Birmingham 'one of the worst places to live & work in the UK', according to PwC’s 2024 Growth for Cities Index

Calling all Brummies - what do you think of this?

According to accounting firm PwC, Birmingham is NOT one of the best place to live or work in the UK.

London, Manchester and Birmingham were all named among the worst locations in the country.

Plymouth topped the list of Britain’s best cities, Bristol came second followed by Southampton and Swindon.

And this research hasn’t just been cobbled together by a random survey focusing on 100 people, it’s based on the annual index measuring economic performance and quality of life by PwC.

PwC developed the ‘Good Growth for Cities Index’, measures the quality of life in every UK city based on 12 different indicators including cost of housing, safety and skills, work-life balance, income equality, jobs, travel-to-work times, high street shops, environment and business startups.

The research highlights an “increasing imbalance” between neighbourhoods with access to quality of education and housing. Cities with the largest social housing waiting lists, such as London, Birmingham, Manchester and Newcastle, are among the lowest performing cities in the Index.

The research shows people are priced out of cities as wage growth fails to keep pace with house prices

Britain’s most and least liveable cities:

Top 10:

1. Plymouth
2. Bristol
3. Southampton
4. Swindon
5. Reading
6. Exeter
7. York
8. Norwich
9. Edinburgh
10. Oxford

Bottom 10:

1. Swansea
2. Sheffield
3. Sunderland
4. Manchester
5. Newcastle
6. Walsall
7. Birmingham
8. London
9. Bradford
10. Middlesbrough and Stockton

Rachel Taylor, of PwC, said: “Raising prosperity across the UK is needed more than ever as we continue to see growing inequality in housing, jobs and education.

“There is an increasing imbalance within and between neighbourhoods, which is being driven by disparities in access to quality education, jobs and housing.

“This is felt not only across different regions, but also between people living within the same postcodes in cities.”

Cities were assessed on 12 criteria that were health, income, jobs, safety, skills, work-life balance, housing, commuting to work times, income equality, high street shops environment and business start-ups.

This contrasts with some of the country’s largest cities, like London, Birmingham and Manchester, where large waiting lists for social housing were blamed for making them the lowest performing cities assessed by PwC.

London had the longest waiting lists for council houses, with more than 300,000 people awaiting accommodation, followed by Manchester at 100,000, Newcastle at approximately 25,000 and Birmingham with around the same number on its waiting list.

Carl Sizer, of PwC, said: “The new government is moving at pace setting out a legislative agenda that starts to pave the way for how we are going to turn the dial on key issues holding back the UK’s economic growth, such as reform of the planning regime, improving work readiness of graduates and school leavers and investment in key national infrastructure and skills.

“However, this is against a backdrop of a challenging fiscal environment, so successful delivery will hinge on a level of close collaboration and innovation between national, local and regional governments, businesses, academia and the third sector that has historically rarely been seen.”

The index also notes that the economic prosperity of second cities like Birmingham lags behind G7 peers, and that closing this gap could generate an additional £100 billion of economic output per year.

Stoke-on-Trent - 16th

Coventry - 27th

Wolverhampton - 39th

Birmingham - 49th

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