MoneySuperMarket, a price comparison site, decided to take a look at where in the UK is currently the best place to raise a family. The Family Living Index analysed 35 of the UK’s biggest cities against key factors that impact family life, including local school rankings, access to green space, likelihood of burglary, house prices, job opportunities and the average salary, by matching year-on-year data.
The study revealed that the best place for young families is Bath, overtaking last year’s hot spot, Newcastle. The level of ‘outstanding’ schools and job opportunities in the area helped the city climb the charts, with the highest score out of all cities analysed at 13.76 jobs per 100 capita. Newcastle dropped into second place, which is part due to the city seeing a reduction in job opportunities.
Wolverhampton situated itself on the third place after scoring highly on jobs and affordable housing, with an average house price of £141,458. However, it missed points because of a lack of local parks. Although Manchester was low on availability of green space, house prices are comparatively low at an average of £173,381. Schools and income improvements, alongside a significant reduction in burglary rates, saw Manchester jump 12 places into the top five. The last in the top five is Swansea, which scored the highest for the parks and it also saw an increase in the average household disposable income.
On the other hand, the bottom five family-friendly cities include London, which is at the bottom of the list for the second year running due to a high crime rate, huge competition for school places and the highest average house prices. Hull came second-from-last, as it scored low on job opportunities, with a 20% increase in available jobs year-on-year. Bristol came in third for being the fifth most expensive city to purchase a home and its decline in job opportunities and outstanding schools.
The fourth city on the bottom of the list is Leicester which saw the biggest decline against all metrics from the cities analysed. The fifth one is Brighton due to its 7% rise in property costs, with the average property at £361,075 compared to the national average of £191,590.
