Revealed: Which of the UK’s largest cities saw the biggest salary growth this year

• New analysis by Adzuna reveals which UK cities have seen the biggest increases and decreases in salary this year

• Bristol salaries fall by 5.1%, despite the nation seeing an average increase of 1.9%* YoY

• Bradford sees the biggest increase in salary since December 2018 at 3.6%

Bradford has seen the biggest growth in advertised salaries of any major city, with a 3.6% increase this year. The latest findings from job search engine, Adzuna.co.uk, show fluctuations in average advertised salary in the UK’s largest cities, revealing the areas to watch out for as we head into 2020.

The findings come after the West Yorkshire city received an investment of £2.5m from the Business Improvement District in June 2018¹ and was named “most improved city” in a recent report by PWC.

The UK’s 10 biggest cities (in terms of population)² and their increase/decrease in average salary YoY (from biggest increase to biggest decrease):

Northern cities performed well across the board, with five out of the six high-growth salary cities located within the north of the UK. Whilst Leeds (-0.74%) and Manchester (-0.12%) each saw a slight decline, they still outpaced the capital where salaries fell by 0.76%. (0.12%) each saw a slight decline, they still outpaced the capital where salaries fell by 0.76%.

This growth follows significant investment in the north of England, with the UK Government funding several Yorkshire projects with up to £30m⁵, in order to increase the amount of housing available.

For southern cities however, Bristol saw the biggest decline with a huge decrease of -5.1%, more than six times bigger than the national average (-0.8%). Market confidence in the south west city has been unsteady throughout the year, with companies like Aviva, Tesco and GKN all making job cuts this year. In the capital, whilst average salaries are naturally higher than anywhere else, the level of growth is among the lowest compared to other major cities.