--- young people unemployed. --- applications per graduate vacancy. Grad hiring down ---. London has the most graduate jobs. But that does not mean it's the best move. In --- cities, graduates keep more money each month than they would in London.
Data: ---
London has the biggest graduate jobs market. But London also has the highest rents. The real question isn't just where can I get a job — it's where can I get a job without making my entire life worse, and where will I actually have money left at the end of the month?
We compared --- UK cities on graduate salary, rent, council tax, and house prices. The results might change where you start your career.
Pick your degree area, then pick your priority. Different graduates want different things — some need any job they can get, others want maximum disposable income, others want to buy a house. Each mode ranks cities by a different objective.
Monthly disposable income = take-home pay minus 1-bed rent minus council tax. This is what you actually live on.
This tool compares averages. Your actual salary depends on your degree, sector, and employer. A software engineer in Newcastle may out-earn a publishing assistant in London by a wide margin.
We also don't capture: commuting costs, student loan repayments (Plan 2: 9% above £27,295), quality of life, career progression speed, or network effects. London's long-term earning potential may justify the short-term pain — but only in certain industries.
Transport links matter too. Bradford is 15 minutes from Leeds by train. Living cheaply and commuting to a bigger job market is a valid strategy.
Graduate salaries: HESA Graduate Outcomes survey (15 months after graduation) by UK region, supplemented with city-level adjustments based on ONS ASHE earnings data and recruiter market reports. These are typical graduate salaries, not top-end graduate scheme pay.
Rents: ONS Private Rental Market Statistics and cross-referenced with SpareRoom Rental Index (January 2026), Zoopla, and ukcalculator.com. Figures represent average 1-bedroom flat rents.
Council tax: Band A rates from MHCLG published data (2025/26). Most graduates in rented 1-bed flats fall in Band A. Single-person 25% discount is not applied — your actual bill may be lower.
House prices: ONS UK House Price Index and Land Registry data (January 2026), supplemented with Zoopla and GetAgent city-level data. These are overall averages, not first-time-buyer specific — starter homes will typically be cheaper.
Graduate jobs: Estimated from proportional share of UK graduate-level vacancies by city, based on ONS Business Register employment data and HESA Graduate Outcomes destination flows. Figures are approximate and represent relative opportunity, not exact counts.
Subject rankings: For each degree area, cities are ranked under four separate objectives. Get Me Hired weights job volume (75%) and sector fit (20%). Let Me Live weights affordability (70%) with a small job-volume dampener (15%). Build Wealth weights years-to-deposit (55%), affordability (20%), and job volume (15%). Best Balance blends all factors roughly equally. Job volume uses a square-root dampener in all modes except Get Me Hired, so small cheap cities cannot dominate on affordability alone. Cities with fewer than 150 estimated grad vacancies are flagged as “small market”. No hardcoded city penalties are applied.
Tax calculation: 2025/26 rates. Personal allowance £12,570. Basic rate 20% (England/Wales/NI). Scottish rates applied for Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, and Dundee (19% starter, 20% basic, 21% intermediate). National Insurance at 8% above £12,570 threshold. Student loan repayments not included.
Deposit calculation: 10% of average house price, saved at 10% of monthly disposable income. This is illustrative — actual saving rates vary enormously.