Best areas to open light-industrial business unit in Yorkshire and The Humber
7 Yorkshire and The Humber local authorities ranked by the Gera Business Location Score — real rent, wages, rates and market density.
Where is the best place to open a light-industrial business unit in Yorkshire and The Humber?
In Yorkshire and The Humber, the best area to open a light-industrial business unit is Kirklees, with a Gera Business Location Score of 76.2/100: premises at £66/m²/yr and local median pay £28,821. Doncaster ranks lowest of 7 Yorkshire and The Humber authorities at 68.3/100. From 2025 UK government open data; re-dated annually.
Gera Business Location Score
Top Yorkshire and The Humber area for light-industrial business unit: Kirklees.
How this is calculatedYorkshire and The Humber ranked for light-industrial business unit
| # | Local authority | GBLS | Rent (£/m²/yr) | Local pay | Rates / 100 m² |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kirklees | 76.2/100 | £66 | £28,821 | £2,851 |
| 2 | North Yorkshire | 74.4/100 | £77 | £29,288 | £3,326 |
| 3 | North East Lincolnshire | 72.5/100 | £74 | £26,631 | £3,197 |
| 4 | North Lincolnshire | 72.2/100 | £71 | £29,973 | £3,067 |
| 5 | Rotherham | 72.1/100 | £68 | £29,088 | £2,938 |
| 6 | Wakefield | 70/100 | £63 | £30,950 | £2,722 |
| 7 | Doncaster | 68.3/100 | £77 | £28,928 | £3,326 |
Frequently asked questions
- What is the cheapest area for light-industrial business unit premises in Yorkshire and The Humber?
- The lowest VOA rateable value for this property type in Yorkshire and The Humber is £63/m²/yr in Wakefield. On the combined Gera Business Location Score, which also weighs wages and demand, Kirklees ranks #1.
- How much are business rates for light-industrial business unit in Kirklees?
- For a 100 m² unit in Kirklees, business rates are roughly £2,851/yr at the 2026-27 small-business multiplier (43.2p), on top of about £6,600/yr rent — before Small Business Rate Relief.
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Contains public sector information published by Valuation Office Agency and Office for National Statistics and licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: VOA Business Floorspace + ONS Business Counts + ONS ASHE (work geography) + ONS population estimates (2025 (VOA 31 March 2025; ASHE 2025 provisional; Business Counts 2025; population mid-2024), published December 2025).