The Alternative UK University City League Table

13th March 2018

13th March 2018 in Interesting Stats by Grace Tebbutt

We all know that the likes of Oxford and Cambridge regularly feature at the top of university league tables when it comes to student satisfaction and academic performance, but what about the other issues which matter to the students of today?

After all, it’s important to consider more than just the academic factors before making the choice of where to study.

For example, which city is the safest? And which is the most LGBTQ friendly? Here are our five individual ranking lists with a combined ranking to bring you the alternative UK university city league table.

Firstly (for those who simply want to see the overall outcomes of our research), here's a look at how the UK's top 37 university cities rank when combining third-party research across five areas:

For an insight into the individual league tables across the five areas, see below where you'll also find information on where the data was sourced from.

City	Crime Rate (Pts)	Grad Salary (Pts)	Sustainability (Pts)	Price Of A Pint (Pts)	LGBTQ Friendliness (Pts)	TOTAL
1. Bristol	14	36	35	25	30	140
2=. Coventry	27	34	28	36	14	139
2=. Exeter	24	17	36	27	35	139
4. Oxford	32	37	24	4	32	129
5. Nottingham	13	32	34	23	26	128
6. Sheffield	21	20	19	33	32	125
7. Guildford	35	31	17	1	37	121
8. Bath	36	26	20	14	19	115
9. Reading	37	31	25	7	14	114
10. Cambridge	22	35	23	5	26	111
11=. Bradford	1	22	29	32	26	110
11=. Lancaster	33	8	4	30	35	110
13. Swansea	30	1	37	34	7	109
14. York	34	15	7	22	30	108
15. Brighton & Hove	25	14	30	8	30	107
16. Kingston Upon Hull	19	12	12	37	26	106
17. Derby	29	3	18	17	35	102
18. Leeds	12	26	8	35	19	100
19. Birmingham	23	19	16	28	11	97
20. Cardiff	16	10	27	22	20	95
21. Manchester	3	31	21	17	19	91
22. Glasgow	2	27	3	31	27	90
23. Bournemouth	28	4	26	24	4	86
24. Leicester	8	23	33	12	9	85
25. Belfast	31	17	13	17	5	83
26. Canterbury	15	5	15	10	37	82
27. Newcastle Upon Tyne	11	12	32	20	6	81
28=. London	20	33	9	4	8	74
28=. Plymouth	17	7	11	20	19	74
30. Norwich	26	24	5	14	4	73
31. Aberdeen	4	31	1	10	26	72
32=. Liverpool	7	13	6	30	15	71
32=. Winchester	10	2	31	2	26	71
34=. Edinburgh	6	22	22	6	10	66
34=. Southampton	9	18	14	11	14	66
36. Lincoln	18	7	10	20	4	59
37. Dundee	5	10	2	26	1	44

CRIME RATE

Using the most recent statistics from The Complete University Guide, we’ve looked at which university cities have the lowest number of burglaries, robberies and violent crimes per 1,000 of the population, over a one year period.

Ranking	City	Incidents Per 1,000 Residents	Points
1	Reading	26.1	37
2	Bath	26.9	36
3	Guildford	28.4	35
4	York	29.3	34
5	Lancaster	32.3	33
6	Oxford	32.8	32
7	Belfast	35.0	31
8	Swansea	35.2	30
9	Derby	35.6	29
10	Bournemouth	36.7	28
11	Coventry	37.7	27
12	Norwich	38.2	26
13	Brighton & Hove	39.5	25
14	Exeter	39.9	24
15	Birmingham	40.4	23
16	Cambridge	40.8	22
17	Sheffield	41.8	21
18	London	42.4	20
19	Kingston upon Hull	42.8	19
20	Lincoln	44.1	18
21	Plymouth	44.2	17
22	Cardiff	46.3	16
23	Canterbury	48.4	15
24	Bristol	48.7	14
25	Nottingham	49.1	13
26	Leeds	52.7	12
27	Newcastle upon Tyne	52.8	11
28	Winchester	55.0	10
29	Southampton	55.2	9
30	Leicester	55.7	8
31	Liverpool	57.6	7
32	Edinburgh	58.3	6
33	Dundee	60.0	5
34	Aberdeen	60.6	4
35	Manchester	67.0	3
36	Glasgow	71.4	2
37	Bradford	73.0	1

AVERAGE GRADUATE SALARY

Using the crowdsourced salary data from Emolument, we looked at the average salary of graduates from each of the universities in our 37 cities.

Ranking	City	Average Graduate Salary	Points
1	Oxford	£57,000	37
2	Bristol	£56,500	36
3	Cambridge	£56,000	35
4	Coventry	£48,500	34
5	London	£47,522	33
6	Nottingham	£46,000	32
7=	Guildford	£44,500	31
7=	Reading	£45,500	31
7=	Manchester	£44,500	31
7=	Aberdeen	£44,500	31
11	Glasgow	£44,250	27
12=	Bath	£44,000	26
12=	Leeds	£44,000	26
14	Norwich	£43,000	24
15	Leicester	£42,500	23
16=	Bradford	£42,000	22
16=	Edinburgh	£42,000	22
18	Sheffield	£41,500	20
19	Birmingham	£41,250	19
20	Southampton	£41,000	18
21=	Exeter	£40,000	17
21=	Belfast	£40,000	17
23	York	£39,500	15
24	Brighton & Hove	£39,000	14
25	Liverpool	£38,666	13
26=	Kingston upon Hull	£38,000	12
26=	Newcastle upon Tyne	£38,000	12
28=	Cardiff	£37,000	10
28=	Dundee	£37,000	10
30	Lancaster	£36,000	8
31=	Plymouth	£35,000	7
31=	Lincoln	£35,000	7
33	Canterbury	£34,333	5
34	Bournemouth	£34,000	4
35	Derby	£33,000	3
36	Winchester	£30,000	2
36	Swansea	£28,500	1

Sustainability

The People & Planet University League looks at universities environmental and ethical performance, giving them a percentage score based on factors such as environmental policies, workers’ rights and sustainable food.

Ranking	City	Sustainability Score (%)	Points
1	Swansea	65.90%	37
2	Exeter	63.45%	36
3	Bristol	58.95%	35
4	Nottingham	58.70%	34
5	Leicester	58%	33
6	Newcastle upon Tyne	56.75%	32
7	Winchester	55.90%	31
8	Brighton & Hove	55.85%	30
9	Bradford	55.10%	29
10	Coventry	54.25%	28
11	Cardiff	51.57%	27
12	Bournemouth	51.35%	26
13	Reading	50.75%	25
14	Oxford	49.25%	24
15	Cambridge	48.50%	23
16	Edinburgh	47.30%	22
17	Manchester	46.83%	21
18	Bath	46.70%	20
19	Sheffield	46.25%	19
20	Derby	46.20%	18
21	Guildford	43.80%	17
22	Birmingham	43.10%	16
23	Canterbury	43%	15
24	Southampton	41.90%	14
25	Belfast	41.40%	13
26	Kingston upon Hull	39.70%	12
27	Plymouth	39.45%	11
28	Lincoln	37.30%	10
29	London	36.65%	9
30	Leeds	36.28%	8
31	York	36.05%	7
32	Liverpool	35.23%	6
33	Norwich	34%	5
34	Lancaster	32.80%	4
35	Glasgow	32.73%	3
36	Dundee	31.05%	2
37	Aberdeen	23.40%	1

Price Of A Pint

Using data from pintprice.com, we’ve compiled the average price of a pint of lager in each of the 37 cities we’re looking at. (Bear in mind that the national average was £3!)

Ranking	City	Cheapest Pint	Points
1	Kingston upon Hull	£2.40	37
2	Coventry	£2.50	36
3	Leeds	£2.55	35
4	Swansea	£2.60	34
5	Sheffield	£2.70	33
6	Bradford	£2.72	32
7	Glasgow	£2.75	31
8=	Lancaster	£2.80	30
8=	Liverpool	£2.80	30
10	Birmingham	£2.87	28
11	Exeter	£2.90	27
12	Dundee	£2.92	26
13	Bristol	£2.95	25
14	Bournemouth	£2.97	24
15	Nottingham	£2.98	23
16=	York	£3.00	22
16=	Cardiff	£3.00	22
18=	Newcastle upon Tyne	£3.10	20
18=	Plymouth	£3.10	20
18=	Lincoln	£3.10	20
21=	Derby	£3.15	17
21=	Manchester	£3.15	17
21=	Belfast	£3.15	17
24=	Bath	£3.20	14
24=	Norwich	£3.20	14
26	Leicester	£3.22	12
27	Southampton	£3.30	11
28=	Canterbury	£3.40	10
28=	Aberdeen	£3.40	10
30	Brighton & Hove	£3.45	8
31	Reading	£3.47	7
32	Edinburgh	£3.55	6
33	Cambridge	£3.63	5
34=	Oxford	£4.00	4
34=	London	£4.00	4
36	Winchester	£4.30	2
37	Guildford	£4.50	1

LGBTQ Friendly

In recent years the LGBTQ charity Stonewall has produced a university guide highlighting the institutions which are the most LGBTQ friendly, based on a ten-point checklist covering factors such as whether they have an LGBTQ society and what other sort of support and resources are available.

Unfortunately, they haven’t published a guide for 2017 so we’ve used the most recent data available.

(Bear in mind that Stonewall scored the universities and not the cities themselves, so a low score doesn’t necessarily mean the city doesn’t have a great gay scene outside of the university.)

Grace Tebbutt

Related Blogs

Ranking	City	LGBT Friendliness	Points
1=	Guildford	9	37
1=	Canterbury	9	37
3=	Exeter	8	35
3=	Lancaster	8	35
3=	Derby	8	35
6=	Oxford	7.5	32
6=	Sheffield	7.5	32
8=	Bristol	7	30
8=	York	7	30
8=	Brighton & Hove	7	30
11	Glasgow	6.33	27
12=	Nottingham	6	26

The Alternative UK University City League Table