Where you live can have a huge impact on your quality of life, influencing everything from your monthly finances and housing costs to your healthcare and personal safety.While employment opportunities, nightlife and transport links can all play a part in choosing where to settle, the cost of living continuing to shape our choices – so finding somewhere that offers a good quality of life without breaking the bank has never been more important.One of the best tools to help you decide where to live is Wise’s Cost of Living Index, which has compiled liveability and cost data for 25 locations across the country and ranked them to reveal the places with the best standard of living. The rankings are based on a ‘liveability score’ calculated as the average of three factors: Quality of life, safety and healthcare.The index tracks the average price of a standardised basket of everyday goods and services – including housing, food, healthcare, transportation and education – and has a top score of 100. The results reveal some interesting contenders, with one historic UK city taking the top spot thanks in part to its relatively affordable cost of living. York has been ranked as the most liveable city in the UK, with a score of 85 out of 100 It is followed by Norwich, which scores highly across all factors such as housing, food, transportation and educationThis year, York has emerged as the top choice in the UK, with a liveability score of 85. This is largely down to the fact that residents are left with an average monthly surplus of £872 after essential expenses and with rent taking up a manageable 35 per cent of take-home pay.Norwich (81.3) and Edinburgh (80.3) complete the top three. According to the study, the most liveable places are mainly in Scotland and the North. Scotland is the highest-scoring region overall, with Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Dundee and Glasgow all ranked in the top ten, averaging 77.8. The best-value Scottish city is Aberdeen, with a £1,017 monthly surplus and rent at 25 per cent of salary, while Edinburgh proves it not as affordable as the other top-ranking Scottish cities when it comes to the cost of rent, which is on average 45 per cent of pay.A number of cities in Northern England made it to the top spots.York, Sheffield, Newcastle, Liverpool and Leeds score 74 to 85. Newcastle has a £1,029 monthly surplus and rent at 34 per cent. Hull ranks lower (68.3), but is among the most affordable, with a £1,072 monthly surplus and rent at 25 per cent. However, Manchester, at 66, didn’t fare well, with only a monthly surplus of £287 surplus and rent at 53 per cent. At the bottom of the list is Coventry, with a liveability score of 57 London comes second from the bottom, with a score of 63Derby (75.3) is the best performer among English cities, with a substantial monthly surplus of £1,344 and rent at just 21 per cent of salary. Nottingham (66.7), Birmingham (65) rank lower, and Coventry is last in the list, with a score of 57.London and many cities in the South didn’t score much better, with residents left with far less spare income than those living in the North and Scotland. Oxford, Brighton, Bristol and London all have surpluses under £400, with rent taking up 53 to 62 per cent of salary. Oxford (76) and Brighton (73.7) score well, but their affordability is poor.
Cardiff scores 72.7 with rent at 40 per cent of salary, and Belfast got a score of 71 with rent at 42 per cent.Florian Ramos, marketing director for Europe at Wise, said: ‘Every city has its own strengths, and where you live shapes how far your money goes. ‘That’s why we built the Wise Cost of Living Index – people in the UK and around the world deserve transparent, easy-to-compare information when planning their everyday spending.’At Wise, we’re committed to cutting the cost of managing money, so more of what people earn stays in their pockets, whether they’re paying bills, sending money to family or spending abroad.’Click here for the Wise Cost of Living Index calculator, which compare cities and countries around the world