To discover which locations in the UK have the best job opportunities, Ciphr ranked 50 of the most populous cities in the country based on factors like average salary, salary growth, employment rate growth, unemployment rate, job listings, and the number of businesses.

House prices and rental costs were also included in the analysis to reflect the city’s affordability and cost of living, as were life satisfaction and happiness scores (from the Office for National Statistics) to show the population’s general level of wellbeing.

Milton Keynes, Oxford, York, St Albans, and Norwich are the top five cities for job opportunities, with high average salaries, good business density, and strong employment rate growth

Oxford is the best UK city for employment rate growth, up 16.4% from 2021 to 2022

Winchester has the highest business density of any UK city at 168.1, which means that there are over 168 businesses with over 10 employees for every 10,000 working age residents. Chichester has the next highest business density at 93.9 (the UK average is 68)

Colchester has the highest wage growth of any city in the study, with the latest figures showing a 12.9% increase in full-time annual earnings

St Albans has the highest average salary for full-time employees at £46,551 (41% above the national average of £33,000), and the lowest unemployment rate (1.9%)

Winchester, Lancaster, Oxford, Chelmsford and Canterbury are among the happiest cities to live and work, with residents reporting higher levels of life satisfaction and personal happiness than any other cities in the study