Best UK areas to open funeral home
149 local authorities ranked by the Gera Business Location Score — real commercial rent, local wages, business rates and market density.
Which UK areas are best for opening a funeral home in 2026?
The best UK area to open a funeral home is North Northamptonshire (East Midlands), with a Gera Business Location Score of 70.4/100: premises at £67/m²/yr and local median pay of £31,027. Cambridge ranks lowest at 13.9/100. Ranked across 149 local authorities from 2025 government open data; re-dated annually.
Gera Business Location Score
Top area for funeral home: North Northamptonshire.
How this is calculatedTop 10 areas for funeral home
| # | Local authority | Region | GBLS | Rent (£/m²/yr) | Local pay | Rates / 100 m² |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | North Northamptonshire | East Midlands | 70.4/100 | £67 | £31,027 | £2,894 |
| 2 | Pembrokeshire / Sir Benfro | Wales | 70.4/100 | £40 | £26,535 | £1,728 |
| 3 | Powys | Wales | 68.4/100 | £38 | £26,839 | £1,642 |
| 4 | Gwynedd | Wales | 67.2/100 | £39 | £25,217 | £1,685 |
| 5 | Great Yarmouth | East | 65.2/100 | £30 | £26,484 | £1,296 |
| 6 | North Norfolk | East | 65.1/100 | £45 | £26,296 | £1,944 |
| 7 | East Lindsey | East Midlands | 65/100 | £41 | £26,724 | £1,771 |
| 8 | Thanet | South East | 64.8/100 | £39 | £27,076 | £1,685 |
| 9 | Malvern Hills | West Midlands | 63.7/100 | £43 | £27,744 | £1,858 |
| 10 | North East Lincolnshire | Yorkshire and The Humber | 62.9/100 | £32 | £26,631 | £1,382 |
Filter by your budget
Set a premises size and monthly budget to shortlist the areas that fit.
Budget covers estimated annual rent (VOA rateable value × floor area) plus the 2026-27 small-business rates bill (43.2p multiplier), spread over 12 months. Real reliefs (e.g. Small Business Rate Relief) can reduce the rates portion further.
Best areas to open a funeral home within £2,000/month
- 1North NorthamptonshireEast MidlandsGBLS 70.4≈ £640/mo
- 2Pembrokeshire / Sir BenfroWalesGBLS 70.4≈ £382/mo
- 3PowysWalesGBLS 68.4≈ £363/mo
- 4GwyneddWalesGBLS 67.2≈ £372/mo
- 5Great YarmouthEastGBLS 65.2≈ £286/mo
- 6North NorfolkEastGBLS 65.1≈ £430/mo
- 7East LindseyEast MidlandsGBLS 65≈ £391/mo
- 8ThanetSouth EastGBLS 64.8≈ £372/mo
- 9Malvern HillsWest MidlandsGBLS 63.7≈ £411/mo
- 10North East LincolnshireYorkshire and The HumberGBLS 62.9≈ £305/mo
- 11North LincolnshireYorkshire and The HumberGBLS 62.7≈ £325/mo
- 12Blaenau GwentWalesGBLS 62.4≈ £267/mo
- 13Denbighshire / Sir DdinbychWalesGBLS 62.3≈ £391/mo
- 14ConwyWalesGBLS 62.2≈ £430/mo
- 15East Riding of YorkshireYorkshire and The HumberGBLS 61.5≈ £344/mo
Funeral home by region
Frequently asked questions
- Where is the cheapest place to open a funeral home in the UK?
- By premises cost alone, the lowest VOA rateable value among the 149 ranked areas is £28/m²/yr in Blaenau Gwent. But the Gera Business Location Score also weighs local wages and market demand: on the combined score, North Northamptonshire ranks #1 at 70.4/100.
- How much is rent and business rates for funeral home premises in North Northamptonshire?
- In North Northamptonshire, the VOA rateable value for this property type is £67 per m² per year. For a 100 m² unit that is about £6,700/yr rent, plus roughly £2,894/yr business rates at the 2026-27 small-business multiplier (43.2p) — before any Small Business Rate Relief.
- What data is this based on?
- VOA Non-Domestic Rating Business Floorspace (rateable value per m², 31 March 2025), ONS UK Business Counts 2025 (market density), ONS ASHE 2025 (local wages) and ONS mid-2024 population — all Open Government Licence v3.0, joined on the ONS local-authority code.
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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).