1. Guildford – £38,040 median annual salary
Guildford takes the top spot with the highest median salary in the UK, with the rate just over £38,000 a year. Sitting southwest of London, Guildford’s median annual salary is £4,000 more than London, which sits in second place. Guildford has great links into London, which makes it an ideal place for people who work in the capital, but do not want to live there.
2. London – £33,970 median annual salary
The capital of England takes second place with a median salary of just under £34,000 a year. Not only is London the most populated city in the UK, but it’s also one of the most popular in Europe. It is also a great place for business, with the London Business School considered one of the best Universities for business in the world. Despite everything that London has to offer, it’s median annual salary is still not high enough for the top spot, which is particularly surprising given London has the highest cost of living in the UK.
3. Reading – £30,925 median annual salary
Completing our top three is Reading with a median annual salary of just under £31,000. Reading is best known for its annual music festival, however, it is also a popular location to live in due to its transport links to London. The University of Reading was also ranked 5th in the UK for business, management, and marketing graduate prospects.
1. Edinburgh – 7.86 salary score
In top spot is the capital of Scotland with a salary score of 7.86 out of 10. Edinburgh has the lowest average working hours per week at just 35, joint with four other cities. Edinburgh also has a median annual salary of over £30,000.
2. Cardiff – 7.14 salary score
The capital of Wales takes second place with a salary score of 7.14 out of 10. The average working hours in Cardiff is an hour more than in Edinburgh, and although the median annual pay is lower, the cost of living is also lower.
3. Aberdeen – 6.67 salary score
Completing our top three is another Scottish city, Aberdeen, with a salary score of 6.67 out of 10. Although Aberdeen had the joint highest average working hours, the cost of living was the fourth lowest in the UK. Aberdeen’s median salary was the second highest in Scotland and the 12th highest in the UK at just over £27,000.
1. Nottingham – 2.62 salary score
Nottingham takes the top spot with a salary score of 2.62 out of 10. Nottingham’s median annual salary is the lowest in the UK at just over £22,000. Despite its low salary, Nottingham’s cost of living score is the 12th highest in the UK.
2. Plymouth – 2.74 salary score
Plymouth takes second place with a salary score of 2.74 out of 10. Plymouth’s annual salary is the fourth lowest in the UK at almost £23,500, and its cost of living index score is slightly higher than Nottingham’s.
3. Derby – 3.81 salary score
Completing our top three is Derby with a salary score of 3.81 out of 10. Like all cities in our top three, the average working hours in Derby is 37 hours per week. Derby’s median salary and cost of living score are both below average, at £26,700 and 61.3 respectively.
Methodology
We used data from the Office of National Statistics to find the median annual salaries and average working hours a week.
We also used Numbeo to find the cost of living scores for different cities in the UK. We used the UK cities in Numbeo’s list to create our seeding list.
We then put this data into a weighted table, giving each score a normalised score out of 10. We then took an average of these scores to get an overall salary score out of 10.
