The UK’s Leading

Investment

Hotspots

Cebr has created an index to measure how attractive UK cities are for investment. The locations covered are selected as the 50 largest cities in the UK.

The methodology to create the index is outlined in the appendix, and includes Cebr’s GVA forecasts for each of the cities in the growth potential pillar.

FDI attractiveness index – the UK’s top 50 cities ranked

City
Growth Potential
Local Skills
Local infrastructure
Index score
Rank
Inner London
83.1
96.9
59.2
79.8
1
London
81.7
92.4
53.5
75.9
2
Outer London
67.2
89.1
50.1
68.8
3
Brighton
84.1
33.3
34.8
50.8
4
Oxford
45.4
36.8
65.1
49.1
5
Greater Manchester
42.1
63
31.8
45.6
6
Birmingham
64
35.5
36.5
45.4
7
Edinburgh
38.3
42.5
52.3
44.4
8
Reading
69.6
26.2
34.7
43.5
9
Cambridge
42.5
31.9
55.5
43.3
10
Manchester
61.1
27
38.6
42.2
11
Exeter
42
20.7
58.2
40.3
12
Peterborough
73.3
11.1
33.2
39.2
13
Milton Keynes
76.3
17.7
20.1
38
14
Glasgow
31.7
35.6
44.8
37.3
15
Southampton
51.9
19.8
40.2
37.3
16
Bristol
47.3
31.2
32.2
36.9
17
Northampton
52.5
11.7
41.1
35.1
18
Winchester
57.6
21.7
24.5
34.6
19
Leeds
29.9
33.2
38.7
34
20
Warrington
54.4
13.8
32.3
33.5
21
Preston
44.8
12
41.8
32.9
22
Swindon
55.4
9.3
30.4
31.7
23
Liverpool
28.7
25.1
40.9
31.6
24
Portsmouth
37.7
20.3
36
31.4
25
Derby
41.2
17.1
33.8
30.7
26
Cardiff
35.5
21.8
34.1
30.5
27
Solihull
45.5
16.2
28.8
30.1
28
Bournemouth
52.5
20
17.8
30.1
29
Wolverhampton
48.9
10.6
30.3
29.9
30
Leicester
45.8
14.5
28.5
29.6
31
Chelmsford
48.4
15.7
23.7
29.3
32
Stockport
36.8
19.9
28.8
28.5
33
Nottingham
19.5
18.9
41.9
26.8
34
York
12.7
33.8
31.7
26
35
Newcastle
20
20.5
35.5
25.3
36
Coventry
30.9
20.2
24.5
25.2
37
Kirklees
27.3
13.9
27.4
39.2
38
Sheffield
21
24.9
22.6
22.8
39
Stoke-on-Trent
36.4
6
25.6
22.7
40
Doncaster
33.1
5.1
29.5
22.6
41
Aberdeen
6.3
31.2
31.7
21.9
42
Belfast
7.3
17
40.8
21.7
43
Hull
10.1
4.3
37.8
17.4
44
Plymouth
9
16.5
26.1
17.2
45
Wakefield
18.8
4.4
25.3
16.2
46
Sunderland
16.7
4.1
27.6
16.1
47
Rotherham
20.4
8.1
19.5
16
48
Bradford
9.8
15.3
22
15.7
49
Swansea
6.4
15.0
21.5
14.3
50

The sectors attracting investment

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