Derby ranks highly as great city to live & work in, according to 2024 Good Growth for Cities Index

Derby has once again ranked as the second-best city to live and work in across the East Midlands, according to accounting firm PwC.

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

Leicester came top in the East Midlands and was ranked 20th overall, performing well for work-life balance, transport, new businesses and income distribution. It also scored well for safety and the skills of its workforce.

The next best-performing city in the East Midlands was Derby, ranked 23rd overall and moving up one spot from last year. Lincoln was 24th, Nottingham finished 35th and Northampton town was 40th.

The annual study, by accountants PwC, examines the UK’s 51 largest cities and produces a state-of-the-nation report to understand the priorities of communities across the UK.

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.

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.

Derby, Lincoln, Nottingham, Northampton and Peterborough have all seen an increase in overall rankings on the index, with Northampton achieving the biggest increase, moving from 42nd to 39th.

The full East Midlands rankings are below:

• Leicester – 20th
• Derby – 23rd
• Lincoln – 24th
• Nottingham – 35th
• Northampton town – 39th

The report states that the East Midlands is expected to see slightly slower economic growth compared to the UK average in both 2023 and 2024, with a predicted growth rate of 0.7% in 2024, and 1.6% in 2025. This compares to the UK average of 1.0% in 2024 and 1.7% in 2025.

Derby performs above the UK average on jobs, transport, skills in over 25s, income distribution and safety indicators, and is in line with the UK average on income, health, work-life balance, skills for 16-24 year olds, affordability of housing, the environment and high streets.

In 2023, Derby was the only East Midlands city to have just one indicator highlighted for improvement, showing that the city is experiencing overall good growth.

Alex Hudson, East Midlands market senior partner, PwC, said: “The outlook for the East Midlands is promising, with our cities generally performing well in this year’s analysis. Leicester has historically been a top performer in the index and it’s pleasing to see other cities including Derby and Nottingham move up the rankings this year. Equally, improvements on jobs, income distribution and environmental scores highlight sustainable growth in the East Midlands with more opportunities to come.

“That said, the report indicates that the East Midlands slightly lags behind the UK average in areas like income, house prices, and predicted economic growth. With the new East Midlands devolution deal, this should be seen as a roadmap for opportunity, identifying where ongoing support can significantly improve key public priorities.”

Across the East Midlands, improvements were made in jobs, income distribution and environment, and are either above or in line with the UK average for home ownership, transport and skills.

The highest priority for those living in the region is income, followed by safety and work life balance. Jobs, environment and income distribution are also top priorities, scoring above the UK average.

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 (town)
7. Birmingham
8. London
9. Bradford
10. Middlesbrough and Stockton (town)

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.”