Cost of living crisis: Sheffield, Newscastle, Liverpool named UK's most affordable cities in recent study

Sheffield is the second-most affordable city to live in, in the UK, according to a recent study. Only the North Eastern powerhouse of Newcastle was found to be 'cheaper' than the Steel City.

The study, by AddLiving.com, has analysed a number of factors in determining their rankings, including the cost of: a meal for two in a mid-range restaurant, a pint, childcare, average monthly rent, transport and a gym membership. All these costs were weighed up against each city’s average salary, which is said to stand at £27,648 per year in Sheffield.

Unsurprisingly, London was announced as the least affordable city in the UK, with a whopping 55 per cent of income in the capital spent on rent, compared to 32.4 per cent in Sheffield. In West Yorkshire, Leeds was found to be the sixth most affordable city. Pints in Leeds are said to cost £4.30 on average, compared to £4 in Sheffield.

The final results table for the UK’s most affordable cities went as follows:

1. Newcastle
2. Sheffield
3. Liverpool
4. Aberdeen
5. Belfast
6. Leeds
7. Birmingham
8. Glasgow
9. Southampton
10. Nottingham
11. Manchester
12. Cardiff
13. Edinburgh
14. Bristol
15. Cambridge
16. London

Sheffield wasn’t found to be the cheapest location for any of the categories looked at, but the consistently low position earned the city the second place. The study compared the average rental cost increase from 2022 to 2023, where Sheffield was found to be one of the lowest, at 8.7 per cent.

There were six other cities in the UK where people spent less of their income on rent than in Sheffield. This was one of the Steel City’s worst metrics, but seventh out of 16 certainly isn’t towards the bottom.