After putting in all that hard work and finally earning that all-important degree certificate, graduates face another huge decision: where do they want to live and work as they enter the rest of their adult lives?
It’s definitely something of a juggling act, with graduates having to consider career prospects and affordability, as well as making sure there’s a decent night out on offer!
We’ve analysed some of the UK’s biggest towns and cities based on a range of factors which are important to graduates, to reveal the best places for recent graduates to move to after leaving university.
Top 3 Locations
Ranked #1
81.60 out of 100
Cambridge is certainly somewhere students would aspire to study, but it could also be a perfect place to settle down after your studies are over too.
The world famous university plays a huge part in this city, meaning it has a large proportion of young people (almost one in four is aged 18 to 25) and while it enjoys a high average salary of £34,565, rent and cost of living are fairly reasonable compared to nearby London, which is only 50 minutes away on the train.
The thriving student community also means that there are plenty of bars, restaurants and things to do in Cambridge too.
Median Salary
£34,565
Monthly Cost of Living
£707.85
Average Rent (1 Bed Property)
£713
Employment Rate
81%
% of Population Aged 18-2
23.18%
Pubs & Bars per 10,000 People
7.16
Restaurants per 10,000 People
106.32
Ranked #2
72.71 out of 100
Much like its long-time rival Cambridge, Oxford benefits greatly from being home to one of the best universities in the world.
Like Cambridge it offers a great median salary of £31,472 and an even greater percentage of young people, with 24.23% falling between the ages of 18 and 25.
The city also has the highest employment rate of any of the places that we looked at (81%) and is also around an hour from the capital.
Median Salary
£31,472
Monthly Cost of Living
£702.41
Average Rent (1 Bed Property)
£716
Employment Rate
80.9%
% of Population Aged 18-2
24.23%
Pubs & Bars per 10,000 People
6.48
Restaurants per 10,000 People
87.41
Ranked #3
66.79 out of 100
As well as an attractive median salary of £32,003, the seaside city of Brighton also enjoys a higher concentration of pubs, bars and restaurants than the top two cities on our list, which is important if a lively social scene is higher on your list of priorities (it also has one of the largest LGBT communities in the country).
However, the downside is that Brighton also has a higher cost of living, with monthly costs estimated at around £769 per month, while rent for a one bed property will set you back around £919 per month.
Median Salary
£32,003
Monthly Cost of Living
£769.20
Average Rent (1 Bed Property)
£919
Employment Rate
75.2%
% of Population Aged 18-2
16.77%
Pubs & Bars per 10,000 People
8.44
Restaurants per 10,000 People
106.13
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Average Rent |
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We took the UK’s 50 most populated towns and cities and compared them on the following seven factors, giving each a normalised score out of 100 on each factor, before calculating a weighted average out of 100, with double weighting given to the median salary.
Median Salary
Full time median salary according to the Office for National Statistics’ Earnings and hours worked, place of residence by local authority data: ASHE Table 8.
Monthly Cost of Living
A monthly estimate from Numbeo which takes into account a number of monthly expenses such as groceries, transportation, eating out and utilities.
Average Rent (1 Bed Property)
Average monthly rent for a one bed property according to Zoopla.
Employment Rate
Employment rate for people aged 16-64 according to the Office for National Statistics’ Regional labour market: Local indicators for counties, local and unitary authorities dataset.
% of Population Aged 18-25
The percentage of the population aged 18 to 25, according to the Office for National Statistics’ Estimates of the population for the UK, England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Pubs & Bars per 10,000 People
The number of public houses and bars per 10,000 population according to the Office for National Statistics’ Public houses and bars by local authority dataset.
Restaurants per 10,000 People
The number of restaurants, takeaways or food shops per 10,000 population, according to the Food Standards Agency.
