The technology job market in the U.K., as with many other sectors, has been growing post-pandemic. However, there are regional disparities. To establish which U.K. cities are the most popular for technology professionals, the company VBQ Speakers analysed around 500 job vacancies and scored them based on salary, the average cost of living and the number of jobs available in each respective city.
Once all the jobs had been collated, they scored and ranked them out of 100 based on the advertised salary, the average cost of living in that city and the number of jobs available.
The results ranked Nottingham in first place, followed by Sheffield and Newcastle. Altogether, in England and Wales, the technology industry posted more job vacancies in 2021 than the entirety of British businesses did in 2020 and nearly three million people took up jobs in the UK tech industry that year.
The industry appears to be flourishing despite a difficult economic climate, with a large number of people taking up tech roles in recent years.
Yet where exactly is the best place to be in the U.K. when working in tech?
Nottingham came top with a with a score of 76. Here, the average wage of technology vacancies is £33,254 and the cost of living is around £1,200.
This is followed by Sheffield, where the cost of living is relatively low and wages are above average, with a score of 64.
London did not make the top 10, coming in at position 14. Whilst there were 104 technology jobs available, the advertised wages started relatively low despite the cost of living being the highest in the U.K.
The top 10 best cities in the UK for technology professionals was found to be:
- Nottingham: 76
- Sheffield: 64
- Newcastle: 62
- Coventry: 58
- Manchester: 58
- Leeds: 55
- Bristol: 54
- Glasgow: 53
- York: 52
- Milton Keynes: 52
- Derby: 51
- Leicester: 48
Of the technology job listings that were analysed, 15 percent were recruiting for fully remote positions and 8 percent were advertising for people to work hybrid-remote.
VBQ Speakers Founder & Director, Leo von Bülow-Quirk, tells Digital Journal: “Tech professionals are in great demand in the UK at the moment, and this comes at a time when many people are reconsidering where they want to live and how much they want to be working from home or in the office.”
Quirk adds: “Of course, there are many personal factors that go into choosing where to live and work, but hopefully this analysis will provide useful food for thought for UK tech professionals considering their next career move.”
