We Brits like to complain about the weather and the constant train delays (although there are plans to improve this in the future), but the truth is that a lot of us love where we live.
Whether it’s because you’re a short walk from a park, near some good schools, or right in the middle of a bustling city, there’s lots of reasons you might be happy settling somewhere, but where are people the most satisfied? That’s the question that Rightmove sets out to answer every year with its huge nationwide happiness survey.
The online property company surveys people from more than 200 towns and cities across the UK (except Northern Ireland) on how they feel about their area. It asks them to rate the quality of green spaces and facilities, access to doctors and medical facilities and their general sense of belonging, then does a lot of number crunching in order to determine where the most positive results came from.
This year, Skipton in Yorkshire was crowned the happiest place in the UK, with its residents reporting that they can really be themselves. Skiptonians also said that they had high-quality essential services, loads of great parks and very friendly neighbours.
London boroughs Richmond-upon-Thames, which frequently appears in lists of the best places to live in the UK, and Camden came second and third overall. Both have plenty of green spaces, and benefit from being nearby to central London without being burdened by the chaos of the city.
On top of its overall national list, Rightmove produces regional rankings, which give a broader view of which parts of mainland Britain are generally full of happier people. For instance, all of the South East’s top 10 areas were in the top 50 nationally, whereas nowhere in the East Midlands was.
The East Midlands top five towns were the lowest scoring of any region, with their combined national average being 121. In other words, even the East Midlands best towns didn't rank very highly in the national chart.
For context, the second poorest performing region overall was Scotland at 58, and the South East, which performed best, had an average top five score of 19. Clearly, something significant is holding the East Midlands back.
Although the East Midlands didn’t have any high-scorers, it’s actually London that’s home to the most miserable places in the country: Havering, Newham, and Dagenham came 218, 219, and 220 out of 220. Although numbers don’t usually lie, we don’t entirely agree with this placement, and you can find out why here.
Here are the happiest places in every UK region, including their overall national ranking
Scotland
Stirling: 8
Wales
Anglesey: 19
North West
Altrincham: 6
North East
Hexham: 10
Yorkshire and the Humber
Skipton: 1
West Midlands
Leamington Spa: 12
East Midlands
Chesterfield: 82
South West
Cirencester: 9
South East
Maidenhead: 14
East of England
Woodbridge: 5
Greater London
Richmond upon Thames: 2
You can have a look at the full national and regional rankings on Rightmove here.
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