Edinburgh, Leeds and Glasgow have been named the best cities in Great Britain outside of London to start a business.
The new analysis, which looks at government and business data, shows that corporate growth increased to 56,448 companies in the first quarter of 2022, with a total of 56,448 companies registered, indicating that entrepreneurs are determined to start a business in 2022, despite many challenges.
NerdWallet analyzed recent data from government and business sources, including the Office for National Statistics (ONS), as well as from other government sources, scoring on how friendly the startups are in the UK’s largest cities (outside London). The Scottish capital, Edinburgh, came in first with a high score in the majority division. The city of Leeds’ Yorkshire came in second, when the average price of rent, as well as the proportion of qualified members of the workforce, decreased by points.
Glasgow has the highest score in terms of average monthly salary and the number of nearby universities, ranking in the top three. Bristol and Birmingham are in the top five with higher than average take-home salaries and the number of active businesses in the city, respectively.
The new data shows some movement from 2021 onwards. Leeds has lost its first-place finish, with Bristol rising four places since last year. This is the first example of a Scottish city topping the rankings and the second time two Scottish cities are in the top five of the table.
For the study, researchers looked at key datasets of business survival rates in each city, the size of its active business population, the average rental costs in each city, the size of the population, the average monthly salary in each area, and the level of education among local workers. .
Considering the growing trend of remote and hybrid work after the coronavirus lockdown in 2020 and 2021, this year’s study also ranked each city as opposed to Ofcom’s Connected Nations report, which shows how much residential fiber potential is available in each city.
Nick Redfern, finance director at NerdWallet, who conducted the study, commented: “It’s great to see more cities become business hubs, especially since the last two years have shown that the workforce doesn’t need to be tied to a physical office to do their job well.” . And that’s why we thought it was important to add fiber consistency to our ranking criteria, which would better reflect which cities are now suitable for the future of work. We strongly urge all cities to be less prepared to invest in their fiber infrastructure so that they can compete with large business centers across the country. “
