Recent studies from 2024 exploring the quality of life in the UK cities reveal an interesting pattern: smaller towns—particularly those in the North of England and across Scotland—tend to be significantly happier than the country’s major urban centres. Skipton, a peaceful town in North Yorkshire, was named the happiest place in the UK, thanks to its beautiful natural surroundings, affordable housing, friendly atmosphere, and strong community spirit.
These findings raise important questions about what truly makes a city a pleasant place to live. This report looks deeper into the factors behind these trends, examining how access to nature, affordability, and social connections shape well-being. While large cities like London may be wealthier, the research suggests that wealth alone does not guarantee happiness.
Instead, the 2024 findings point to a more meaningful measure of urban life: how well a city supports the everyday comfort, security, and emotional well-being of its residents.
Role of Affordable Housing in a Happy Life
The role of affordable housing in shaping individuals’ happiness across different cities is a key finding of this report. Since 2024, rising housing costs in larger cities have become a major worry for residents. This issue continues to concern many citizens across these urban areas. This issue is especially relevant to London.
Observers have noted that the city’s cost of living has exceeded what many individuals can afford for a comfortable, healthy lifestyle. Smaller towns, such as Skipton or those in Scotland, provide affordable living options. This, in turn, improves the standard of living for residents in UK cities. Affordable housing is a key factor in assessing individual happiness in cities.
Reasons for Skipton Taking a Leading Role
The presence of Skipton in the highest ranks in this list is no accident. The town offers a perfect merge of natural advantages and community. Possibly, among all other UK towns, no other has a national park as close to it as Skipton. This ensures excellent access to natural areas. This is one of the reasons this town has a high happiness score.
Moreover, the people in Skipton are extremely secure in their community, with no criminal incidents. In fact, this factor plays a major role in the towns’ high rankings on this list. It particularly helps explain why Skipton achieved its status as one of the happiest towns in 2024.
London’s Struggle despite Its Riches
However, it is important to note that, despite being extremely rich, it does not rank among the top ten happiest cities. The report states that even if all London districts were combined, the city would still not rank among the top 10 happiest cities. This finding shows how far London falls behind smaller cities in overall happiness.
However, London serves as a major hub because it hosts top-class hospitals and universities. It also offers high-paying jobs and attracts significant foreign investment. However, due to the costs of living and differences in economic status across various areas, this affects, among other things, their lower quality of life compared to that of smaller cities. Being rich, hence, does not necessarily lead to happiness for its citizens.
The Northern Advantage and the Scottish Exception
A further interesting aspect of this report’s outcome is the emergence of northern cities, including one Scottish city. In general, northern and smaller towns tend to show higher happiness scores. These regions comprise areas with low house prices, proximity to nature, and communities composed of small, close-knit groups.
A Scottish city’s inclusion in the top ten highlights a shift in attention toward regions beyond England’s traditional urban centres. This change shows that people are becoming more aware of the strengths and potential of these other areas. Again, this emphasizes that we should not focus solely on London’s appeal. Instead, attention should be given to how different areas with these characteristics can benefit.
Urban Size and the Effect of Happiness
The document further questions whether there is a connection between happiness and the size of cities. A small- to medium-sized city offers a Higher Quality of life in the UK than larger cities do. Greater cities such as London often impose high living costs and create heavy congestion for their residents.
In some areas, these cities also fail to foster a strong sense of community. Meanwhile, small towns offer a peaceful community lifestyle that allows people to afford to live there. This, in turn, promotes better work-life balance and, thus, increased happiness.
The Importance of Natural Spaces
The happiness of the population cannot be overemphasized in relation to natural environments and their significance in defining the quality of life in the UK cities. This is due to the direct connection between access to natural environments, such as parks and other natural spaces, and happiness.
For instance, Skipton is closely connected to the natural environment of the Yorkshire Dales. This allows the town’s residents easy access to nature. The connection with nature is a key factor that needs to be taken into account to improve the quality of life in the UK cities. This is due to the high position that towns with access to natural spaces occupy in terms of happiness.
Conclusion: Quality of Life, Not Wealth
Overall, the 2024 happiness survey shows that economic wealth does not determine the quality of life in the UK cities. Instead, other factors play a key role in promoting a high standard of living. These are factors such as access to low-cost housing, societal connections, and access to natural environments.
Small cities, especially those in the North of England and in Scotland, provide these advantages more effectively. They also make them more accessible to their residents. As a result, they contribute significantly to higher levels of happiness among their residents. The findings suggest that improving livability through community development, low-cost housing, and integration of natural environments is not enough.
City authorities need to focus specifically on these areas to enhance residents’ quality of life. Although London has great economic potential, it fares rather poorly in terms of happiness.
