Best UK areas to open office-based business
315 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 an office-based business in 2026?
The best UK area to open an office-based business is Staffordshire Moorlands (West Midlands), with a Gera Business Location Score of 65.5/100: premises at £57/m²/yr and local median pay of £26,204. Westminster ranks lowest at 12.6/100. Ranked across 315 local authorities from 2025 government open data; re-dated annually.
Gera Business Location Score
Top area for office-based business: Staffordshire Moorlands.
How this is calculatedTop 10 areas for office-based business
| # | Local authority | Region | GBLS | Rent (£/m²/yr) | Local pay | Rates / 100 m² |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Staffordshire Moorlands | West Midlands | 65.5/100 | £57 | £26,204 | £2,462 |
| 2 | South Tyneside | North East | 65.4/100 | £61 | £25,490 | £2,635 |
| 3 | Redcar and Cleveland | North East | 65.2/100 | £46 | £28,356 | £1,987 |
| 4 | Torridge | South West | 65.2/100 | £57 | £26,745 | £2,462 |
| 5 | Oadby and Wigston | East Midlands | 65.1/100 | £82 | £23,103 | £3,542 |
| 6 | Gwynedd | Wales | 65.1/100 | £67 | £25,217 | £2,894 |
| 7 | Forest of Dean | South West | 65/100 | £70 | £25,387 | £3,024 |
| 8 | Powys | Wales | 65/100 | £59 | £26,839 | £2,549 |
| 9 | North East Lincolnshire | Yorkshire and The Humber | 64.9/100 | £60 | £26,631 | £2,592 |
| 10 | Great Yarmouth | East | 64.9/100 | £62 | £26,484 | £2,678 |
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 an office-based business within £2,000/month
- 1Staffordshire MoorlandsWest MidlandsGBLS 65.5≈ £544/mo
- 2South TynesideNorth EastGBLS 65.4≈ £582/mo
- 3Redcar and ClevelandNorth EastGBLS 65.2≈ £439/mo
- 4TorridgeSouth WestGBLS 65.2≈ £544/mo
- 5Oadby and WigstonEast MidlandsGBLS 65.1≈ £783/mo
- 6GwyneddWalesGBLS 65.1≈ £640/mo
- 7Forest of DeanSouth WestGBLS 65≈ £668/mo
- 8PowysWalesGBLS 65≈ £563/mo
- 9North East LincolnshireYorkshire and The HumberGBLS 64.9≈ £573/mo
- 10Great YarmouthEastGBLS 64.9≈ £592/mo
- 11East LindseyEast MidlandsGBLS 64.8≈ £592/mo
- 12Denbighshire / Sir DdinbychWalesGBLS 64.8≈ £573/mo
- 13Pembrokeshire / Sir BenfroWalesGBLS 64.8≈ £611/mo
- 14BassetlawEast MidlandsGBLS 64.5≈ £621/mo
- 15Isle of WightSouth EastGBLS 64.5≈ £668/mo
Office-based business by region
Frequently asked questions
- Where is the cheapest place to open an office-based business in the UK?
- By premises cost alone, the lowest VOA rateable value among the 315 ranked areas is £46/m²/yr in Redcar and Cleveland. But the Gera Business Location Score also weighs local wages and market demand: on the combined score, Staffordshire Moorlands ranks #1 at 65.5/100.
- How much is rent and business rates for office-based business premises in Staffordshire Moorlands?
- In Staffordshire Moorlands, the VOA rateable value for this property type is £57 per m² per year. For a 100 m² unit that is about £5,700/yr rent, plus roughly £2,462/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).