Portsmouth
Sourced, comparable data for Portsmouth — part of the same registry used across all 13 ceremonial-Hampshire authorities.
- Official name
- Portsmouth
- ONS geography code
- E06000044
- Authority type
- City / unitary authority
- City status
- City of Portsmouth
- Local government structure
- Unitary authority — no separate county council
Portsmouth in five numbers
212,936
people
Mid-2024
2nd highest of 13 authorities
77.8%
Employment rate
Apr 2025-Mar 2026
10th most favourable of 13 authorities
£260,000
Median house price
Year ending Sep 2025
7.2× local earnings
120.7 per 1,000
Police-recorded rate
year ending March 2024
11th most favourable of 12 authorities
20.6%
Persistent absence rate
2023/24
10th most favourable of 13 authorities
What these numbers say
Portsmouth has a population of around 212,936, making it one of the larger of the 13 Hampshire authorities by population.
The employment rate stands at 77.8%. This is +2.3pp against the Great Britain figure of 75.5%. Among the 13 Hampshire authorities with a published figure, Portsmouth ranks 10th most favourable of 13 authorities on this measure.
The median house price is £260,000. The median house price is 7.2× local median full-time earnings.
The police-recorded crime rate is 120.7 per 1,000 population (England: 83.5 per 1,000). The persistent school-absence rate is 20.6% against an England figure of 20%.
Indicators are shown side by side. Association is described; no causal link between any two is implied.
Population
2 measuresPortsmouth's population and age profile compared with the other 12 Hampshire authorities.
Population
Hampshire median: 135,201 across 13 of 13 authorities.
Median age
Hampshire median: 43.6 years across 13 of 13 authorities.
Portsmouth's population over 15 years
Portsmouth grew +2.9%between mid-2011 and mid-2025 — the slowest growth of its comparator group, and well below England's +10.8%. The city peaked at 213,939 in 2023 and has since fallen back to 211,475.
What this shows:population is not a “good” or “bad” number in itself — but the shape matters. Portsmouth grew steadily to a local high of 211,215 in 2018, then fell for three consecutive years to 207,119 in 2021. It rebounded sharply to its series peak of 213,939 in 2023, and has edged down in each of the two years since, to 211,475 in 2025. On an island with no room to expand outward, population change here is as much a housing-supply and student-population story as a births-and-deaths one.
Important caveats on this data (4)
- •Never mix figures from different ONS releases. ONS is explicit that the most recent estimates should not be appended to a series from an earlier release — the whole series from a single release must be used. This is a live issue locally: Portsmouth City Council's November 2025 JSNA cites a mid-2024 population of 214,321 and a density of 5,307/km², which were correct for the July 2025 vintage. ONS subsequently revised Portsmouth's mid-2024 population down by 1,385 to 212,936 (density 5,272) in the July 2026 release used here.
- •The mid-2012 to mid-2020 estimates contain an apportioned residual. Rebasing onto Census 2021 spread an "unattributable population change" of −40,400 backwards across those years in proportion to migration churn — ONS describes this as creating "a plausible distribution of change", so mid-decade years are partly modelled rather than fully re-estimated.
- •Uncertainty grows with distance from a census. Around 93% of local authorities had uncertainty ranges under 5% in 2021; by 2025 only about 51% did.
- •Recent years are still subject to revision — mid-2022 to mid-2024 were all revised in the July 2026 release to reflect updated international migration estimates.
Portsmouth, Southampton, Plymouth, Brighton and Hove, England · Source: ONS, Estimates of the population for England and Wales, Mid-2025 (2023 local authority boundaries) · series Nomis NM_2002_1 / ONS table MYE5 · Latest available: Mid-2025 (published 29 July 2026)
Source: ONS Explore Local Statistics. All 13; confirm each metric geography
Labour market
4 measuresEmployment rate ranked against all 13 authorities, with Portsmouth's own labour-market rates shown together.
Employment rate
Hampshire median: 79.3% across 13 of 13 authorities.
Portsmouth's own rates
Source: Nomis. All 13; use median gross annual earnings of full-time residents
Source: Nomis APS source. Local authority and above; flag modelled/sample limitations
Earnings
1 measureMedian full-time resident earnings ranked against all 13 Hampshire authorities.
Median earnings
Hampshire median: £41,356 across 13 of 13 authorities.
Major employers
Named organisations, not a ranking: no official source publishes an ordered list of Portsmouth's largest employers, so none is implied here.
Resident pay sits below England every year on record, while jobs located in the city pay above it. See what the economy is made of →
Source: Nomis. All 13; use median gross annual earnings of full-time residents
Housing
3 measuresHouse prices have changed since 2020; affordability is shown against local earnings and the other 12 authorities.
Year ending Sep 2020
£218,000
Year ending Sep 2025
£260,000
Change
+19.3%
2 published data points (GBP) — not a continuous series; no intermediate years are shown or implied.
Median house price
Hampshire median: £360,000 across 13 of 13 authorities.
Median private rent
Hampshire median: £995/mo across 13 of 13 authorities.
House price to earnings ratio
Hampshire median: 8.5× across 13 of 13 authorities.
Source: ONS local housing. All 13; show provisional status and exact month
Deprivation
2 measuresShare of neighbourhoods in the most-deprived national decile, and children in relative low income, compared with all 13 authorities.
Share of neighbourhoods in the most-deprived 10% nationally (IMD 2025)
Share of neighbourhoods in most-deprived deciles
Hampshire median: 0% across 13 of 13 authorities.
Children in relative low-income families, after housing costs
Children in relative low-income families
Hampshire median: 18.5% across 13 of 13 authorities.
Child poverty by ward
Children in relative low-income families. Portsmouth City Council, Public Health Needs Summary 2025. Rates for the other wards are not published in machine-readable form, so no full ranking is shown.
Source: English Indices of Deprivation 2025. Use LSOA distributions, not a single simplistic authority rank
Source: DWP Children in Low Income Families local area statistics. All 13; use the relative low-income, after-housing-costs measure for comparability
Crime
1 measurePolice-recorded crime rate ranked against the other Hampshire authorities with a published figure.
Police-recorded crime rate
Hampshire median: 60.6 per 1,000 across 12 of 13 authorities. Not yet published for Gosport.
Source: Local authority Community Safety Partnership strategic assessments. Each authority publishes its own document with its own reference period — never assume a shared period across authorities; check each figure’s own date
Health outcomes
1 measureLife expectancy by sex since 2001-2003, and the NHS services covering Portsmouth.
2001-2003 vs 2022 to 2024 — two published editions, not a continuous series.
Baseline is calculated from the published change since 2001-2003 (see Table view for the exact figures) — a UK Facts calculation, not an independently re-verified ONS figure for that year.
GP surgeries per 10,000 population
Hampshire median: 1.7 per 10,000 across 13 of 13 authorities.
NHS and local service access
- Acute trust(s)
- Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust
- Mental-health trust
- Hampshire and Isle of Wight Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (formerly Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust; renamed 1 Oct 2024 after acquiring Solent NHS Trust)
- Ambulance service
- South Central Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust
- Principal hospital(s)
- Queen Alexandra Hospital, Portsmouth
- Named emergency department(s)
- Queen Alexandra Hospital Emergency Department
Read hospital figures carefully
Queen Alexandra Hospital serves roughly 675,000 peopleacross Portsmouth, Havant, Fareham, Gosport and beyond — about three times the city's population. Its activity is not a measure of Portsmouth residents' demand. The designated Major Trauma Centre for the region is University Hospital Southampton, not QA. Portsmouth-level health data →
Source: ONS life expectancy for local areas of the UK. All 13; preserve the exact pooled period
Education
5 measuresSchool attendance and exclusion measures compared with the other 12 authorities.
Persistent absence rate
Hampshire median: 17.2% across 13 of 13 authorities.
Permanent exclusion rate
Hampshire median: 0.1 per 100 pupils across 13 of 13 authorities.
Special schools in the authority
Hampshire median: 6 across 13 of 13 authorities.
NEET rate (16-17 year olds)
Hampshire median: 5.2% across 2 of 13 authorities. Not yet published for Winchester, Basingstoke and Deane, East Hampshire, Eastleigh, Fareham, Gosport, Hart, Havant, New Forest, Rushmoor, Test Valley.
Education, Health and Care Plans (total)
Hampshire median: 2,051.5 across 2 of 13 authorities. Not yet published for Winchester, Basingstoke and Deane, East Hampshire, Eastleigh, Fareham, Gosport, Hart, Havant, New Forest, Rushmoor, Test Valley.
Source: DfE EHC plans 2026. Hampshire County Council, Portsmouth, Southampton only
Source: DfE data catalogue. Use only releases with suitable geography; label school-location vs responsible-LA
Source: DfE SEN in England 2025/26. Use with pupil and school geography clearly labelled
Politics
2 measuresCouncil political control and parliamentary representation for Portsmouth.
- Council political control
- Liberal Democrat majority
- Parliamentary representation
- Portsmouth North — Amanda Martin (Labour); Portsmouth South — Stephen Morgan (Labour)
Source: Official council political-balance / LGA council-control records. All 13; each authority publishes its own election-results page — use the per-authority page, not a single aggregated source
Source: Commons Library election results. Use 2024 boundaries and explicit comparison basis
Council finance
1 measureBand D council tax (the district/borough element) compared with the other 10 district and borough authorities.
Band D council tax
Hampshire median: £197 across 11 of 13 authorities.
Adult social care and children's services now take roughly 60p in every £1 the council spends on services, squeezing everything else. Where the money actually goes →
Source: MHCLG Council Tax levels set by local authorities in England. All 13; use the figure excluding local/parish precepts for cross-authority comparability
What we can't tell you yet
Every measure tracked on this page has a published figure for Portsmouth.
Profile content last built: 30 July 2026.