Two Yorkshire Towns Named In Top 10 Happiest Places To Live In UK

It’s that time of year again when Rightmove released its happiest places to live list reminding us all that we are supposedly miserable unless we live down south, or in Wales according to this year’s list. The list known as the Happy at Home Index asked 26,000 people across Britain.

Last year, Harrogate dropped out of the top 10 happiest places to live in the UK, but it’s back this year alongside the ‘gateway to the Dales’, Skipton. The study is now in its 13th consecutive year and was completed by more than 35,000 people across Britain, which involves asking residents how they feel about their area.

People are asked to express their opinions on 15 key factors such as togetherness, sense of belonging, community spirit, whether they can be themselves, whether it is possible to earn enough to live comfortably, public transport, sports and recreation, green spaces and more.

Credit: **Skipton/Tim Green/Flickr/CC BY 2.0**

The town of Woodbridge in Suffolk was named the top spot with Harrogate placing 5th and Skipton in 6th. Takeaways to consider are that people want to be able to live somewhere where they can be themselves with access to nature and practical things such as schools, doctor surgeries, shops etc. Pretty simple really.

An interesting part of the survey was that Gen Z felt that moving somewhere new might make them happier whereas the older generation were content with where they were.

Rightmove property expert, Tim Bannister, said: “For over a decade we’ve been asking residents what makes them feel happy about where they live, as feeling happy is about more than the home itself. First placed Woodbridge appears to have a lot of the factors that people are looking for from an area, including being close to a river, and a National Landscape. It’s the intangible factors of feeling proud to live in an area, feeling a sense of belonging, and feeling able to be yourself that are the biggest drivers of happiness.”

Tim continued: “There are some interesting trends revealed by this year’s study, such as how those who live in a rural location are more likely to be happy than urban dwellers, who often live in busy cities. It’s the younger generation who are most likely to say they would be happier living somewhere else, many of whom have to travel to cities for education or to find their first jobs.”