- The City Liveability Index1 reveals the best locations to live and work based on quality-of-life factors including value for money, work opportunities and emotional connection
- Liverpool tops the Index this year, with high scores for manageable cost of living, pace of life, happiness of citizens and pride in the city
- However, cost of living is helping to fuel a potential rise in “internal migration” within the UK as 35% are considering a move to a different city to reduce expenses
- As economic uncertainty continues, 16% of under-35s have a Lifetime ISA account set up to help them save for a property
Liverpool has been rated the best place to live and work in the UK.
This is according to the latest City Liveability Index from financial services provider OneFamily. Research revealed that Liverpudlians are most likely to be positive about their hometown across a range of social and economic factors.
Liverpool scored well on pace of life, career prospects, opportunities and cost of living – which may account for its rise up the table from 4th in the 2021 Index. The overall level of satisfaction among residents was high with three-quarters (75%) happy they are living in the city.
As well as topping this year’s City Liveability Index, Liverpool was also recently selected to host the Eurovision song contest in 2023, bringing in extra tourism – and cause for celebration – to the city.
Edinburgh came a close second behind Liverpool. The Scottish capital was commended for its good pace of life and easy commute. Plymouth rounded out the top three, receiving high rankings for level of civic pride and value for money as citizens indicated the benefits of living there outweigh the costs. See table 1 below for the top 10.
In fact, money is on the mind of most people across the UK – three-quarters (73%) of adults are currently unsatisfied with the cost of living in their local area, up from 44% in Aug 2021. Meanwhile, more than half (52%) of women are unsatisfied with their income and 37% with the job and career opportunities in their city.
As a result, over the next few years, the UK could see a rise in “internal migration”, as 35% say they are likely to move to a different part of the country at some point in the future. The cost-of-living crisis is a driving factor in this decision – 26% of UK adults say they are worried that they will need to relocate to help manage their expenses, which rises to 37% in London.
Brits are most likely to consider moving to York (7%), Brighton (6%) or London (6%) – but the capital is something of a ‘Marmite’ location, ranking high in the lists of both the most and least desirable places to relocate to.
Meanwhile, 35% of Brits are concerned about property prices in their local area – whether they’re planning to move or not. But one positive factor is that two-thirds (65%) of UK adults know about the help available via Lifetime ISA savings accounts, that pay a government bonus of up to £1,000 each year which can help to boost savings to put towards a deposit. Yet only 16% of under-35s already have one set up – but 63% of under-35s who don’t have a Lifetime ISA would be interested in getting one.
Matthew Ellis, Marketing Director at OneFamily, comments on the findings: “The growing cost-of-living crisis is hitting Brits’ pockets this year and changing spending behaviours and habits. Naturally, some cities are more expensive than others, so this has been a major factor in influencing where people want to live and what town or city makes for the best place to call home.
“Add this to the state of flux many find themselves in with hybrid working and things that might not have been as important this time last year – like childcare or commuting costs – could now be crucial in deciding where to live. Our data shows that residents of Liverpool, Edinburgh and Plymouth feel that their cities offer a mix of a more manageable cost of living and a pleasant pace of life.
“For most Brits, saving for a deposit is the first big step once you know what you want from a hometown. Lifetime ISAs can be a great help in accumulating the biggest possible deposit, with a 25% Government bonus of up to £1,000 on top of savings each year meaning you can end up living in your dream location that much quicker.”
Table 1: City Liveability Index 2022 – top 10
| Rank | City |
| 1. | Liverpool |
| 2. | Edinburgh |
| 3. | Plymouth |
| 4. | Southampton |
| 5. | Newcastle |
| 6. | Leeds |
| 7. | Nottingham |
| 8. | Cardiff |
| 9. | Bristol |
| 10. | Brighton |
-ENDS-
Notes to Editors
Unless otherwise stated, all research conducted by Opinium, on behalf of OneFamily, between 5th August – 8th August 2022, among a nationally representative sample of 2,000 UK adults.
1 The City Liveability Index consists of average ratings given for a range of quality-of-life factors across UK towns and cities. These factors are:
i) JOB AND CAREER: career satisfaction, income, general pace of life, cost of living, time taken to commute, cost of commute, ability to work from home
ii) EMOTIONAL CONNECTION: happiness with town/city, optimism, pride in town/city
iii) WORTH: value for money on offer, agreement that the benefit of living there outweighs the costs
iv) CONCERNS: level of concern regarding money, future career prospects, childcare costs, the return-to-work post-Covid, work-life balance, the local economy, local property market, safety
Ratings out of 10 within each category were averaged out for each town, with concerns being subtracted from that total based on the proportion of residents who rated themselves 8-10 (high) in level of concern for each factor within their locale.
2 The fifteen cities included in the City Liveability Index were: Belfast, Birmingham, Brighton, Bristol, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham, Sheffield, and Southampton. Respondents were asked to choose their nearest city from a shortlist of 36 options, with the top 15 featuring in the final rankings.
3 Respondents were asked where they would most likely and least likely consider relocating to. London ranked in the top 3 for both most and least likely.
About OneFamily
OneFamily is a customer-owned financial services company that offers lifetime ISAs, lifetime mortgage advice, junior ISAs, child trust funds, bonds and over 50s life cover.
We have 45 years’ experience of being a trusted provider of financial solutions, with 2 million customers and £7.3 billion in funds under management at the end of 2021.
We are the UK’s biggest child trust fund provider, holding over 25% of the market.
Supporting our members and their communities
As a mutual, OneFamily is owned by its members for its members – and doing right by them is at the heart of our business.
We don’t have shareholders to pay dividends to, so we reinvest our profits to provide quality products and services for the benefit of our members. OneFamily has provided more than £4.75 million in grants since 2015 through its personal and community-based funding initiatives – supporting over 390 great causes and improving the lives of more than 3,200 people through our individual grants. Our community funding has supported dementia charities, homeless projects and provided work for young people with learning disabilities as well as funding projects such as the renovation of swimming pools and parks.
OneFamily customers can also apply for a Young Persons Education Grant of up to £250 to help them or someone, aged 15-19, they care about. They can be used for study materials, to travel costs or a new laptop.
For more information on how we support our members see:
Onefamily.com/membership/education-grants
Onefamily.com/about-us/charity-partners