The UK’s worst places to raise a family have been ranked with a number of factors including childcare costs, school rankings, crime rates and outdoor spaces
While the city had family-friendly attraction is scored low due to its crime rate(Image: Getty Images/LOOK)
A study that looking at the most challenging places to raise a child in 2026 has put a northern city at the top of the rankings due to its crime rate that’s around double the national average.
The rankings, compiled by Outdoor Toys, looked at factors including amount of green space and child-friendly attractions, childcare costs, and school rankings in towns and cities across the UK, assigning them a ‘child raiseability’ score out of ten.
Coming in as the worst place to raise children with a score of just 3.39 out of 10 was Manchester. Although it did well in terms of the amount of green space per resident, and boasted 18 child-friendly attractions across the city, its crime rate saw it plummet in the rankings.
Manchester had a crime rate of 145 incidents per 1,000 people, putting it around double the national average, and three-times that of Swindon which had the lowest crime rate of the locales studied.
On the plus side, 64% of schools were voted as good or outstanding by OFSTED, and the average childcare cost of £1,096 per month is expensive, but still close to the national average. An analysis of the data by Outdoor Toys said: “these advantages can feel less meaningful when day-to-day safety is a concern. It can influence how often children spend time outdoors or move around independently in their local area.”
Second-worse on the rankings was Bradford in West Yorkshire. While it had the lowest childcare costs in the entire study at £605.84 per month on average, it also had a high crime rate of 121 incidents per 1,000 people. It was also low on things to do, with only 14 child-friendly attractions, giving it a score of 3.62 out of ten.
While Bristol has become a popular spot for ex-Londoners to raise families, it ranked third from the bottom in the study, some of which can be attributed to its huge childcare costs.
The average cost of £1,749.80 per month is likely to be a financial strain on families with young children, and once they reach school age only 54% of the schools in the city are good or outstanding according to OFSTED, potentially meaning it’s tough to find a suitable place.
However, Bristol did offer lots of things for families to do, and an impressive amount of green space per person, meaning there are still plenty of reasons for families to live in this South West city.
At the other end of the study, the best place in the country to raise a child was named as Sheffield, which scored well for green spaces, attractions, and quality of its schools. Milton Keynes came in second, in part thanks to its huge number of family-friendly activities, while Swindon came in third thanks to its low crime rate and below average childcare costs.
Have a story you want to share? Email us at webtravel@reachplc.com
