About MoveRadius

Why this site exists

Choosing where to live is one of the biggest decisions a family makes. There is no shortage of property websites, but far fewer places help you weigh the practical trade-offs: how far is a specific school from a specific postcode, what does the commute actually cost each month, and does the area you are considering fit your budget once you include moving and running costs?

MoveRadius was built to fill that gap with transparent, browser-based tools that give you a number you can interrogate — not just an estate agent's pitch. The site is focused on the Midlands and UK-wide searches, with particular depth around school distance, commute planning and affordability.

Editorial principles

• No live market data. We do not publish live property prices, school admissions data, catchment boundaries or mortgage rates. Those change frequently and are best verified directly with official sources. We will always tell you where to verify.
• Estimates, not guarantees. Every figure our calculators produce is an estimate derived from inputs you supply. Actual costs, distances and outcomes will differ.
• No school rankings or recommendations. We will not rank schools against each other or suggest one area is "best" for admissions. We provide distance tools and planning frameworks.
• No financial advice. The mortgage calculator gives you a repayment estimate using standard maths; it does not constitute advice and does not account for your personal circumstances or lender requirements.
• Transparent maths. Every calculator on MoveRadius includes a "How we calculate this" disclosure so you can see exactly what formula was used and what assumptions were made.

How our estimates are made

Our calculations use standard, well-known formulas:

• School distance — straight-line (as the crow flies) using the Haversine formula from WGS-84 coordinates. Postcodes are looked up via postcodes.io, a free UK postcode API. We always note that admissions authorities may use road distance instead.
• Commute cost — fuel calculated from miles per gallon and current petrol cost per litre (you supply both). Train or bus season tickets are entered directly as an annual figure.
• Mortgage affordability — standard repayment formula M = P·r(1+r)^n / ((1+r)^n - 1), where P is the loan amount, r is the monthly interest rate, and n is the term in months. No affordability stress test is applied.
• Moving cost — a simplified model of conveyancing (1% of sale price plus disbursements), survey, lender fees and removal costs, all editable. Stamp duty is deliberately excluded and users are directed to GOV.UK, because the rules change and depend heavily on individual circumstances.
• Area comparison — a weighted score across up to four factors (commute, schools, affordability, space). Each factor is min-max normalised from 0 to 1, then combined using the relative weights you assign. Lower raw values produce better scores on all dimensions.

What MoveRadius is not

• MoveRadius is not a lender or mortgage broker.
• MoveRadius is not a school admissions authority and cannot allocate or predict school places.
• MoveRadius is not a legal, tax or property adviser.
• MoveRadius is not a regulated financial service.

Corrections and feedback

If you spot a calculation error, a broken link or information that could be clearer, we genuinely want to know. Please get in touch via the contact page. We review feedback and update pages when something needs correcting. All area and guide pages carry a "Last reviewed" date so you can judge how current the content is.

Privacy and data

All calculators run in your browser. Inputs you type are not sent to any server — they exist only on your device and are discarded when you leave the page. For full details on what data we collect and how, see our privacy policy.

Get started

Browse our calculators, read a guide, or check an area planning page. Read our disclaimer to understand the full limits of our estimates.