Southampton has been ranked among the top three cities to live and work in the UK according to a new report.

The index measuring economic performance and quality of life for cities around the UK was created by consultancy firm PwC.

Their Good Growth for Cities report saw Southampton come third overall, only behind Bristol and Plymouth who claimed the number one spot.

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

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.”

The full report from PwC can be found on their website here.

How did Southampton score in the categories?

Southampton had an overall growth score of +0.59 which was up from +0.52 in 2023 and +0.40 in 2022.

It was above average in most categories compared to other cities, seeing increases in jobs (+0.73), income (+0.65) and skills (+1.63).

Additionally, even though it saw a drop of -0.44 in high streets, this was a lighter decrease than most cities which meant it was above average overall.

Meanwhile, it was average in only three criteria, including work-life balance (+0.60), transport (+0.38) and income distribution (+0.78).

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Finally, it was only below average in housing seeing a drop of -0.44.

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.”