Manchester ranks top as the most supportive creative city in the UK

In a study considering the average salary, number of university courses and meet-ups in 100 UK cities and towns, Manchester is revealed as the most supportive to the creative community.

Date
7 February 2020

A new study, conducted by lighting lifestyle store Pooky, has handily evaluated the best possible cities to live if a creative working in the UK today. Looking into salaries, university courses, creative meet ups, office spaces and even perusing coffee shops too, its findings have been collated together in an interactive tool, led by job title.

Titled The Creative Class, the tool pulls together Pooky’s “comprehensive analysis” by looking at professions from animators to architects, musicians, marketers as well as graphic and product designers too. This research then culminates in unpicking “the most supportive locations” ranking each city across each of the criteria, rather than just salary, for instance.

As a result the study reveals Manchester as consistently ranking in the top spot, being the most supportive city for animation, web development, architecture, music, graphic design, and creative writing roles. When it comes to salary however, London is revealed as the highest paid city to work in creatively as an animator (with an average salary of £45,038), an architect (£69,031), a videographer (£42,688) and as a creative writer (£38,417).

Interestingly, Cardiff is revealed as the highest paid place to work as a graphic designer with a salary of £46,333, followed by London at £42,256. The study also reveals 62 per cent of cities pay graphic designers below the average salary, with the lowest salaries in the study shown as Carlisle, Watford and Burnley.

Although interesting in its analysis, The Creative Class data has been gathered from public sources, rather than amongst a survey of creatives. It began by looking at the 100 most populated towns and cities in the UK, before investigating salaries via Reed.co.uk, the number of university courses listed on Unistats.co.uk, utilising Meetup.com’s data set for creative events and evaluating an average price for office space from Regus.co.uk, reflecting “the average price to rent office space per person per day,” it details.

The full list of job roles and results can be found here.

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About the Author

Lucy Bourton

Lucy (she/her) is the senior editor at Insights, a research-driven department with It's Nice That. Get in contact with her for potential Insights collaborations or to discuss Insights' fortnightly column, POV. Lucy has been a part of the team at It's Nice That since 2016, first joining as a staff writer after graduating from Chelsea College of Art with a degree in Graphic Design Communication.

lb@itsnicethat.com

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