If you are considering moving to a new area within England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, then you may be very interested to see how the places you are considering compare to the rest of the UK in terms of the quality of life they offer their residents.
While the UK may not be that big geographically, it is very diverse, and there are big differences in different areas when it comes to things like the cost of living and the job market – things which directly affect quality of life.
To help discover where the best and worst places for quality of life in the UK currently are, uSwitch has done a detailed data analysis using official statistics for all kinds of things that impact quality of life, and has used this analysis to create uSwitch's Best Places to Live in The UK Quality of Life Index.
This is a kind of league table ranking all of the UK's 138 statistical regions in order of general quality of life, as derived from the stats we used.
Because this study has been done before using older data, we can also compare our new results which used data from 2015 with our 2013 league table, so as well as showing where the best places to live currently are, we can also show where some places have got better or worse for quality of life in that period.
Leeds is s statistical region on its own as a fairly large city, and is one of the regions that has fallen down the list since 2013. It was previously the 35th best place to live in the UK, but using 2015 data it is now the 61st. Here are some of the statistics for Leeds:
Employment
Leeds has below average employment rates with only 69% of its inhabitants in work. It does, however, have good stats for full time workers, with 46% of people working 35-45 hours per week.
Income
Incomes are fairly good in Leeds, with the gross weekly income per person in 2015 at £498.90. This is on the high side of average nationwide, and pretty high for the North of England.
House Prices
House prices are moderately low in Leeds, with the average home in 2015 sold for £150k. Rent is also fairly low at £68 per person, per week. Why not use our free mortgage calculator that helps you determine how much you could afford to borrow.
Life Expectancy
In Leeds, life expectancy is fairly average for the UK, at 78 for men and 82 for women.
Living Costs
Leeds has a low cost of living comparative to most of the UK, with the weekly grocery shop for the average household for food and non-alcoholic drinks coming to £50. It does have fairly high car insurance premiums, however, at £509.60. Try our cheaper car insurance.
Other Important Factors
For technology, Leeds scores fairly well. It has 99% mobile phone signal coverage, although this is fairly typical in statistical regions that comprise one major city, and reasonably fast broadband speeds of 25.3Mbps on average.
Leeds has pros and cons like most parts of the UK, and as you can see its statistics stay fairly close to national averages.
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 .