With everything from mountains and lakes to green rural areas and coastal regions, plus of course major cities and even remote islands, the UK is a place of huge variety, and this also means that the quality of life you can expect differs a lot depending on where you decide to live.
Whether you are looking to move at the moment and want some insight that can help you choose the right destination, or you are just interested in which parts of the UK are thriving at the moment, uSwitch's Best Places to Live in The UK Quality of Life Index is an interesting piece of research.
. To create it, we did an in-depth data analysis using official statistics for all different aspects of quality of life, from financial things through to matters of everyday convenience like broadband speeds and mobile phone signal availability.
Using our analysis, we were able to rank the 138 statistical regions of the United Kingdom in order of overall quality of life in 2015.
By comparing the resulting league table of UK cities and regions with a similar study we did in 2013, we can also learn how each region has changed – whether it has moved up or down the table in the past two years.
The statistical region of North Nottinghamshire in the East Midlands is one that has moved very little since 2013. It has dropped just five places, going from number 87 on our list for 2013 to 92 when 2015 data was used.
Here are some of the statistics we used in our research for North Nottinghamshire:
Employment
When it comes to general employment rates, North Nottinghamshire's statistics are on the good side of average with 72% of the population in employment.
Income
The average gross weekly income in 2015 for North Nottinghamshire is quite low, at £431.83. Household annual disposable income is also lower than average at £14,923.
House Prices
The statistical region of North Nottinghamshire has house prices that are far below national averages at £126,375. Rent is not as low comparative to the rest of the UK however, with the average weekly rental in North Nottinghamshire costing £71 per person.
Life Expectancy
This region has fairly average life expectancy statistics 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
Food costs are roughly average for the UK in North Nottinghamshire with the average household weekly grocery shop in 2015 costing £55. Petrol prices are much higher than average here, at 120p.
Other Important Factors
North Nottinghamshire has pretty mediocre services for communication technology, with average broadband speeds of 26.4Mbps, and only 87% of the area counted in the statistical region getting mobile phone signal.
See how your broadband speeds stack up against your neighbours by trying out our broadband speed test.
There are pros and cons to every place in the UK, however North Nottinghamshire ranks in the bottom portion of our table for quality of life 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 .