Where to live in the United Kingdom
We track 23 cities in the United Kingdom, including London, Birmingham and Edinburgh. Average temperatures run from 9°C to 12°C. We estimate a couple needs €3,640 to €4,315 a month to live centrally. The United Kingdom sits in our high tax tier. For citizens from outside the UK and Ireland (Common Travel Area), long-term residency is possible, with conditions.
12 questions, about 4 minutes, no account needed. Taking the quiz is free, and so is seeing your #1 city. Full results for both of you are a one-time US$12 (€12 in Europe).
- Tax tier
- High
- High personal income tax
- Languages
- English
- English everywhere
- Safety
- 56/100
- country-level
- Healthcare
- 74/100
- country-level
- Internet
- ~110 Mbps
- median fixed broadband
The 23 cities we track
| City | Size | Setting | Avg temp | Rain a year | Est. cost a month |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aberdeen | smaller | coastal | 9°C | 784 mm | €3,690 |
| Belfast | mid-sized | coastal | 10°C | 851 mm | €3,782 |
| Birmingham | large | near the coast | 10°C | 869 mm | €3,980 |
| Bournemouth | smaller | coastal | 12°C | 881 mm | €3,659 |
| Brighton | mid-sized | coastal | 12°C | 834 mm | €3,749 |
| Bristol | mid-sized | coastal | 11°C | 893 mm | €3,835 |
| Cambridge | smaller | near the coast | 11°C | 579 mm | €3,640 |
| Cardiff | mid-sized | coastal | 11°C | 1,102 mm | €3,793 |
| Edinburgh | mid-sized | coastal | 10°C | 700 mm | €3,847 |
| Glasgow | mid-sized | coastal | 9°C | 1,242 mm | €3,879 |
| Kingston upon Hull | mid-sized | coastal | 11°C | 680 mm | €3,766 |
| Leeds | mid-sized | near the coast | 10°C | 763 mm | €3,853 |
| Leicester | mid-sized | near the coast | 10°C | 646 mm | €3,792 |
| Liverpool | mid-sized | coastal | 11°C | 780 mm | €3,841 |
| London | major | coastal | 11°C | 669 mm | €4,315 |
| Manchester | mid-sized | coastal | 11°C | 887 mm | €3,863 |
| Milton Keynes | mid-sized | near the coast | 11°C | 649 mm | €3,732 |
| Newcastle upon Tyne | mid-sized | coastal | 10°C | 649 mm | €3,758 |
| Nottingham | mid-sized | near the coast | 11°C | 616 mm | €3,771 |
| Oxford | smaller | near the coast | 11°C | 659 mm | €3,657 |
| Sheffield | mid-sized | near the coast | 10°C | 874 mm | €3,859 |
| Southampton | mid-sized | coastal | 12°C | 801 mm | €3,741 |
| York | smaller | coastal | 10°C | 630 mm | €3,651 |
Source: City size from GeoNames, temperature from the Open-Meteo archive (2019 to 2023 averages), rainfall from TerraClimate (1991 to 2020 normals), coast distance from Natural Earth. Cost is our model estimate for a couple living centrally.
Taxes
The United Kingdom sits in our high tax tier: high personal income tax. The tier applies to every city here, and couples who cap tax below it will not see these cities in their results.
Source: OurNextCity tax tiers, assigned by hand from each country's top marginal personal income tax rate and overall tax reputation, with no fixed rate cut-offs. Coarse by design; not tax advice.
Residency and visas
Possible, with conditions, for people from outside the UK and Ireland (Common Travel Area). Long-term residency runs through sponsored Skilled Worker employment, the talent-based Global Talent route, or the Innovator Founder business route, all leading to settlement; there is no passive-income, retirement, or investor route.
Citizens of the UK and Ireland (Common Travel Area) have freedom-of-movement or simplified residency rights here.
For short visits, 35 of 198 passports can enter visa-free, 54 can get an e-visa or visa on arrival and 109 need a visa in advance.
Source: OurNextCity residency dataset, hand-reviewed approximations researched against published immigration rules. Not legal advice: check the official source before you apply. Short-stay entry from the passport-index dataset (ilyankou, MIT).
Moving here from
What our data says for a couple who both hold one of these passports: entry, residency, taxes, costs and the cities that rank first.