The UK's best and worst cities in which to live, including big climber with great work-life balance

• Cities have been ranked based on factors including jobs, income, crime, and work-life balance
• A new city tops the annual table, having risen six places, while one city has soared 25 spots
• Ipswich, Liverpool and Leicester all suffered big falls

The UK’s best cities in which to live have been named, with some surprising results.

Cities across the UK have been rated based on numerous criteria, from crime to jobs, transport, work and environment.

The 2025 Demos-PwC Good Growth for Cities Index ranks UK 50 cities, excluding London, with a positive score indicating they are above average, and a negative one meaning the opposite.

There are some big climbers in this year’s table, including one that scores particularly highly for work-life balance.

York tops this year’s list, after rising six places, with a score of 0.73, up from 0.54 last year.

Edinburgh is in second place, with a score of 0.63, having risen seven places.

Last year’s winner, Plymouth, has fallen to sixth in the table, with a score of 0.53, down from 0.62.

The biggest climbers include Portsmouth, up nine places to ninth, with a score of 0.46. It scores particularly highly for jobs, skills and health.

Aberdeen has risen 25 places to 12th, with a score of 0.44. Skills, transport and housing are its strongest areas.

Glasgow is up 13 places to 18th, with a score of 0.30, bolstered by good ratings for work-life balance, skills, and income distribution.

And Sheffield is up nine places to 34th, with a score of 0.09, also ranking highly for work-life balance, skills, and income distribution.

Bottom of the pile is Walsall, with a score of -0.32, followed by Bradford and Birmingham.

The UK’s top 25 cities (excluding London)

The report’s authors said that a thriving high street, better housing and transport, and access to skills were increasingly associated with economic success, with less importance attached to income and other purely financial factors.

The top performers, York and Edinburgh, they said, scored highly for high streets and skills, while Bristol, in third, performed well when it came to skills and jobs.

But, despite strong employment figures, all scored moderately when it came to income, and Edinburgh and Bristol both have lower-than-average owner-occupation rates, indicating that housing affordability remains an issue.

Among the biggest fallers, Ipswich dropped 10 places, largely due to a rise in its crime rate; Liverpool’s 11-place fall reflected the increase in unemployment and crime; and Leicester plummeted 12 places to 32nd, scoring particularly poorly for high streets, income, and jobs.

The UK’s bottom 25 cities (excluding London)

You can read the full report here.

What do you think of the rankings? What would you say is the best city in the UK, and why?

If you’re interested in more property stories, you might like this look at the best places in the UK to be born, grow up and grow old.