Renting in Watford

Average Rent in Watford

Rent in Watford before the rush.

The average rent in Watford is £1,548/mo, with 2,045 live listings across 5 portals from £430/mo. Compare rents by bedroom and area below — and get alerted the moment a new Watford rental appears.

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Latest rentals in Watford

The freshest listings we picked up across Rightmove, OnTheMarket, OpenRent, PrimeLocation, SpareRoom and Leaders.

27 new this weekUpdated today

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

Renting in Watford

What it costs to rent in Watford

Watford currently has 2,045 rental properties listed across the portals we track, with a median rent of £1,548 a month. 27 new homes appeared in the past week alone. Among the houses and flats listed, roughly 27% are houses and the rest are flats.

Rents vary sharply by postcode. The most affordable outcode we track is WD5 at around £1,448/mo, while WD3 sits nearer £2,699/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 Watford 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.

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Market snapshot

Watford rental market at a glance

2,045

Active rentals in Watford

£1,548/mo

Median monthly rent

Property sites we watch

Rental prices

Rent by bedrooms in Watford

Median monthly rent, based on 2,045 active listings across 5 property sites.

Bedrooms	Median rent	Available
1 bed	£1,250/mo	672
2 bed	£1,750/mo	583
3 bed	£2,100/mo	211
4+ bed	£2,800/mo	174
Room	£800/mo	281

Updated July 2026. Prices normalised to monthly where weekly was listed.

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Rent trend · ONS PIPR

How Watford rents have moved

Office for National Statistics Price Index of Private Rents — official monthly average rent across all tenures in Watford. Latest: £1,813/mo (Mar 26, +4.6% YoY).

Latest

£1,813

Mar 26

Annual

+4.6%

vs last year

5-yr ago

£1,370

Apr 21

Total change

+32%

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 Watford pay goes on rent?

Renters in Watford spend an estimated 59% of the local median gross salary on rent — based on the ONS Price Index of Private Rents and ASHE Table 8 (2025).

Median rent

£1,813/mo

£21,756/yr

Median pay

£37,172/yr

gross, ASHE 2025

Rent burden

59%

Expensive — half of local median pay before tax.

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.

Council tax · VOA 2024

Council tax bands across Watford

Most Watford homes sit in Band C. The weighted average works out close to Band C–D across 42,650 properties on the council-tax list.

Modal band

most common band

Mean band

3.72

≈ Band C–D

Stock

43k

42,650 properties

A
1%510
B
10%4,460
C
37%15,650
D
33%14,010
E
9%3,810
F
5%2,200
G
5%1,930
H
0%80

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 Watford

85% of Watford premises can already get full-fibre and 94% can get gigabit speeds — Ofcom Connected Nations residential coverage, July 2025.

Full fibre

85%

FTTP-ready premises

Gigabit

94%

≥1Gbit/s available

Superfast

100%

≥30Mbit/s available

Mean speed

485 Mbit/s

bucket-weighted estimate

Full fibre (FTTP)
85%
Gigabit-capable
94%
Superfast (≥30 Mbit/s)
100%

Source: Ofcom Connected Nations residential coverage by Local Authority (Watford), July 2025, covering 43,072 premises. Mean download speed is estimated from Ofcom speed-bucket midpoints.

Energy efficiency · DESNZ EPC

EPC ratings for Watford homes

50% of Watford 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

50%

good energy-efficiency stock

Bands D–G

50%

below the proposed 2030 floor

Certificates

36k

36,180 EPCs

A
0%42
B
17%6,057
C
33%12,104
D
37%13,450
E
10%3,796
F
2%568
G
0%163

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

Schools · GIAS · DfE

State-funded schools near Watford

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

1
Central Primary School
Primary · Community school · WD17 2LX
0.18 mi
2
Watford Grammar School for Girls
Secondary · Academy converter · WD18 0AE
0.25 mi
3
Watford St John's Church of England Primary School
Primary · Free schools · WD17 1JJ
0.26 mi
4
Watford Field School (Infant & Nursery)
Primary · Community school · WD18 0WF
0.31 mi
5
Chater Junior School
Primary · Community school · WD18 0WN
0.32 mi

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

Property types

What’s on offer in Watford

Flats & apartments

1035

60% of listings

Houses

382

22% of listings

Rooms

281

16% of listings

Bungalows

1% of listings

Property mix · houses

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

Terraced houses make up 48% of the 397 houses currently advertised in Watford.

Terraced
48%189
Semi-detached
21%85
Other house
20%78
Detached
8%30
Bungalow
4%15

Rent by postcode

Where Watford rent is highest and lowest

Median monthly rent grouped by outcode across 1,256 live listings in 9 outcodes. Outcodes with fewer than 3 listings are skipped to avoid skew from a single luxury rental.

Most expensive in Watford

1WD3£2,699/mo9 rentals
2WD19£1,750/mo111 rentals
3WD25£1,650/mo96 rentals

Cheapest in Watford

1WD5£1,448/mo4 rentals
2WD24£1,500/mo251 rentals
3WD18£1,500/mo390 rentals

Features · Watford

Garden, parking, and floor area in Watford

Live signal across 2,045 Watford rentals scraped from six UK portals. Coverage varies by portal — figures below show the share of listings whose advertiser surfaces the feature.

Garden

76%

of 428 Watford listings advertise a garden, patio, or terrace.

Parking

82%

of 559 Watford listings include parking, a driveway, or a garage.

Floor area · £/sqft

£2.56 /sqft

Median 644 sqft across 253 Watford listings that publish floor area.

Area safety

Safety in Watford

Typical Crime Level

Based on the latest police data (July 2026), Watford has a typical crime rate compared to other UK cities. Across 16 of 16 postcode districts analysed, the median was 122 reported crimes per area. The most common category in Watford is Anti-social behaviour, accounting for 0% of all incidents.

Crime overview

122 crimes per area (median)
16 of 16 postcode districts covered
Data: July 2026

Most reported

Anti-social behaviour
0% of incidents

Watford’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 Watford

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

Bushey has the lowest crime count of the top 5 suburbs in Watford.

Bushey
Safer area
Most common: Violent crime (55) · pop. ~28,000
4.5
per 1k
Oxhey
Safer area
Most common: Shoplifting (85) · pop. ~14,000
22
per 1k
Garston
Typical for city
Most common: Violent crime (106) · pop. ~10,000
32
per 1k
Holywell
Higher crime
Most common: Violent crime (174) · pop. ~7,000
75
per 1k
Cassiobury
Higher crime
Most common: Violent crime (194) · pop. ~6,000
102
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

Watford listings by portal

We watch 5 property sites for rentals in Watford.

Rightmove

1041

OpenRent

437

OnTheMarket

281

SpareRoom

281

Leaders

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Frequently asked

Renting in Watford — your questions answered

What is the average rent in Watford?

The median rent in Watford is £1548/month based on 2045 active listings across 5 property portals (2026-07).

How many rental properties are available in Watford?

There are currently 2045 rental properties available in Watford, with 27 new listings added in the last 7 days.

Is Watford safe for renters?

Watford has a typical crime rate compared to other UK cities, with a median of 122 reported crimes per postcode area (July 2026). The most common category is Anti-social behaviour. Data from data.police.uk.

What is the most common crime in Watford?

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

Cities to rent in nearby

Areas to rent near Watford

More places renters search alongside Watford. We monitor every UK portal in each city — set alerts for as many as you like.

Compare across the UK

Average rent in major UK cities

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

Renting guides

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