Edinburgh named 'Britain's most attractive city'

Edinburgh has been named Britain's most attractive city to live and work in.

A new study commissioned by Royal Mail found that the Scottish capital was ahead of 11 other major UK cities.

In the various categories, Edinburgh came out top for access to education and performed well on job opportunities (fourth), business community (third), earnings (second) and access to green space (fourth).

Earnings in Edinburgh averaged £578 per week, and the employment rate was strong at 70.8%.

The Scottish city also had the second-highest number of start-ups, whilst office space costs were about half that of London.

Affordability

However, the strong property market in Edinburgh meant the city only merited 10th place in the category for housing affordability.

Edinburgh Council leader Adam McVey said: “It is welcome news that Edinburgh is yet again receiving recognition as the UK’s top city to live and work in. The facts demonstrating the city’s attributes are plentiful and our own statistics show that Edinburgh is a vibrant capital city with a diverse economy, an increasing population with strong investment potential.”

The only other Scottish city in the survey, Glasgow, took sixth place on the list.

It was named first for green space, and was third for both access to education and cultural services.

Glasgow was fifth for housing affordability, but could only manage 11th place for both healthcare and business community.

Runner-up

The overall runner-up behind Edinburgh was London, which achieved strong scores on earnings (average £697 per week) and employment levels (73.7%). It also had good access to education and strong levels of business activity compared with other locations, but housing affordability and office costs were the highest in the UK.

With an employment rate of 77.3%, Bristol was the top-ranking city for job opportunities.

Leeds had the best access to healthcare, with 1.8 GPs per 1,000 people. Leeds also scored well in terms of earnings. The city had the third-highest average weekly wage at £526 and did well in terms of job opportunities with an employment rate of 73.3%.

Liverpool topped the categories for housing and office space affordability. At 4.5 times the average annual income, homes were much more affordable than in London where the ratio was 13.5.

Royal Mail spokesman David Gold said: “This new research from Royal Mail shows there is hot competition among the UK’s leading cities to be the most attractive location for people to live and work in. Edinburgh has the edge on other economically-significant UK cities."