Moving to Nottingham for university? One of the first questions every student and every worried parent asks is: “How much will I actually need each month?”
Depends on where you live. So instead of giving you one vague number, this guide gives you real ones: what students actually pay based on real 2025 accommodation booking data. Then it breaks down exactly where that money goes, using current 2026 Numbeo market price data so every figure is checked against real Nottingham prices.
How Much Does It Cost to Live in Nottingham?
A moderate student budget in Nottingham runs between £1,120 and £1,226 per month, depending on your accommodation choice and lifestyle. Here’s how the two ends of that range break down.
If you book PBSA (private hall) with utilities and gym included
| Category | Monthly Cost | What’s Included |
| Rent | £706 | Room with utility bills included (weighted average across room types, 2025 UniAcco booking data) |
| Utilities | £0 (worth ~£74 elsewhere) | Electricity, heating, water, wifi (bundled into rent if living in a UniAcco property) |
| Groceries | £62 | A lean, staple-focused weekly food shop |
| Eating out | £99 | ~2 meals out per week |
| Transport | £80 | Standard monthly bus pass |
| Mobile (SIM-only) | £15 | Calls + 10GB+ data |
| Personal care | £16 | Toiletries, essentials |
| Entertainment | £40 | Cinema + one night out |
| Gym | £0 (worth ~£32 elsewhere) | Included at most PBSA properties |
| Miscellaneous buffer (10%) | £102 | Unplanned/one-off costs |
| Total | ≈ £1,120/month |
That’s roughly £106/month of value (bundled utilities + gym) that a student renting privately would have to budget for separately — so a like-for-like private rental comes closer to £1,226/month.
Why Nottingham Is One of the UK’s More Affordable Student Cities
Nottingham consistently ranks as one of the cheaper major UK student cities — Nottingham Trent University notes that the Midlands is the cheapest region in England to live as a student, according to the National Student Money Survey. Numbeo’s own cost-of-living-plus-rent comparison tool puts a concrete figure on that gap: someone would need roughly £3,956–£4,100 in Nottingham to match the standard of living that £6,800–£6,848 buys in London — meaning Nottingham runs around Cost of Living in Nottingham is 61.4% lower than in London on a combined cost-of-living-plus-rent basis.
Nottingham’s affordability compared with pricier UK university cities comes down mainly to housing: rents run significantly lower, both in the private market and in the PBSA/university sector, without a correspondingly large gap in day-to-day grocery or restaurant prices — Nottingham’s local supermarkets and restaurants price only modestly below the national UK average.
Student Accommodation Costs in Nottingham
What different room types actually cost
Looking at real 2025 Nottingham student bookings (UniAcco data, 717 bookings across the city):
| Room Type | Typical Weekly Rent | Typical Monthly Rent | Share of Bookings |
| Non-ensuite | ~£107/week | ~£463/month | ~11% |
| Ensuite | ~£154/week | ~£667/month | ~46% |
| Studio | ~£190/week | ~£823/month | ~39% |
| All room types (weighted average) | £163/week | £706/month | 100% |
Types of accommodation in Nottingham
University Halls of Residence. Managed directly by University of Nottingham or Nottingham Trent, these are the most secure option since you’re living within the university’s own system. Rent is genuinely all-inclusive — heating, electricity, wifi and water are bundled in. NTU contracts typically run 44 weeks, which lowers your annual cost compared with a 52-week private lease.
Private Purpose-Built Student Accommodation (PBSA). Run by commercial operators, PBSA offers fully furnished studios or shared cluster flats with amenities like gyms, 24-hour security and study lounges bundled into the rent. Commercial landlords generally require a 51–52-week fixed contract, longer than a university hall’s term-time lease.
Shared Houses. Renting privately with friends — especially in student-heavy areas like Lenton, Radford, Arboretum and Forest Fields — gives you the most independence and can meaningfully cut costs, but comes with real admin: splitting bills fairly, chasing late payments, and managing a shared deposit.
Private Apartments. Full independence, no sharing — but you’ll typically need a solid UK-based financial guarantor to secure the lease.
Utility Bills: What’s Included vs What You’ll Pay Separately
This is a cost a lot of guides gloss over, and it’s actually several separate bills rolled into one line: electricity, heating, water, garbage/waste collection, and wifi/broadband.
Based on current Nottingham market pricing for a typical 85m² apartment, split three ways across a standard student house-share, this works out to roughly £74 per person per month — and that’s before winter energy spikes, which can push bills well above this in January.
If you’re renting privately rather than through an all-inclusive PBSA or university contract, budget for these separately, and expect to pay something in a similar range to other UK cities — electricity and gas typically run highest, with water, broadband and mobile lower and more predictable.
The hidden hassle of private renting. Beyond the cost, private renters are typically responsible for setting up accounts with an electricity/gas supplier, a water company and a broadband provider separately, submitting meter readings, splitting every bill fairly among housemates, and comparing energy deals something most students never get around to. Book PBSA or a university hall and none of this applies: one bill, no meter readings, no arguments.
Do students pay council tax in Nottingham? Full-time students are exempt from UK council tax, but the exemption applies to the property, not automatically to each tenant. If you share a house with even one non-student, the rules get more complicated: with one non-student housemate, the household usually gets a 25% discount, and the non-student is typically the one liable for that reduced bill. With two or more non-student housemates, there’s no discount at all. And if your name is on the tenancy agreement, you can still end up personally liable for the bill even as a “disregarded” student — the disregard affects the discount calculation, not necessarily who the council chases for payment. Student-only accommodation is usually registered as exempt automatically, so none of this applies.
Food Costs: Groceries and Eating Out
Grocery costs vary depending on how much you cook versus eat out general “household” cost-of-living figures tend to overestimate what a single student actually spends. Nottingham’s grocery prices also run modestly below the national UK average, thanks in part to strong Aldi/Lidl coverage across student neighbourhoods.
A lean, staples-focused shop costs around £62/month (roughly £14/week). If your grocery budget is coming in well below the lean estimate and it isn’t a deliberate choice, it’s worth checking you’re eating enough, not just spending little.
Grocery basket (current Nottingham prices):
| Item | Monthly Quantity | Unit Price | Monthly Cost |
| Milk | 6L | £1.43/L | £8.58 |
| White bread | 4 loaves (500g) | £1.15/loaf | £4.60 |
| Eggs | 2 dozen | £3.89/dozen | £7.78 |
| White rice | 2kg | £1.73/kg | £3.46 |
| Chicken fillets | 1.5kg | £8.83/kg | £13.25 |
| Cheese | 0.25kg | £9.17/kg | £2.29 |
| Beef | 0.25kg | £11.33/kg | £2.83 |
| Fruit (apples, bananas, oranges) | ~2kg mixed | ~£2.11/kg avg | £4.22 |
| Vegetables (tomatoes, potatoes, onions) | ~4kg mixed | ~£1.91/kg avg | £7.65 |
| Bottled water | ~8L | ~£0.92/L | £7.36 |
| Total | £62.02 |
Cooking at home remains the most reliable way to control this budget shopping at Aldi or Lidl instead of premium chains makes a noticeable difference over a month.
Dining out in Nottingham: a meal at an inexpensive restaurant runs about £16.00; a fast-food combo meal is around £8.80; a meal for two at a mid-range restaurant averages £60.00; a cappuccino is about £3.51; and a domestic draught beer (0.5L) is roughly £4.95. Modelling a budget-conscious student eating out or ordering takeaway twice a week (~8 times a month) at the inexpensive-meal/fast-food average puts eating out at around £99/month. Cook almost everything and this number drops fast; order takeaway most nights and it climbs well past it.
Want to save on living costs? Explore affordable student accommodations in Nottingham now!
Getting Around: Transport Costs
A non-discounted monthly public transport pass in Nottingham costs around £80. A single one-way ticket costs about £3. Nottingham is considered one of England’s least car-dependent cities. Major universities also work with local transport operators to offer student discounts.
- NCT (Nottingham City Transport) student single fares start at around £2.00, with academic-year unlimited bus passes historically priced at roughly £289–£349 depending on the year and zone working out to as little as £1.05 a day.
- NET (tram) Student Academic Pass offers unlimited tram travel for as little as 82p a day, with annual passes around £365.
If you know you’ll be in Nottingham for the full academic year, an annual pass typically works out far cheaper than paying month to month closer to £24–£30/month rather than the £80 headline standard fare.
Mobile, Personal Care, Entertainment & Gym
Mobile: A SIM-only plan with calls and 10GB+ of data runs about £15/month most international students already have a phone and just need a UK SIM, so a full contract usually isn’t necessary. Unlimited home wifi at 60Mbps+ costs around £31/month if you’re paying for it separately
Personal care: Toiletries and everyday essentials come to roughly £16/month for a modest, realistic routine.
Entertainment: Cinema tickets cost around £12 for an international release. NTU’s student cinema is much cheaper. Tickets range from £4.99 to £8.90. You can budget around £40 per month for two cinema trips and one night out with friends. If you have a busy social calendar, you may need to spend more. If you prefer staying in, you can easily spend less.
Gym: A standalone fitness club membership in Nottingham runs from around £32/month but NTU’s own student gym membership starts from as little as £9.99/month, and most PBSA properties include gym access as a free on-site amenity, effectively covering this cost already if you’ve booked one.
Study Costs & the Miscellaneous Buffer
Academic books and printing typically add a modest monthly cost, though this varies a lot by course (lab and design-heavy subjects tend to cost more; humanities courses with mostly digital reading lists cost less). NTU, for example, provides £20 of printing credit per academic year as a student benefit.
On top of every category above, it’s worth building in a 10% miscellaneous buffer around £102/month on the PBSA budget for the unplanned costs that always seem to come up: a birthday gift, a late-night Amazon order, printing an assignment the night before it’s due.
Scholarships That Can Lower Your Nottingham Costs
University of Nottingham scholarships and bursaries. The university offers a range of merit- and needs-based scholarships for both home and international students, administered through its central funding pages, alongside subject-specific awards from individual schools.
NTU bursaries and scholarships. Nottingham Trent offers its own bursary and scholarship schemes for eligible undergraduate and postgraduate students – well worth checking against your household income and course before you apply.
Government Maintenance Loan (UK students). Full-time home undergraduates can apply for a Maintenance Loan of up to £10,830 (2026/27 Student Finance England figures), alongside the separate Tuition Fee Loan. Home Master’s students can apply for a Postgraduate Master’s Loan of up to £13,206 to cover tuition and living costs.
College/school-specific funding. Individual academic schools and departments at both universities often hold their own additional financial aid pots — worth checking your specific school’s funding pages directly.
Part-Time Jobs to Help Cover Costs
The UK National Living Wage for workers aged 21+ is £12.71/hour (from April 2026). Local reporting suggests Nottingham’s typical part-time student wage runs closer to £11.50/hour, which working the legal maximum of 20 hours/week during term time — works out to roughly £920–£1,020/month gross, enough to meaningfully offset food, transport and personal costs.
| Role | Typical Pay |
| Academic tutor (GCSE/A-Level, in person or online) | £15 – £30/hour |
| Hospitality (barista, kitchen porter) | £11.50 – £14.50/hour, often plus tips |
| University roles (library assistant, student ambassador, admin) | £11.50 – £15.00/hour, flexible hours |
| Retail (checkout, shop floor) | From £11.50/hour |
University-based roles are usually the most convenient option given their proximity to campus and flexibility around your timetable.
Planning to move to Nottingham? Check out some of the best student accommodations!
Where You Can Realistically Save Money
Get an annual travel pass early, switching from pay-as-you-go bus fares to an NCT or NET academic-year pass can cut your transport spend from roughly £80/month down to £24–£30/month.
Book accommodation with utilities and gym bundled in. This alone is worth roughly £106/month compared with arranging electricity, water, wifi and a gym membership separately.
Cook more, order less. Cutting eating out from twice a week to once a week can meaningfully reduce your monthly food spend.
Use student discount portals. Register with your university email on UNiDAYS and TOTUM both are actively promoted by NTU for instant discounts on clothing, electronics, books and groceries at major retailers.
Use your university’s own student cinema and gym rates. NTU’s own student cinema tickets (from £4.99) and gym membership (from £9.99/month) undercut standard city prices significantly.
Watch for impulse spending. On a tight student income, small unplanned purchases do more damage than they would once you’re earning a full salary a habit worth building early.
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