Living standards rose over twice as fast as the rest of the country in 11 cities and towns – Cities Outlook 2026
Living standards grew by 5.2 per cent in 11 top-performing places – including Warrington and Barnsley – since 2013, compared to 2.4 per cent nationally
People in UK cities and towns would be £3,200 better oƯ if all cities and towns had matched top performers on disposable income growth
Planning reform, devolution and Industrial Strategy are key to delivering the economic growth needed to improve living standards, says Centre for Cities
In a decade that saw disposable incomes increase by only 2.4 per cent nationally, Cities Outlook 2026 shows they increased over twice as fast in 11 UK cities and large towns.
Places including Warrington, Bristol, Barnsley and Brighton bucked the national trend of slow growth in living standards since 2013, when the UK economy started recovering from the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis.
These places’ performance shows that the Government’s economic growth milestone – ensuring economic growth is felt by everyone, everywhere by the end of this parliament – relies on achieving faster living standards growth in the UK’s urban economies.
As a group, the top-performing cities and towns experienced economic growth of 27 per cent between 2013 and 2023 – compared to 18.4 per cent nationally – and delivered total real-terms disposable income growth of 5.2 per cent.
Had all 63 of the UK’s largest cities and towns experienced the same rate of disposable income growth as top performers since 2013, their residents – over half of the UK population – would have pocketed an extra £3,200 on average in disposable income over that period.
Places where real-terms living standards have declined have missed out on pocketing larger sums. For example, in Cambridge – where real-terms disposable incomes declined by 3 per cent in total since 2013 – residents would have pocketed an extra £10,900 over the decade if the city had matched top-performing places. For residents of Wigan – which saw a 1.6 per cent fall in real-terms disposable incomes since 2013 – the figure is £7,200.
Centre for Cities identifies three key areas for delivering faster living standards growth:
Strengthening local economies, with a focus on growing ‘cutting-edge’ industries.
Giving households better access to the opportunities of growth, by encouraging more people into work, providing skills support, and improving transport links.
Reducing constraints on housing and commercial space so growing places can reach their potential.
Andrew Carter, Chief Executive of Centre for Cities, says:
“It is understandable that the Government has shifted its emphasis onto the cost of living in recent weeks, but ultimately it is stronger economic growth that raises household incomes. Without growth, cost-of-living fixes can only ever be temporary.
“Nationally, the last decade has delivered the same amount of growth in living standards as we typically experienced in a single year prior to 2008.
“In places like Warrington and Barnsley, economic growth has translated into higher household incomes and less deprivation. That isn’t accidental: it is shaped by policy choices on skills, transport, housing, and support for businesses.
“The Government's planning reforms, devolution agenda and Industrial Strategy are crucial for supporting growth in cities and delivering better living standards year after year. Cities need to support more jobs in the new economy – in sectors backed by the Industrial Strategy like life sciences, digital and AI. These jobs cluster in urban areas and generate benefits for those working in the ‘everyday economy’, too.
“As the Prime Minister has said, 2026 needs to be the year that ‘politics shows it can help again’. The test, at the end of this year, will be whether we are seeing more jobs, higher wages, and stronger local growth in more places across the country.”