How did you choose where to live? Was it work? Good schools? Family ties? Simply the place you were born? There are dozens of reasons why you might choose to move somewhere, but one thing remains pretty consistent: you have to actually like it there.
Quality of life is a tricky thing to measure, but a recent study from think tank Demos and accountancy firm PwC called the Good Growth for Cities Index reckons that ‘factors that make a place feel invested in, future-focused and full of opportunity’ are key. In order to discover which cities have seen the most growth, therefore offering their residents more opportunities, the study looked into the UK’s 50 biggest cities excluding London, which it considers quite literally in a league of its own.
The study analysed how each city was doing in 12 categories ranging from job opportunities to the liveliness of the high street, and then calculated an overall score for each. It’s worth baring in mind that this study was focused on the economics of these cities, so doesn’t measure things like nightlife or diversity which also contribute to life satisfaction.
Once the numbers had been crunched, York was revealed to be the nation’s most prosperous place. Unemployment in the Yorkshire city is much lower than the national average, sitting at 1.6 percent compared to 3.8 percent across the country. It’s a big centre for business, and it sees huge amounts of money come in from tourism every year.
Andrew Carter, who works with the Centre for Cities, explained to the Telegraph that York has a distinctive local economy, being ‘the only place where total visitor spending in the city centre is higher than the total residential spending’.
The government recently announced a new civil-service base is to be built in York, which will diversify employment opportunities there further. Its high street is the second busiest in the country, beaten only by fellow tourist-magnet Edinburgh, and crime rates are fairly low. All of that is without even considering how gorgeous the city is.
In general, southern cities saw more growth than those in the north, which makes York’s success even more impressive. Edinburgh, in second place, also bucked that particular trend. PwC highlighted that Edinburgh has been making strides recently, overtaking London in GDP per head this year, which the study claims is reflective of ‘a mix of long-established strengths in financial services and higher education, alongside relatively newer specialisms in life sciences and technology’.
Bristol was the third most successful city in the index. It did particularly well in the environmental category, and it has the second most skilled population in the UK.
The best cities in the UK for quality of life in 2025
Here are the top 10 cities in Britain for growth and quality of life, according to the Good Growth for Cities Index.
- York
- Edinburgh
- Bristol
- Exeter
- Swindon
- Plymouth
- Southampton
- Reading
- Portsmouth
- Norwich
You can have a look at Demo and PwC’s full study here.
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