The UK’s Top 10 Towns for Work

Using three main factors – hiring opportunity, cost of living and overall job satisfaction – respected job marketplace website has researched and revealed the top 20 UK towns and cities to work in during 2016. Just to note, surprisingly, no Southern towns made the cut, and to cause even more of a shock, neither was London – the largest of the UK cities, with a population of over 8 million. So what are the chosen cities?

1. Cambridge

With an overall population of just over 145,800 and an average home value of £436,932, Cambridge was voted as the best location in the country to work this year. The median base salary for Cambridge workers is around £35,000, which will be one of the reasons the job satisfaction rating reached 3.5, proving that Cambridge workers are content in their jobs and workplace. Cambridge is situated just 50 miles north of London centre, a perfect location for people who want to be involved in the larger corporate companies but would rather avoid the hustle and bustle of urban environments. Could this be the reason it took the number one spot?

2. Milton Keynes

Based in Buckinghamshire, Milton Keynes was voted the second best town to work in 2016. Although with a cheaper average home value than Cambridge (£292,692) and a job satisfaction rating of 3.2, it’s surprising that, with a higher median base salary of £36,000, this town missed out on first place. However, this shows that people value the enjoyment and pleasure of their job over their salary, which is a nice figure to see. Hit jobs within this town include store managers, management consultants and business development managers.

3. Nottingham

Nottingham is the host of a larger population of nearly 290,000 – one factor which may have added to the end result of coming in third place, as it is clear that much busier, heavily populated cities and towns, like London for example, are less appealing to UK workers. Contrary to this, the average home value is relatively cheaper, and the median base salary of £27,814 is still higher than the average wage for working-class people. The top job titles for this area are similar to those in Cambridge and Milton Keynes, including Sales Management and Software Engineering.

4. Leeds

Located in West Yorkshire, Leeds took the fourth spot, with a much higher average salary of £30,000. Along with this, the average home value is quite a bit cheaper, at £195,370, which could be one of the main attractions to this northern city. The most common jobs taken on by the 474,000 people living in Leeds include Recruitment Consultants, Chefs and Project Managers.

 

5. Peterborough

Recently recording another drop in unemployment levels, Peterborough managed to secure itself a spot half way down the top towns for work in 2016. With a relatively low population (in comparison to some of the other towns and cities that have ended up in the results of this research) of almost 162,000, along with a reasonable average home value, it’s clear to see why Peterborough ended up in the top 10.

6. Coventry

Situated in the West Midlands, Coventry is the ninth largest city in England, and the 12^th largest city in the UK, with a population of 325,949. The average salary is appealing at £35,000 – almost £10,000 higher than the average salary for working-class people. The average home value is £184,397, which is relatively low for British houses in 2016 anyway. The most frequently desired jobs in this area of the country include Sales Managers and Customer Service Advisors – some of the more communication-based jobs out there.

7. Reading

Based in Berkshire, Reading is one of the most historically led cities in the UK – it was an important centre during the medieval period and was seriously affected by the English Civil War back in 1642 – which could be one of the main attractions of working and living in this town. Reading has a population of almost 219,000, an average home value of £430,503 and a median base salary of a very reasonable £43,000 per annum, possibly one of the main causes of it’s job satisfaction rate of 3.4.

8. Bradford

Also situated in West Yorkshire, just 8 miles west of Leeds, Bradford has a population of 349,561, a fairly lesser number than that of Leeds. Additionally, the average home value in Bradford is just £124,766, which is relatively low in comparison to a large amount of other towns and cities in the UK. The most common jobs in this particular area of the country are Customer Services Advisors, Operations Managers and Technicians, which all sound like reasonably respected jobs, however the job satisfaction rating only reached 3.0; quite a bit lower than the those in the other towns that have been mentioned.

9. Northampton

Although only securing ninth place, Northampton is definitely up there with regards to numbers. For example, the population is considerably higher than that of cities that secured higher places, such as Cambridge and Leeds. Along with this, the median base salary reaches a moderately high £35,000, a figure that a very large amount of people would like to be earning. Hot jobs in Northampton include Finance Managers, Recruitment Consultants and Bus Drivers, leading to a job satisfaction rating of 3.5. With these figures comes surprise with regards to only just making the cut of the top 10 towns to seek work in 2016.

10. Swindon

Just making the cut is Swindon, Wiltshire. With a reasonable average salary of £35,525 and a standard average home value of around £235,500, it’s surprising that Swindon came in tenth place. Additionally, although it is the host of a somewhat low population of 182,000, it is still more inhabited than the likes of Cambridge, which took the first spot. Hot job titles in Swindon include Sales Rep, Store Manager and Civil Engineer.