Great schools and beautiful surroundings have helped York leap into the top spot in a league table of family-friendly cities.
The fifth Family Hotspots Report by OneFamily ranked cities in England and Wales on factors including the quality of education, neighbourhood safety, childcare costs, availability of affordable property, local amenities and green spaces.
York didn’t make the top ten last year but was deemed a “worthy winner” in 2015 by the report’s authors.
It claimed number one this time round “to lower than average house prices, and strong educational results, with over 60% of students scoring A*-C grades at Key Stage 4, significantly higher than the national average of 49.7%”.
Karl Elliott from OneFamily, a family finances specialist, said:
The top 10 cities to live in
| Rank | City | Average KS2 score | % achieve KS4 A*-C | % early years care ranked outstanding | Crime per capita | Av price for 2 bed property | Median annual salary | % av salary spent on childcare |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| National average | 28.6 | 49.7% | 17.7% | 0.20 | £200,334 | £21,982 | 20.8% | |
| 1 | York | 28.4 | 60.5% | 13.9% | 0.21 | £168,789 | £20,150 | 23.2% |
| 2 | Plymouth | 27.9 | 58.6% | 16.4% | 0.23 | £136,503 | £19,885 | 22.1% |
| 3 | Stoke-on-Trent | 27.9 | 38.9% | 16.2% | 0.24 | £80,300 | £18,993 | 14.4% |
| 4 | Newcastle upon Tyne | 28.5 | 47.3% | 21.8% | 0.26 | £112,664 | £19,409 | 27.6% |
| 5 | Birmingham | 27.7 | 47.9% | 18.1% | 0.24 | £112,165 | £20,787 | 17.1% |
| 6 | Wolverhampton | 27.4 | 44.8% | 10.8% | 0.19 | £111,659 | £19,661 | 17.0% |
| 7 | Coventry | 28.1 | 50.4% | 17.4% | 0.23 | £110,963 | £20,634 | 17.0% |
| 8 | Bristol | 28.0 | 42.4% | 17.5% | 0.26 | £192,065 | £22,942 | n/a |
| 9 | Peterborough | 27.4 | 47.4% | 15.2% | 0.30 | £117,245 | £20,764 | 18.4% |
| 10 | Leicester | 28.4 | 32.1% | 14.3% | 0.35 | £118,347 | £17,602 | 21.8% |
Source: OneFamily