Newcastle has officially been named as the best city in the UK in which to bring up a family.
The Toon beat off competition from 34 other metropolises in a survey by MoneySuperMarket.com, triumphing due to its low house prices, low crime rate and good schools.
The survey analysed six factors: job opportunities, parks, house prices, average income, schools and burglaries. The cities were assigned scores out of ten for each factor and then ranked in a ‘Family Living Index’.
Newcastle picked up points for its parks, outstanding schools and low crime rate. While the latter might surprise some people, it should be said that the survey only measured burglaries, for which Newcastle compared favourably to other cities.
Of the top ten neighbourhoods in which you’re most likely to be burgled, seven were in Greater London, with Chorlton-cum-Hardy and Barlow Moor in Greater Manchester coming in third.
As far as house prices were concerned, Newcastle did well, with an average home in the city costing just £161,255 compared to a UK average of £232,885 and a London average of £483,803.
Newcastle gained 10 out of 10 in the survey for the number of outstanding schools per head of population.
Up Toon, top ranking: Newcastle heads our list of family-friendly cities. What about where you live? https://t.co/ecAjpYQsXv pic.twitter.com/nu4WK7pSEe
— MoneySuperMarket (@MoneySupermkt) May 16, 2017
The Toon only really dropped points when it came to average incomes and job opportunities.
The average Newcastle income was found to be £25,537 per annum, below the £26,000 average income found in both Liverpool and Manchester.
All these figures are dwarfed, however, by salaries in London. Another study, the Average Salary Survey, found that in 2016 the average gross London wage was £55,092.
It may, nevertheless, come as some comfort to Geordies to learn that they make more cash than the people of Sunderland. The MoneySuperMarket.com survey found that the average Mackem salary was £24,767.
The survey found that Derby was the second-best UK city in which to raise a family, with Wolverhampton coming in third. York, Oxford, Stoke, Bath, Southampton, Nottingham and Coventry all featured in the top ten.
London was ranked lowest in the survey, due to its intense competition for school places, astronomical property prices and high rate of burglaries.
MoneySuperMarket.com said, “Parents naturally want the best for their children, whether it’s a good school, a safe and leafy neighbourhood, or plenty of career opportunities when they grow up.”
In addition to being named as the UK’s most family-friendly city, another recent survey ranked Newcastle as the happiest city in the UK. On a more sombre note, however, statistics show that antidepressant use in the north east is the highest in the country.
The Family Living Index
Newcastle – 5
Derby – 4.82
Wolverhampton – 4.71
Southampton – 4.56
Bath – 4.53
Nottingham – 4.36
Coventry – 4.34
York – 4.33
Oxford – 4.33
Stoke-on-Trent – 4.31
(Featured image courtesy of Tony Hisgett)
