With job security and finances being top of mind in the current environment, a new study has revealed the best regions in the UK for skilled tradespeople to live and work, based on average salaries, jobs availability and the cost of living.
The most affordable region for skilled tradespeople is the West Midlands, where workers earn an average of £27,920 but the typical household spends only £25,194 to live. Therefore the region’s pay/cost of living affordability metric is 1.11, the highest in the study.)
With a pay/cost of living metric of only 0.84, the South East is the least affordable for skilled trades.
The region with the most jobs per person is Scotland, where there are 15.1 skilled trade jobs per 1,000 economically active people. Scotland also ranked #1 overall as the best UK region for skilled tradespeople with the best combination of jobs availability and affordable living.
The North East ranked #2 overall in the UK as the best region for skilled trades.
Despite offering the highest pay (£36,691), London is the worst region for skilled trades overall due to the high cost of living and limited job prospects.
Top regions for construction and building trades jobs
| Overall Rank | Region | Average Annual Skilled Trades Pay | Number of Skilled Trades Jobs | Average Annual Household Spending | Jobs Density Metric | Pay/Cost of Living Metric |
| 1 | Scotland | £28,270 | 42,000 | £25,594 | 15.1 | 1.10 |
| 2 | North East | £26,171 | 13,000 | £23,790 | 10.2 | 1.10 |
| 3 | Yorkshire and The Humber | £27,163 | 28,000 | £27,087 | 10.4 | 1.00 |
| 4 | South West | £27,640 | 29,000 | £29,765 | 10.0 | 0.93 |
| 5 | East Midlands | £27,830 | 22,000 | £27,752 | 8.9 | 1.00 |
| 6 | West Midlands | £27,920 | 23,000 | £25,194 | 7.8 | 1.11 |
| 7 | Wales | £26,205 | 11,000 | £24,461 | 7.1 | 1.07 |
| 8 | North West | £24,964 | 29,000 | £26,062 | 8.0 | 0.96 |
| 9 | East | £29,026 | 23,000 | £29,635 | 7.1 | 0.98 |
| 10 | South East | £28,609 | 32,000 | £34,190 | 6.6 | 0.84 |
| 11 | London | £36,691 | 18,000 | £34,232 | 3.7 | 1.07 |
| United Kingdom | £28,114 | 280,000 | £29,775 | 8.2 | 0.94 | |
The full report is available at www.nimblefins.co.uk/best-places-skilled-construction-building-trade-UK
