Revealed: the UK's best cities for graduates to live in

31 July 2019 at 6:05 am

Don't blindly head to London post-graduation: there's money to be made elsewhere!

London, Glasgow and Sheffield are top UK cities for graduates right now, according to research.

Analysis by job board CV-Library has revealed the best cities for graduates to live and work in based on pay, living costs and future prospects.

If you want a high starting salary, Glasgow or London could be for you.

These cities command the highest graduate salaries, at £26,195 and £25,909 per year, while the lowest are for jobs in Birmingham – £21,823 – and Newcastle – £20,757.

However, if you want a substantial pay rise in the future, you might actually try Birmingham. While Birmingham has the second lowest starting salaries for graduates, at £21,823, you can expect this to rise by 54% in the future.

London and Newcastle also offer great prospects, with average pay in these cities being 53% and 50% higher than graduate salaries.

If you want cheap living, Sheffield and Newcastle are the best cities for graduates to live in, with rent costing professionals £368 and £375 per month. respectively.

Unsurprisingly, London is the most expensive city to rent in, at £698 per month, with Cardiff coming in second, at £593.

If you want to buy a house in five years’ time, you only need to save 18% of your monthly salary if you live in Glasgow, which equates to £202 a month.

In comparison, Londoners have to save 81% of their pay packet each month – £800!

And if you want more disposable income, try Sheffield. After bills and rent, you can expect to have £1,158.37 leftover to spend each month if you live and work in Sheffield.

This is followed by Glasgow, at £1,130, and Southampton, at £1,096, while professionals in Bristol have some of the lowest amounts of disposable income – just £987.