Where Is The Most Attractive City To Work And Live In The UK?

We all want to work in a city that both works for and accommodates all our needs, but finding that city can often be complicated. Each city in the United Kingdom will offer different benefits for different people, but where is the city that is deemed most attractive to both live and work?

According to a new study that been commissioned by Royal Mail, that city was found to be Edinburgh in Scotland. The research was designed to take into account nine different categories for each city which included: access to education, business community, access to greenspace, job opportunities, cultural services, earnings, healthcare, housing costs and office space affordability.

How Did Edinburgh Take The Most Attractive City?

The capital of Scotland was found to have the leading edge in a number of areas, taking the top spot in education performing strongly in areas including business community, job opportunities and access to green space.

It also came second to London in terms of earnings with an average of £578 average per week, London in comparison had an average of £697. The capital of the United Kingdom also ranked high in terms of employment levels with 73.7% being employed with strong levels of business activity and access to good education but suffered with housing affordability and office costs, which are the highest in the UK.

Edinburgh was also found to have the second highest number of start-ups in the UK and in contrast to London, the cost of office space is around half. It was also shown to have a very strong employment rate of 70.8%, which is close to London’s.

How Did Other Cities Rank?

Sitting firmly at the top of the employment rate however was Bristol with an incredibly strong rate of 77.3%, making it the most attractive city for job opportunities. Its earnings were also high with an average of £525 per week.

If you’re looking for cultural services then it’s Newcastle and Gateshead that should take your interest, boasting 10.7 theatres and a large 68.6 libraries per million people, providing plenty of cultural benefits. It also offers affordable housing and office space as it was shown to be the third cheapest out of the twelve cities there were surveyed, with a house found to cost only 5.4 times the average annual income.

For those who want access to green space, it’s another Scottish city that takes the top spot with Glasgow having 35% of its city be green. It also ranked third for cultural services and showed strong ranking in access to education with the percentage of the working age population having qualifications above A-level equivalent being 47.2%.

Healthcare was found to be the most accessible in the city of Leeds, scoring a solid 1.8 GPs per 1,000 people. It was also found to score well in earnings with the third highest average weekly income at £526. The level of employment was incredibly similar to London at 73.3%, making it an attractive city to consider.

The Welsh capital Cardiff was a strong performer in business community, boasting 50.4 start-ups per 10,000 people alongside an impressive 16.8 patent applications per 100,000. Manchester was found to be the second greenest city with 35% of its space being green.

For businesses looking for affordable office space and housing for employees, Liverpool is the perfect option. It was the top for both areas with a home costing only 4.5 times the average annual income. The Northern Irish city of Belfast came second in these two aspects as well.

The second most populous city in the United Kingdom, Birmingham, was found to have a good ranking in office spaces that were affordable, boasting an average cost of Grade B office space at only £15.50 per square foot for rent. Behind these two cities was Sheffield, which also ranked third in terms of green space.