York is the fourth most expensive city for renters in Britain – after London, Brighton and Oxford

A new study has underlined how expensive it is to live in York.

The research found that the amount of a worker’s average salary spent on rent in Britain ranges from less than a tenth to more than half. And York is the least affordable for renters outside the south of England.

London is the most expensive city, with an average of 53% of a salary spent on renting a property, jobs site Adzuna found.

The list of cities where the most is spent is dominated by the south, with Brighton following London, at 36%, then Oxford (32%).

But York comes in joint fourth with Bath. A total of 30% of the average York resident’s salary goes to pay the rent.

That is higher than Canterbury and Winchester (both 29%), the report found.

Bradford best value

Bradford was said to be the best value city, with rental prices accounting for just over 9% of the average pay of a resident.

Other cities where people spend a comparatively low percentage of their salary on rent include Hull (9.3%), Carlisle (10.4%), Derby (10.9%), Perth (11%) and Newport in South Wales (11.2%), the research indicated.

Andrew Hunter, co-founder of Adzuna, indicated that the pressure on York housing could get worse as more people migrate from London as they “see northern England as an aspirational and affordable place to live”.

“We’ve seen fantastic developments in northern cities in the past year, notably Channel 4 moving its offices to Leeds, as businesses begin to recognise the talent that exists outside of London,” he said.

“We predict this will continue and we’ll see further growth in cities across the UK as the workforce begins to recognise the default for great work opportunities doesn’t need to be the capital.”