Ask any UK-dweller where the best place to live is around the nation, and you’ll get a vast array of impassioned responses. For some, there are few greater places to be than London – a cauldron of bubbling activity with citizens from every walk of life. Others prefer somewhere quieter, far from the English capital’s madding crowd. The Scottish Highlands, perhaps, with plenty of rugged landscapes ripe for exploring, and nought for company than friendly sheep and lowing cows. Coastal towns are well loved across the UK, but ask a Southerner to explain why Dorset, with its crumbling cliffs and picture-perfect towns, is the ultimate place to reside, and you may be there a while.
But none of these places came up trumps in this year’s Sunday Times Best Places to Live report. An expert panel of judges visit 71 locations across the UK and assess different factors to decide on which is deserving of the 2026 title. These factors include quality of schooling, house prices, mobile signal coverage, broadband speeds, transport links and a strong sense of community. This year’s list features one overall winner, and 10 regional winners.
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The regional winners for the best places to live in the UK
- Malmesbury, Wiltshire
- Skipton, North Yorkshire
- Lindfield, West Sussex
- The Malverns, Worcestershire
- Usk, Monmouthshire
- Linlithgow, West Lothian
- Ballycastle, County Antrim
- Richmond, TW9, TW10
- Altrincham, Greater Manchester
- Manningtree, Essex
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The best place to live in the UK 2026
Norwich, a city in Norfolk, has been crowned this year’s best place to live in the UK. According to The Times, the judges described it as “a creative, cosmopolitan city with a small-town feel,” a place of “inspirational spires and cosy pub fires”, that is “relatively affordable (the average house price is £324,000)”. The city is England’s first UNESCO city of literature, and is home to a 900-year-old market. It’s a welcoming, historic hub, with an excellent food scene (see our edit of the best restaurants in Norfolk, where a few Norwich entries made the cut). Holly Bamford, head of marketing at the Norwich Business Improvement District (BID) and Visit Norwich, told the BBC: “Norwich has long been a city that quietly does things differently… so it’s wonderful to see it recognised on a national stage.”
