by postcode

Where Chelmsford rent is highest and lowest

Median monthly rent grouped by outcode across 1,637 live listings in 31 outcodes. Outcodes with fewer than 3 listings are skipped to avoid skew from a single luxury rental.

Most expensive in Chelmsford

1CM11£2,300/mo5 rentals
2CM6£2,000/mo17 rentals
3CM13£1,825/mo20 rentals

Cheapest in Chelmsford

1SS8£700/mo3 rentals
2SS4£900/mo4 rentals
3SS2£940/mo8 rentals

Features · Chelmsford

Garden, parking, and floor area in Chelmsford

Live signal across 2,648 Chelmsford rentals scraped from six UK portals. Coverage varies by portal — figures below show the share of listings whose advertiser surfaces the feature.

Garden

75%

of 368 Chelmsford listings advertise a garden, patio, or terrace.

Parking

88%

of 549 Chelmsford listings include parking, a driveway, or a garage.

Live from the portals

New rentals in Chelmsford this week

75 homes came onto the Chelmsford rental market in the last 7 days across Rightmove, OnTheMarket, OpenRent, PrimeLocation, SpareRoom and Leaders. The freshest are below.

75 new this weekUpdated today

Listings refresh as our scraper picks up new properties for Chelmsford. Click through to the source portal to enquire.

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Council tax · VOA 2024

Council tax bands across Chelmsford

Most Chelmsford homes sit in Band C. The weighted average works out close to Band C–D across 80,990 properties on the council-tax list.

Modal band

most common band

Mean band

3.75

≈ Band C–D

Stock

81k

80,990 properties

A
6%4,800
B
14%11,040
C
30%23,910
D
23%18,410
E
14%11,350
F
8%6,540
G
6%4,510
H
1%440

Source: HM Valuation Office Agency — Council Tax Stock of Properties (CTSOP1.0), extract dated 31 March 2024. Covers England and Wales; Scotland and Northern Ireland use separate band schemes and aren't included.

Broadband · Ofcom Connected Nations

Broadband coverage across Chelmsford

79% of Chelmsford premises can already get full-fibre and 87% can get gigabit speeds — Ofcom Connected Nations residential coverage, July 2025.

Full fibre

79%

FTTP-ready premises

Gigabit

87%

≥1Gbit/s available

Superfast

98%

≥30Mbit/s available

Mean speed

456 Mbit/s

bucket-weighted estimate

Full fibre (FTTP)
79%
Gigabit-capable
87%
Superfast (≥30 Mbit/s)
98%

Source: Ofcom Connected Nations residential coverage by Local Authority (Chelmsford), July 2025, covering 81,627 premises. Mean download speed is estimated from Ofcom speed-bucket midpoints.

Energy efficiency · DESNZ EPC

EPC ratings for Chelmsford homes

51% of Chelmsford homes hold a current EPC in bands A–C — the bands that meet the proposed 2030 minimum energy-efficiency standard for rented stock.

Bands A–C

51%

good energy-efficiency stock

Bands D–G

49%

below the proposed 2030 floor

Certificates

64k

64,119 EPCs

A
1%323
B
16%10,279
C
35%22,273
D
35%22,336
E
11%6,904
F
3%1,623
G
1%381

Source: DESNZ Energy Performance of Buildings register (replacement for opendatacommunities.org), domestic certificates filed under Chelmsford. Covers England and Wales — Scottish EPCs are held in a separate Scottish register and aren't included.

Schools · GIAS · DfE

State-funded schools near Chelmsford

9 open state-funded schools sit within one mile of the Chelmsford centroid. The five closest:

1
The Cathedral Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School, Chelmsford
Primary · Voluntary aided school · CM1 1PA
0.11 mi
2
King Edward VI Grammar School, Chelmsford
Secondary · Academy converter · CM1 3SX
0.40 mi
3
Trinity Road Primary School
Primary · Community school · CM2 6HS
0.49 mi
4
Chelmsford County High School for Girls
Secondary · Academy converter · CM1 1RW
0.49 mi
5
Our Lady Immaculate Catholic Primary School
Primary · Academy converter · CM2 0RG
0.55 mi

Source: DfE Get Information About Schools (state-funded extract). Distances are straight-line from each school's postcode to the Chelmsford centroid. Ofsted ratings were removed from GIAS in January 2025 and aren't available here.

Area safety

Safety in Chelmsford

Typical Crime Level

Based on the latest police data (September 2026), Chelmsford has a typical crime rate compared to other UK cities. Across 36 of 36 postcode districts analysed, the median was 109 reported crimes per area. The most common category in Chelmsford is Anti-social behaviour, accounting for 0% of all incidents.

Crime overview

109 crimes per area (median)
36 of 36 postcode districts covered
Data: September 2026

Most reported

Anti-social behaviour
0% of incidents

Chelmsford’s figures sit in line with the national picture. Safety varies by street as much as by city — every Dwellio alert includes the area’s data to help.

Data from data.police.uk, updated monthly. Contains public-sector information licensed under OGL v3.0.

Area breakdown

Safety by suburb in Chelmsford

Street-level crime counts from data.police.uk for July 2026, covering a ~1 mile radius around each suburb centre. Figures are normalised per 1,000 residents so you can compare neighbourhoods fairly.

South Woodham Ferrers has the lowest crime count of the top 5 suburbs in Chelmsford.

Great Baddow
Higher crime
Most common: Violent crime (87) · pop. ~13,000
16
per 1k
Writtle
Safer area
Most common: Violent crime (20) · pop. ~6,000
7.5
per 1k
Galleywood
Typical for city
Most common: Violent crime (34) · pop. ~6,000
12
per 1k
Springfield
Higher crime
Most common: Violent crime (183) · pop. ~15,000
30
per 1k
South Woodham Ferrers
Safer area
Most common: Violent crime (36) · pop. ~17,000
5.0
per 1k

Suburbs shown are representative populated areas; figures reflect street-level incidents within ~1 mile of each centre. Data from data.police.uk. Contains public-sector information licensed under OGL v3.0.

Where we search

Chelmsford listings by portal

We watch 6 property sites for rentals in Chelmsford.

Rightmove

831

OnTheMarket

501

PrimeLocation

444

SpareRoom

434

OpenRent

403

Leaders

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Frequently asked

Renting in Chelmsford — your questions answered

How much is rent in Chelmsford?

The average (median) asking rent in Chelmsford is £1,400 a month — a 1-bed is £1,150 and a 2-bed £1,500, based on 2,648 live listings across 6 property portals in Sept 2026.

What is the average studio rent in Chelmsford?

The median asking rent for a studio in Chelmsford is £925 a month, 34% below the city-wide median of £1,400, based on 41 studios currently on the market.

What is the average rent for a 1-bed flat in Chelmsford?

The median asking rent for a 1-bed home in Chelmsford is £1,150 a month, 18% below the city-wide median of £1,400, based on 791 listings currently on the market.

What is the average rent for a 2-bed flat or house in Chelmsford?

The median asking rent for a 2-bed home in Chelmsford is £1,500 a month, 7% above the city-wide median of £1,400, based on 774 listings currently on the market.

What is the average rent for a 3-bed house in Chelmsford?

The median asking rent for a 3-bed home in Chelmsford is £1,800 a month, 29% above the city-wide median of £1,400, based on 371 listings currently on the market.

What is the average rent for a 4-bed house in Chelmsford?

The median asking rent for a four-bedroom-plus home in Chelmsford is £2,300 a month, 64% above the city-wide median of £1,400, based on 237 listings currently on the market.

What is the average room rent in Chelmsford?

The median asking rent for a room in a Chelmsford house share is £725 a month, 48% below the city-wide median of £1,400, based on 434 rooms currently listed, mostly on SpareRoom and OpenRent.

How many rental properties are available in Chelmsford?

There are currently 2,648 rental properties available in Chelmsford, with 75 new listings added in the last 7 days.

Is Chelmsford safe for renters?

Chelmsford has a typical crime rate compared to other UK cities, with a median of 109 reported crimes per postcode area (September 2026). The most common category is Anti-social behaviour. Data from data.police.uk.

What is the most common crime in Chelmsford?

The most commonly reported crime category in Chelmsford is Anti-social behaviour, based on data.police.uk records for September 2026.

Across East of England

Average rent across East of England

How Chelmsford compares with the other 20 places we track in East of England — median asking rent from live listings, updated September 2026.

Every city, every region, one table: the UK rental index.

Compare across the UK

Average rent in major UK cities

See how Chelmsford compares with the UK’s largest rental markets — median rents, area data and live alerts for each.

Renting guides

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