Every Harrogate band from A to H for 2026-27, plus Knaresborough, Ripon and the villages. Ripon pays exactly £56 more at band D, and its city council is why.
A band D household in Harrogate pays £2,514.58 in 2026-27. A band D household in Ripon, served by exactly the same council, pays £2,570.58. The £56.00 difference is Ripon City Council’s precept, and nothing else.
That is the thing worth understanding about council tax here. Since April 2023 there has been one council for the whole of North Yorkshire, so the large part of your bill is identical from Skipton to Whitby. What varies, parish by parish, is a town or parish precept bolted on the end. The council publishes a full band A to H table for every one of its parishes, and almost nobody finds it.
Harrogate bands A to H, 2026-27
| Band | Harrogate | Knaresborough | Ripon |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | £1,676.40 | £1,687.80 | £1,713.73 |
| B | £1,955.77 | £1,969.08 | £1,999.33 |
| C | £2,235.18 | £2,250.38 | £2,284.95 |
| D | £2,514.58 | £2,531.69 | £2,570.58 |
| E | £3,073.39 | £3,094.30 | £3,141.83 |
| F | £3,632.17 | £3,656.88 | £3,713.06 |
| G | £4,190.98 | £4,219.49 | £4,284.31 |
| H | £5,029.16 | £5,063.38 | £5,141.16 |
These are the totals, parish precept included. They come from North Yorkshire Council’s parish precepts and council tax amounts for 2026 to 2027, where Knaresborough and Ripon are listed as “Knaresborough Successor” and “Ripon Successor”.
Where a Harrogate bill goes
Four bodies take a share. At band D:
- North Yorkshire Council: £2,036.32, including the adult social care precept. That is up 4.99% on last year: 2.99% general council tax and 2% adult social care.
- Mayoral Police and Crime Commissioner: £335.86.
- Mayoral general precept, including fire and rescue: £116.62.
- Harrogate Town Council: £25.78.
The council’s council tax information leaflet for 2026-27 gives the rise in each body’s total precept rather than in its band D charge. North Yorkshire Council is up 4.99%. The Police and Crime Commissioner is up 4.67%. The mayoral general precept that funds fire and rescue is up 8.97%. Town and parish councils are up 9.24% between them.
The smallest slices are rising fastest. The parish tier went up 9.24% in a year and the fire precept 8.97%, against 4.99% for the council that provides almost everything else on the bill.
Across the county the leaflet puts the total collected at £655.301 million, divided by a tax base of 257,552.26 band D equivalent properties.
Your parish changes the bill
The parish element is small in absolute terms, but the spread across this area is real. Band D totals for 2026-27:
| Where you live | Band D total |
|---|---|
| Spofforth-with-Stockeld | £2,510.10 |
| Killinghall | £2,511.86 |
| Harrogate | £2,514.58 |
| Masham Group | £2,526.46 |
| Knaresborough | £2,531.69 |
| Pateley Bridge (High and Low Bishopside) | £2,533.52 |
| Bishop Monkton | £2,539.89 |
| Boroughbridge | £2,546.33 |
| Ripon | £2,570.58 |
Anywhere with no parish council pays £2,488.80 at band D. That is the figure in the leaflet’s own band table, before any parish is added, so the parish share is the gap between it and your row above. Ripon City Council takes £81.78, Boroughbridge £57.53, Knaresborough £42.89 and Harrogate Town Council £25.78.
Two things to know before you use that table.
Pateley Bridge is filed under a name nobody uses. Its civil parish is High and Low Bishopside, and that is how both council documents list it.
One row does not reconcile. The leaflet gives Spofforth-with-Stockeld a band D parish charge of £21.20, which would make the total £2,510.00. The council’s own band table says £2,510.10. The two documents are 10p apart, and we cannot tell from either which is the figure on the bill.
Checking and challenging your band
Bands are set by the Valuation Office Agency, not the council, and rest on what a property was worth on 1 April 1991. Band D covers a 1991 value over £68,001 and up to £88,000. Band A is anything up to £40,000 and band H anything over £320,001.
Other bands are worked out in ninths of band D. Band A pays six ninths of the band D figure. Band H pays eighteen ninths, which is exactly double.
To look up or challenge your band, use the government’s check your council tax band service. The council’s Valuation Office page is clear that a challenge goes to the VOA direct, not to North Yorkshire Council.
Discounts and premiums
The main reductions are listed on the council’s money off your council tax page:
- Single occupier discount, if you are the only adult aged 18 or over in your main home. You can only claim it on one property.
- Council tax reduction for low incomes. The working age scheme is income-banded on household size and weekly income, and gives between 25% and 100% off. You will not qualify if you are working age with savings of £6,000 or more, or of pension age with savings over £16,000 unless you get Guaranteed Pension Credit.
- Students, severe mental impairment, carers and care workers, apprentices, care leavers up to 25, annexes and properties adapted for a disabled resident each have their own discount.
The premiums go the other way, and they are steep. From April 2024, an empty and substantially unfurnished property pays the full charge for the first year, then:
- more than one year empty: a 100% premium, so double the normal bill
- more than five years: a 200% premium, three times the bill
- more than ten years: a 300% premium, four times the bill
Second homes have paid a 100% premium since April 2025, meaning a 200% charge. Government exceptions apply, including annexes, job-related armed forces accommodation, and properties genuinely on the market for sale or let, capped at 12 months in each case. The second homes and empty property page lists them.
What this page does not cover
We have not listed every North Yorkshire parish. If your village is not in the table above, the council’s own parish table has it, sorted alphabetically.
More local information: Harrogate bin collection days, parking in Harrogate, house prices and planning news.
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