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Is Leeds a good place to live? 20 big cities compared on price, rent and crime

Is Leeds a good place to live? Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol and 16 more cities compared on price, rent and recorded crime from official data.

  • 4 min read
  • Last reviewed 4 November 2026
  • By Your Property Check team

Key answer

Is Leeds a good place to live? It depends what you need, so we give no verdict. Leeds has an average price of £246,385, a two-bedroom rent of £975 a month and a recorded crime rate of 114.6 per 1,000 residents, against 84.7 for England and Wales. Use the 20-city table to compare it with Manchester, Birmingham and others.

Part 1 of 9

How to use this comparison

General information, not advice. Whether a city is a good place to live depends on budget, work, schools, family and commute, and no dataset settles that. This page lays out three measurable facts for 20 large cities so you can compare them on your own priorities. The 20 are the largest by population (Office for National Statistics, mid-2024) among the cities in our city report list, which does not include London. Each figure is for the council area, which can be wider than the city centre, so Wakefield and Dudley appear as council areas.

Part 2 of 9

The 20 cities compared

CityAverage priceChange in 12 monthsTwo-bedroom rent a monthCrime per 1,000 residents
Birmingham£234,8671.5%£1,003114.2
Leeds£246,3852.4%£975114.6
Manchester£256,7602.1%£1,233142.7
Sheffield£217,6030.6%£84096.9
Bradford£185,2972.1%£675117.0
Liverpool£188,4274.7%£837124.1
Bristol£353,5960.9%£1,544131.0
Leicester£226,881-1.5%£892110.0
Cardiff£272,4432.1%£1,08593.8
Coventry£227,7213.8%£91388.4
Wakefield£199,2832.9%£726105.8
Wigan£194,3932.8%£70091.0
Dudley£233,8193.4%£78274.5
Nottingham£189,547-1.8%£914124.9
Newcastle£211,2555.8%£1,007107.4
Doncaster£172,7703.8%£636117.3
Bolton£203,9514.8%£81598.0
Milton Keynes£323,8680.5%£1,21787.8
Stockport£319,0163.9%£1,03674.8
Walsall£216,8782.6%£79792.9

Sources: UK House Price Index (HM Land Registry) average price, August 2026; ONS Price Index of Private Rents, mean two-bedroom rent, August 2026; ONS police recorded crime excluding fraud per 1,000 residents, year ending March 2026. England and Wales rate: 84.7.

Part 3 of 9

Is Leeds a good place to live?

On these measures Leeds is sixth highest of the 20 for average price and eighth highest for rent. Its average price is £246,385, up 2.4% in twelve months, and a two-bedroom rent is £975 a month. Its recorded crime rate of 114.6 per 1,000 is above the England and Wales rate of 84.7 but close to Birmingham's 114.2. That is all the data says. Schools, jobs, transport and the feel of a neighbourhood are not in these columns.

Part 4 of 9

Is Manchester a nice place to live?

Manchester has the highest recorded crime rate of the 20 at 142.7 per 1,000 and the second-highest rent after Bristol, £1,233 for two bedrooms, with an average price of £256,760. Crime rates are per resident, and a city centre with many visitors and a night-time economy can read higher than the resident population alone suggests, so we do not treat the figure as a verdict. Look at the street-level picture with our crime rate by postcode tool.

Part 5 of 9

Is Birmingham or Bristol a good place to live?

Birmingham is the largest council area in the list, with an average price of £234,867 and a two-bedroom rent of £1,003, close to Leeds on every measure. Bristol is the most expensive of the 20 on both price (£353,596) and rent (£1,544), and its recorded crime rate is 131.0 per 1,000. Whether that cost is worth paying depends on what you value, such as work, culture or the coast, and none of that is in these columns.

Part 6 of 9

Where prices are moving

Over the twelve months to August 2026 the largest rises in average price among the 20 were in Newcastle (5.8%), Bolton (4.8%) and Liverpool (4.7%). Two cities saw average prices fall: Nottingham (1.8% lower) and Leicester (1.5% lower). One year of movement does not predict the next, and a rise can make buying harder as easily as it signals demand.

Part 7 of 9

Which city is best for first-time buyers?

We do not name one. On price alone, the lowest average prices among the 20 were Doncaster (£172,770), Bradford (£185,297), Liverpool (£188,427), Nottingham (£189,547) and Wigan (£194,393). The highest were Bristol (£353,596), Milton Keynes (£323,868) and Stockport (£319,016). A first-time buyer also needs to weigh deposit, mortgage cost, stamp duty and earnings, which these figures do not cover.

Part 8 of 9

Which has the lowest crime?

Among the 20, the lowest recorded rates were Dudley (74.5), Stockport (74.8), Milton Keynes (87.8), Coventry (88.4) and Wigan (91.0). All are counted per resident of the council area, and none describes a particular street.

Part 9 of 9

What is missing

We do not include a flood column. We hold no city-level flood table, so check any address with our flood risk checker before you offer. Rent figures are official statistics in development.

For a wider ranking see areas, and for school places see schools near you.

This page is general information, not advice.

Our take

Compare cities, then check the street

The table is a starting point, not a verdict. Each figure covers a whole council area, and schools, jobs, transport and the feel of a neighbourhood are not in the columns. The common mistake is to read a city crime rate or average price as a description of the street you are considering.

Move from the city to the address with our crime rate by postcode and flood risk checker. Our sold prices tool shows real HM Land Registry transactions for any postcode, so you can see what homes near you actually sold for.

See sold prices

Our opinion, drawn from the facts on this page: not advice and not a forecast. We earn from OfferCheck reports and from introducing sellers to cash buyers, so weigh it with that in mind (see our disclosure). We are not authorised or regulated by the FCA.

Questions, answered

Frequently asked questions

Is Leeds a good place to live?
It depends what you need, so we give no verdict. The data shows an average price of £246,385, a two-bedroom rent of £975 a month and 114.6 recorded crimes per 1,000 residents against 84.7 for England and Wales.
Is Manchester a nice place to live?
That depends on your priorities. Manchester's average price is £256,760, a two-bedroom rent is £1,233 a month and its recorded crime rate is 142.7 per 1,000 residents, the highest of the 20 cities here, which can be affected by visitors.
Which city is best for first-time buyers?
We do not name one. Doncaster had the lowest average price of the 20 at £172,770, but a buyer also needs to weigh deposit, mortgage cost, stamp duty, jobs and the area.
Which of the 20 has the lowest crime rate?
Dudley, at 74.5 recorded crimes per 1,000 residents in the year ending March 2026, then Stockport at 74.8. The England and Wales rate was 84.7.
Is Birmingham or Bristol a good place to live?
We give no verdict. Birmingham's average price is £234,867 and a two-bedroom rent is £1,003; Bristol's are £353,596 and £1,544. Crime rates are 114.2 and 131.0 per 1,000 residents.

Where this comes from

Sources

Last reviewed 4 November 2026 by the Your Property Check team. This page is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. For your own situation, speak to a conveyancing solicitor or another qualified professional.

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