Everybody wants the best quality of life, and where you live plays a big part in achieving it. You want to live somewhere where the balance between your income and outgoings is good, where life is convenient, and where all your needs can be met easily.
While people have different priorities when it comes to what they believe constitutes good quality of life, by cross analysing a wide range of data for all kinds of different aspects, from house and rental prices and job opportunities through to things like broadband speeds and classroom sizes, uSwitch has aimed to create a definitive league table of the best places to live in the UK based on up to date, official stats for all of the 138 statistical regions in the UK.
This is not the first analysis of its kind uSwitch have done, and so by comparing these findings which are based on 2015 data to the league table of the best places to live in 2013, we are also able to identify places that are improving, as well as those slipping down the rankings.
Conwy and Denbighshire in West Wales is a statistical region that has shown massive improvement in uSwitch's Best Places to Live in The UK Quality of Life Index since 2013, rising 71 places from being in the bottom 20 at 129th place, to the top half at 58th place in 2015.
Here are some of the statistics that define quality of life in this statistical region in 2015:
Employment
Conwy and Denbighshire has fairly good employment rates, with 71% of the population in the region employed in 2015. 43% of people work standard full time hours in Conwy and Denbighshire, and only 22% are shown to regularly work over 45 hours per week, which is considered an indicator of bad quality of life due to a poor work life balance.
Income
Incomes here are on the low side of average with 2015's average gross weekly income per person at £478.90. Disposable income is also fairly average at £16,391 per household.
House Prices
When compared with the UK as a whole, Conwy and Denbighshire has fairly low house prices – averaging out at £136,500 in 2015. Rent, however, is quite expensive in comparison to the house prices, at £74 per person, per week.
Life Expectancy
The average life expectancy at birth for people in Conwy and Denbighshire is pretty much in line with the average for the whole of the UK, at 79 for men and 82 for women.
Life expectancy is an influential factor that insurance companies use to determine life insurance premiums. You can check our advice guide on how to get a cheaper life insurance policy.
Living Costs
The cost of living in Conwy and Denbighshire is fairly average too, with a weekly grocery shop for a Conwy and Denbighshire household in 2015 running to £55. Petrol prices are below average at 116p, however.
Other Important Factors
Conwy and Denbighshire performs poorly for communication technology, with a mere 70% receiving mobile phone coverage (probably due to rural areas), and slow average broadband speeds of 12Mbps.
Use our broadband postcode checker to see which deals and what speeds are on offer in your area.
Conwy and Denbighshire is a region that seems to be on the up, though it still has some statistical quality of life drawbacks in 2015.
More to life than rankings
At uSwitch, we know that there is more to life than rankings, stats and figures, and our Qualify of Life Index merely highlights the vast differences in the experiences of people across the UK.
Whether you're living in the best city or the worst, millions of households in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland face financial struggles including rising energy bills and credit card debt. That's why it's more important than ever for households to assess their budgets, and uSwitch.com offers a great way to start.
Below you can find ways to save on everything from car insurance to mobile bills.
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Place to Live 2015 — Where did your region rank?
About the research
The uSwitch.com study assessed 138 local areas (NUTS3 regions) for 26 factors such as salaries, disposable household income, and the cost of essential goods including food bills, fuel costs and energy bills. The study also factored in lifestyle issues like hours of sunshine, working hours and life expectancy to ensure a full picture of the quality of life in each NUTS3 region.
For more about the study's methodology, read the full press release .