Unlocking the potential of UK cities

As a whole, London performs well on Income, Health, New businesses, Skills, Environment and High Streets. London’s performance is particularly noticeable in Income, New businesses and High streets where it significantly outperforms.

While it performs poorly on Jobs, Income distribution, Work-life balance, Transport, Housing and Safety. Of these, London performs particularly poorly on House price to earnings, Transport and Income distribution, scoring over 2 standard deviations below the baseline.

London’s performance is quite bimodal across the index, with no variable scores being close to average for either the travel to work area (TTWA) or Boroughs only.

When measured against the priorities chosen by the public, Belfast (the only Northern Irish city in the index) ranks 9^th in the index out of 51 UK cities. However, this ranking is five positions lower than last year, showing that Belfast has struggled to improve at the same rate as many other cities.

Regardless, Belfast remains the top performing devolved city, with a 2022 Good Growth Score of 0.44 compared to the UK average score of 0.17. This relatively strong performance is driven by strong attainment across the following criteria:

• Work-life balance: Residents of Belfast have the third best work-life balance of the 51 cities in our analysis
• Income Distribution: Belfast has lower levels of income inequality than many cities in our index
• House price to earnings: Belfast has the fourth lowest house price to earnings ratio of all cities in the index, implying housing is affordable for local residents.

When measured against the priorities chosen by the public, all cities in the North East perform below the national average. The highest performing city is Sunderland, which comes 44^th in our index out of 51. The lowest performing city is Middlesbrough and Stockton, ranking 49^th.

While cities in the North East perform well on indicators such as House price to earnings, Work-life-balance and Transport, relative poor performance is driven by the following variables:

• Jobs: A higher than average unemployment rate, with Sunderland having the second highest unemployment rate across the UK
• Income: On average, jobs in the North East have a lower salary than elsewhere in the UK
• Health: Cities in the North East have some of the lowest life expectancies in the UK, with Sunderland having the 3rd lowest and Newcastle having the 6th lowest.

Cities across The North East perform relatively similarly for each variable included within the index. This suggests there is some homogeneity in the challenges (and opportunities) faced by cities in the region.

There are large variations in the performance of cities in the North West, as measured by the Good Growth Index. The highest performing city is Preston, which comes 11th in our Index. The lowest performing city is Manchester, ranking 47th out of 51.

There is little correlation between economic growth and Good Growth, illustrating that strong economic performance in the North West has not necessarily translated into improved outcomes for local residents across the priorities they have identified.

The 4 cities in the North West have different strengths, including:

• Manchester - Work life balance: Manchester is ranked in the top 10 cities for this indicator
• Liverpool - Work life balance: Residents of Liverpool are deemed to have the best work-life balance in the UK, with the fewest number of residents working more than a 45 hour week.
• Preston - Owner occupation: Preston has the highest rate of owner occupation of all cities in the UK
• Warrington and Wigan - Jobs: Warrington and Wigan have the 10th lowest unemployment rate of the cities included within our analysis

When measured against the priorities chosen by the public, cities in Scotland tend to perform below the national average, with the exception of Edinburgh, which is the 15^th highest performing city in our index. The lowest performing city is Glasgow, ranking 35^th out of 51.

The three cities in Scotland perform well on the following criteria:

• House price to earnings: All three cities score above the UK average, reflecting the relative affordability of housing
• Skills (16-24): Young people are equipped with the skills they need to contribute to the economy
• Work-Life Balance: Two of the three Scottish cities score above the UK average, showing a balance between the number of hours worked and time spent on leisure.

However, Scottish cities score poorly on Health and New Businesses, with all three cities scoring below the UK average for these indicators. This reflects health inequalities that have been identified in previous versions of the Good Growth Index, and a low rate of new business start ups in the last year.

While there are some differences, cities across Scotland generally perform quite similarly across the indices, with variations reflecting the individual challenges that each city faces.

When measured against the priorities chosen by the public, cities in The South East tend to perform above the national average, with the exception of Medway.

The highest performing city is Oxford, which comes top of our index out of all UK cities. The lowest performing city is Medway, ranking 40^th out of 51.

As a whole, the eight cities in the South East perform well on the following criteria:

Health and Skills (25+): Seven of the eight cities in The South East score above the UK average, while Medway scores in line with the UK average.

Income and Owner Occupation: Six of the eight cities score above the UK average.

However, these cities perform poorly on the following criteria:

House price to earnings: All eight cities score lower than the UK average.

High Streets: Four cities score lower than the UK average for this criteria and three are broadly in line. Only Brighton scores above the UK average.

Transport: No cities perform above the UK average, with three cities (Brighton, Medway and High Wycombe and Aylesbury) scoring lower than the UK average.

When measured against the priorities chosen by the public, cities in the South West perform above the national average, with all cities in the region ranking in the top ten in our index.

The highest performing city is Swindon, which comes 2^nd in our index. The lowest performing city is Bournemouth, ranking 8^th out of 51.

As a whole, the five cities in the South West perform well on the following criteria:

Health and Safety: Four of the five cities in The South West score significantly above the UK average, while Plymouth is broadly in line with the national average for these two variables.

Transport: Four of the five cities in The South West score significantly above the UK average, while Bristol is broadly in line with the national average for these two variables.

Despite this, cities in the South West score poorly on New businesses and House price to earnings variables, with there also being average to poor performance on Income (notwithstanding Swindon, which performs above the UK average).

Cities across The South West perform quite differently across the index. This is due to individual challenges that each city faces.

Based on data for Swansea and Cardiff, Wales performs around the UK average in our Good Growth Index. Measuring performance against the priorities chosen by the public, Cardiff ranks 20^th out of 51 cities, while Swansea ranks 34^th.

Cities in Wales perform exceptionally well on the following criteria:

• Work-life Balance: Of the 51 cities included in our analysis, both Swansea and Cardiff score markedly above the UK average for work-life balance.

• Income Distribution: Swansea and Cardiff are the two strongest performing cities on this metric in the whole of the UK, with the lowest ratio of mean to median earnings.

There are some noteworthy differences in performance between Swansea and Cardiff, with Swansea scoring above the UK average on the Owner Occupation, Transport and Safety indicators, while Cardiff scores above the UK average for Skills (16 - 24).

Welsh cities score poorly on High Streets, Health and Income variables. There is average to poor performance across a variety of other variables, with differences in performance between Swansea and Cardiff reflective of the individual challenges that each city faces.

When measured against the priorities chosen by the public, cities in Yorkshire and the Humber generally perform below the national average, with the exception of York. The highest performing city is York, which comes 14^th in our index. The lowest performing city is Bradford, which ranks bottom overall out of all 51 UK cities.

As a whole, the seven cities in Yorkshire and the Humber perform well on the following criteria:

• Work-life-balance: All cities score significantly above the UK average.
• House price to earnings: Three of the seven cities score above the UK average, while the other four score similarly to the UK average. This suggests houses in the region are somewhat affordable.
• Income distribution: Five of the seven cities score above the UK average, with Hull having the 5th most equal income distribution of cities included in the Index.

Cities across the region score poorly on Income, Health and the Environment, with only York not scoring below the UK average for the income variable (note: this is different to the income distribution variable).

Cities across Yorkshire and the Humber perform quite differently across the index. This is due to the individual challenges that each city faces.

When measured against the priorities chosen by the public, some cities in the East Midlands perform slightly above the national average, while some perform slightly below the average.

The highest performing city is Leicester, which comes 16th in our index. The lowest performing city is Northampton, ranking 42^nd out of 51.

As a whole, the six cities in the East Midlands perform well on the following criteria:

Transport: Five of the six cities in the East Midlands score significantly above the UK average.

Income Distribution: Four of the six cities score higher than the UK average, while the other two are broadly similar to the average.

Cities in the East Midlands score poorly on Income and High Streets variables, with there also being average to poor performance on the House price to earnings variable.

Cities across the East Midlands perform quite differently across the index. This is due to individual challenges that each city faces. In particular, there is mixed performance on the new businesses criteria. Leicester and Northampton both perform above average, while Derby, Lincoln and Nottingham are all below the UK average.

When measured against the priorities chosen by the public, cities in the West Midlands tend to perform below the national average, with the exception of Stoke-on-Trent.

The highest performing city is Stoke-on-Trent, which comes 21^st in our index. The lowest performing city is Birmingham, ranking 47^th out of 51.

As a whole, the four cities in the West Midlands perform most strongly on the following criteria:

Work-life-balance: Wolverhampton and Walsall and Birmingham score above the UK average, while Coventry and Stoke-on-Trent score similarly to the UK average.

Income Distribution: Stoke-on-Trent and Wolverhampton and Walsall score higher than the UK average, while Coventry and Birmingham score more similarly to the UK average.

Conversely, cities in the West Midlands score poorly on High Streets, Jobs, Income and New Businesses variables.

Cities across the West Midlands perform quite differently across the index. The strongest performing city could be considered as Coventry, which is only significantly below the UK average on one variable, while Wolverhampton and Walsall perform lower than the UK average on six different variables.

When measured against the priorities chosen by the public, most cities in the East of England perform above the national average, with the exception of Chelmsford and Southend.

The highest performing city is Norwich, which comes 7th in our index. The lowest performing city is Southend, ranking 43^rd out of 51.

As a whole, the six cities in the East of England region perform well on the following criteria:

Health and Owner Occupation: Five of the six cities in The East of England score significantly above the UK average.

Income: Ipswich and Norwich score around the average on the index, whereas the other four cities score above the UK average

Despite this, cities in the East of England score poorly on High Streets, and House price to earnings variables. For these two variables, all six cities perform below the UK average. There is also average to poor performance on the Work-life-balance variable with the exception of Norwich.

Cities across the East of England perform quite differently across the index. This is due to individual challenges that each city faces.