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Bristol is 'best city to live in the UK'

Bristol is the best city to live in the UK for wealth and happiness, according to survey which ranked London behind Liverpool, Manchester and Leeds for quality of life.

Bristol has benefited from its reputation as an environmentally friendly city, with a top-class university and buoyant property market.
Bristol has benefited from its reputation as an environmentally friendly city, with a top-class university and buoyant property market. Credit: Photo: ALAMY

Bristol has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country and has experienced the highest growth in disposable income, according to a new report.

The average salary of an employee working in the city is £22, 293 – above the UK average of £21,473, and the third highest of the 12 largest UK cities.

London only reached seventh place on the Quality of Living Index, while Bradford was revealed as the hardest place to make a living.

Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, and Cardiff all finished ahead of the capital.

The study by MoneySuperMarket found Edinburgh was the second best city for quality of life. It has the second highest average salary of £24,628 and the lowest unemployment rate out of all the cities studied. Edinburgh scored 7.42 on the life satisfaction scale, above Cardiff, London and Bristol.

Bristol, meanwhile, has benefited from its reputation as an environmentally friendly city, with a top-class university and buoyant property market.

In 2008, it was named Britain's most environmentally sustainable city, knocking Brighton and Hove into second place, while in 2009 it was the sole British destination selected in Dorling Kindersley's Eyewitness guide to the top 10 cities to visit.

The 12 largest cities in the country were assessed on a range of factors including property market activity; rental costs; salary levels; disposable income growth; cost of living; unemployment rates and life satisfaction.

The cities were ranked in descending order as follows: Bristol, Edinburgh, Cardiff, Liverpool, Leeds, Manchester, London, Belfast, Glasgow, Birmingham, Sheffield and Bradford.