Aberdeen named best Scottish city to live and work in

• Posted on November 12, 2019
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

Aberdeen has been listed among the top 10 places to live and work in the UK, according to new research.

The Granite City rose three places to sixth in the latest Demos-PwC Good Growth for Cities Index, with the boost attributed to improvements in health, work-life balance, housing affordability and income distribution.

The UK-wide index covers 42 cities and is based on 11 indicators of socio-economic growth.

Aberdeen scored above the national average in seven of the indicators.

PwC says Aberdeen’s higher position in its index this year is down to improvements in health, work-life balance, housing affordability and income distribution, while it is the best performing city in the UK when measuring house prices relative to earnings.

Oxford retained its place as the top ranked city in the UK this year, followed by Reading, Southampton, Bristol and Milton Keynes.

Having fallen outside the top 10 in 2017, Aberdeen’s rise to top position for Scotland is attributed to improvements in health, work-life balance, housing affordability and income distribution.

It is the best-performing city in the UK when measuring house prices relative to earnings but the worst performing on the jobs metric.

In Edinburgh, income distribution was the worst performing variable while transport  – which takes commuting times into account – was the best.

For Glasgow, jobs was the city’s best scoring indicator, with other stand-outs including work-life balance, skills and income distribution.

A separate regional index covering 11 cities in the devolved administrations of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland has Inverness in first place, ahead of Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Perth.

Stirling was the lowest-placed Scottish city on the list, in ninth.

For this index, Scottish cities performed well regarding job creation, income, skills development and environment, but were below par in new business creation.

Stewart Wilson, of PwC Scotland, said: “Scotland is in an incredibly advantageous position as the world moves into a new age where digitalisation and climate change dominate business and political agendas.

“With huge natural resources and a commitment to lower emissions, this year’s Good Growth for Cities index shows that Scotland’s key cities are outperforming the national average in carbon emissions per average earnings, and in improving skills.

“Challenges remain, of course. This year’s index shows that despite widespread perceptions, Scotland is becoming a less affordable place to live, with owner occupation down across the board.

“Edinburgh and Stirling have also seen notable decreases in income distribution. Health also continues to be a drag on Scotland’s cities performance, which reinforces the requirement to alleviate long-term sickness issues.

“As a country known for its entrepreneurial spirit and successes, it’s disappointing to see our cities underperform in new business creation.”

-eveningexpress.co.uk/