Top 11 towns far outstrip rest of Britain for income growth

Eleven towns and cities, including Warrington, Barnsley and Wakefield, have seen their residents' disposable incomes rise twice as fast as those in the rest of the UK over the past decade, a study has found.

- Tom Knowles

A report from the Centre for Cities thinktank showed that between 2013 and 2023, disposable income for residents of these top-performing towns and cities rose by an average of 5.2%, compared with an increase of 2.4% for urban areas in the UK overall.

The report said that if all 63 of the UK's largest towns and cities had experienced the same rate of growth as the top 11 over this period, people would have pocketed an extra £3,200 on average in disposable income.

It found that the top-performing towns and cities all focused on building a strong local business base and higher-skilled jobs, with a significant number of productive firms in “tradeable” industries such as software, marketing and finance that can sell to markets outside the local area.