If you are someone who is looking to move to a new part of the UK and want to know where you can get the best experience, or you just want to know how your region compares to other places, then uSwitch have done a full analysis using all kinds of different data relating to everything from the price of a weekly grocery shop or insuring your car, through to the employment rates and incomes in all of the UK's 138 different statistical regions.
This is the second time we have done uSwitch's Best Places to Live in The UK Quality of Life Index – the first being in 2013. Now, by using data from 2015 to repeat the study, we can not only update the rankings but also see where places are getting better or worse for quality of life.
The Orkney Islands may be a place many people wouldn't have considered moving to, but it actually ranked very well in our study, falling in at 19th. It was also one of the most improved places – coming up 86 places from 105th in 2013!
Here are some of the stats that gave the Orkneys this spot in our 2015 ranking of the best places to live in the UK:
Employment
High employment is always a positive, and the Orkney Islands have one of the highest employment rates in the UK at 89%. This may not necessarily mean it is easy to find a job there, given it also has a small population, but whether you are of working age or not a place with low unemployment usually gets a lot of benefits from that.
Income
Incomes in the Orkneys are fairly good, at £516 gross per week for the average person, which is comparable to some of our other top 20 locations like South Nottinghamshire and higher than many others.
House Prices
House prices are very low for one of our top 20 locations, with the average Orkneys house in 2015 selling for £120,000. Rent is also fairly low at £63 per person, per week on average.
Life Expectancy
Life expectancy is 79 years for men and 83 years for women. This is not much different from most other places in the uSwitch top 20 best places to live for 2015.
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
Some living costs are among the lowest in our top 20, including food, with the weekly grocery shop for the average household coming in at £55, and car insurance, costing an average of just £343.20. Petrol and dual fuel bills are around average, however.
Other Important Factors
In uSwitch's Best Places to Live in The UK Quality of Life Index we also took into account some other factors people find important for good quality of life, and this is where the Orkneys do significantly worse than the rest of our top 20, with just 39% mobile phone coverage and broadband speeds of only 8.7Mbps
How does your broadband speeds compare to the national average? Test them with our broadand speed checker.
Statistically, the Orkneys have a lot to offer with great employment, good incomes and low house prices.
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 .