The UK’s top digital cities

With once outlandish ideas like virtual reality and the metaverse now joining the likes of domains and VPS in the mainstream, we’re on our way to a truly digital age. Only it’s not just about our hobbies and how we interact with this new world, but also our work. Which cities and towns across the UK are embracing this transition best?

Where in the UK is the most digital?

Unsurprisingly, the capitals for three of the four countries of the UK make up the top contenders, with only Cardiff unfortunately missing out on a spot on the list. Edinburgh taking the top spot over London was something we didn’t anticipate, but this was down to Edinburgh having both higher upload and download speeds and bagging those extra points. Manchester taking 4th is once again not surprising given its strong cultural roots in music and visual media, however Salford and Bolton breaking the top 10 may require some explanation.

Bolton took home points thanks to its internet speeds, ranking 5th and 7th for download and upload speeds respectively, while Salford had the best ratio of people to jobs, as well as ranking 4th for percentage of jobs that are digital. This can be put down to two main factors – MediaCityUK and its proximity to Manchester. MediaCityUK is no doubt a large supplier of jobs in the digital sector and there’s inevitably some crossover with some of the roles available in Manchester city centre. This isn’t to put Salford down – it should be seen as a great area of potential and investment for digital-based businesses.

North of the border, Dundee placed third in the rankings for download speeds, while Aberdeen took the top spot for uploads – two results that took us by surprise. This is most likely due to Scotland’s continued investment in the country's internet infrastructure, with new support being announced as recently as August of this year.

Birmingham is also another name you’d expect to see on this list thanks to its continued support as a northern hub, having good placements for internet speeds as well as coming 8th for job availability. Finally, Leeds rounds out the list at number ten, further emphasising its role as a cultural and digital centre for Yorkshire in an area that’s seeing continual growth, with a list of entertainment and digital institutions choosing to take root there and growing with it.

Overall Rank Town/City Download Speed (Mbps) Upload Speed (Mbps) Percentage of Jobs Available “Digital” People for Every Digital Job
1 Edinburgh 123.6 30.7 18.54 189.82
2 London 107.3 28.2 22.51 181.15
3 Belfast 148.6 27.6 15.65 543.83
4 Manchester 106.1 23.1 18.32 79.98
5 Salford 97.6 19.3 18.31 37.71
6 Dundee 143.1 23.4 10.68 205.75
7 Aberdeen 119.3 45.4 14.04 299.05
8 Birmingham 132.6 24.8 14.3 271.44
9 Bolton 134.1 25.7 6.96 1221.19
10 Leeds 94.2 18.3 17.55 216.12

The UK’s Digital Hotspots

Breaking down the UK’s digital cities by datapoint, toggle the map to uncover which ones stand out amongst their peers when it comes to the likes of 5G coverage, download speeds and the number of “digital jobs” available within them.

Use the toggles below to discover the Top 10 in each category.

Top 10:
Download speeds

  1. Belfast 148.6 Mbps
  2. Wolverhampton 143.5 Mbps
  3. Dundee 143.1 Mbps
  4. Derry 140.2 Mbps
  5. Bolton 134.1 Mbps
  6. Birmingham 132.6 Mbps
  7. Coventry 132.3 Mbps
  8. Oldham 129.1 Mbps
  9. Edinburgh 123.6 Mbps
  10. Wigan 123.3 Mbps

Top 10:
Upload speeds

  1. Aberdeen 45.4 Mbps
  2. Coventry 36.8 Mbps
  3. Edinburgh 30.7 Mbps
  4. Bradford 28.7 Mbps
  5. London 28.2 Mbps
  6. Belfast 27.6 Mbps
  7. Bolton 25.7 Mbps
  8. Cardiff 25.3 Mbps
  9. Liverpool 24.8 Mbps
  10. Newcastle 23.6 Mbps

Top 10:
People per digital job

  1. Salford 37.71
  2. Solihull 61.96
  3. Manchester 79.98
  4. Gateshead 124.66
  5. London 181.15
  6. Edinburgh 189.82
  7. Dundee 205.75
  8. Leeds 216.12
  9. Birmingham 271.44
  10. Aberdeen 299.05

Top 10:
Percentage Total Jobs ‘Digital’

  1. London 22.51%
  2. Edinburgh 18.54%
  3. Manchester 18.32%
  4. Salford 18.31%
  5. Glasgow 18.29%
  6. Leeds 17.55%
  7. Belfast 15.65%
  8. Newcastle 15.43%
  9. Birmingham 14.3%
  10. Aberdeen 14.04%

UK’s 5G coverage

5G is a hot-button topic right now. Supposedly up to 100 times faster than 4G, it should make scrolling, browsing, and buying on-the-go speedier than ever before. But where in the UK has the best 5G coverage, and where’s closer to dial up?

5G Coverage:
All Networks

  • Aberdeen
    • EE 5G
    • O2 5G
    • Vodafone 5G
    • Sky 5G
    • Virgin 5G
    • Tesco 5G
    • GiffGaff 5G
    • VOXI 5G
    • Asda 5G
    • 3 5G
    • ID 3G
  • Belfast
    • EE 5G
    • O2 5G
    • Vodafone 5G
    • Sky 5G
    • Virgin 5G
    • Tesco 5G
    • GiffGaff 5G
    • VOXI 5G
    • Asda 5G
    • 3 5G
    • ID 3G
  • Birmingham
    • EE 5G
    • O2 5G
    • Vodafone 5G
    • Sky 5G
    • Virgin 5G
    • Tesco 5G
    • GiffGaff 5G
    • VOXI 5G
    • Asda 5G
    • 3 5G
    • ID 3G
  • Cardiff
    • EE 5G
    • O2 5G
    • Vodafone 5G
    • Sky 5G
    • Virgin 5G
    • Tesco 5G
    • GiffGaff 5G
    • VOXI 5G
    • Asda 5G
    • 3 5G
    • ID 3G
  • Dundee
    • EE 5G
    • O2 5G
    • Vodafone 5G
    • Sky 5G
    • Virgin 5G
    • Tesco 5G
    • GiffGaff 5G
    • VOXI 5G
    • Asda 5G
    • 3 5G
    • ID 3G
  • Edinburgh
    • EE 5G
    • O2 5G
    • Vodafone 5G
    • Sky 5G
    • Virgin 5G
    • Tesco 5G
    • GiffGaff 5G
    • VOXI 5G
    • Asda 5G
    • 3 5G
    • ID 3G
  • Glasgow
    • EE 5G
    • O2 5G
    • Vodafone 5G
    • Sky 5G
    • Virgin 5G
    • Tesco 5G
    • GiffGaff 5G
    • VOXI 5G
    • Asda 5G
    • 3 5G
    • ID 3G
  • Kirklees
    • EE 5G
    • O2 5G
    • Vodafone 5G
    • Sky 5G
    • Virgin 5G
    • Tesco 5G
    • GiffGaff 5G
    • VOXI 5G
    • Asda 5G
    • 3 5G
    • ID 3G
  • Leeds
    • EE 5G
    • O2 5G
    • Vodafone 5G
    • Sky 5G
    • Virgin 5G
    • Tesco 5G
    • GiffGaff 5G
    • VOXI 5G
    • Asda 5G
    • 3 5G
    • ID 3G
  • Liverpool
    • EE 5G
    • O2 5G
    • Vodafone 5G
    • Sky 5G
    • Virgin 5G
    • Tesco 5G
    • GiffGaff 5G
    • VOXI 5G
    • Asda 5G
    • 3 5G
    • ID 3G
  • London
    • EE 5G
    • O2 5G
    • Vodafone 5G
    • Sky 5G
    • Virgin 5G
    • Tesco 5G
    • GiffGaff 5G
    • VOXI 5G
    • Asda 5G
    • 3 5G
    • ID 3G
  • Manchester
    • EE 5G
    • O2 5G
    • Vodafone 5G
    • Sky 5G
    • Virgin 5G
    • Tesco 5G
    • GiffGaff 5G
    • VOXI 5G
    • Asda 5G
    • 3 5G
    • ID 3G
  • Newcastle
    • EE 5G
    • O2 5G
    • Vodafone 5G
    • Sky 5G
    • Virgin 5G
    • Tesco 5G
    • GiffGaff 5G
    • VOXI 5G
    • Asda 5G
    • 3 5G
    • ID 3G
  • Sheffield
    • EE 5G
    • O2 5G
    • Vodafone 5G
    • Sky 5G
    • Virgin 5G
    • Tesco 5G
    • GiffGaff 5G
    • VOXI 5G
    • Asda 5G
    • 3 5G
    • ID 3G
  • Sunderland
    • EE 5G
    • O2 5G
    • Vodafone 5G
    • Sky 5G
    • Virgin 5G
    • Tesco 5G
    • GiffGaff 5G
    • VOXI 5G
    • Asda 5G
    • 3 5G
    • ID 3G

5G Coverage:
8-10 Networks

  • Bradford
    • O2 5G
    • Vodafone 5G
    • Sky 5G
    • Virgin 5G
    • Tesco 5G
    • GiffGaff 5G
    • VOXI 5G
    • Asda 5G
    • 3 5G
    • ID 3G
  • Gateshead
    • O2 5G
    • Vodafone 5G
    • Sky 5G
    • Virgin 5G
    • Tesco 5G
    • GiffGaff 5G
    • VOXI 5G
    • Asda 5G
    • 3 5G
    • ID 3G
  • Bolton
    • EE 5G
    • O2 5G
    • Vodafone 5G
    • Sky 5G
    • Virgin 5G
    • Tesco 5G
    • GiffGaff 5G
    • VOXI 5G
    • Asda 5G
  • Wolverhampton
    • EE 5G
    • O2 5G
    • Vodafone 5G
    • Sky 5G
    • Virgin 5G
    • Tesco 5G
    • GiffGaff 5G
    • VOXI 5G
    • Asda 5G
  • Dudley
    • EE 5G
    • O2 5G
    • Vodafone 5G
    • Sky 5G
    • Virgin 5G
    • Tesco 5G
    • GiffGaff 5G
    • VOXI 5G
    • Asda 5G
  • Rochdale
    • EE 5G
    • O2 5G
    • Vodafone 5G
    • Sky 5G
    • Virgin 5G
    • Tesco 5G
    • GiffGaff 5G
    • VOXI 5G
    • Asda 5G
  • Rotherham
    • EE 5G
    • O2 5G
    • Vodafone 5G
    • Sky 5G
    • Virgin 5G
    • Tesco 5G
    • GiffGaff 5G
    • VOXI 5G
    • Asda 5G
  • Salford
    • EE 5G
    • O2 5G
    • Vodafone 5G
    • Sky 5G
    • Virgin 5G
    • Tesco 5G
    • GiffGaff 5G
    • VOXI 5G
    • Asda 5G
  • Solihull
    • EE 5G
    • O2 5G
    • Vodafone 5G
    • Sky 5G
    • Virgin 5G
    • Tesco 5G
    • GiffGaff 5G
    • VOXI 5G
    • Asda 5G
  • Stockport
    • EE 5G
    • O2 5G
    • Vodafone 5G
    • Sky 5G
    • Virgin 5G
    • Tesco 5G
    • GiffGaff 5G
    • VOXI 5G
    • Asda 5G
  • Swansea
    • EE 5G
    • O2 5G
    • Vodafone 5G
    • Sky 5G
    • Virgin 5G
    • Tesco 5G
    • GiffGaff 5G
    • VOXI 5G
    • Asda 5G

5G Coverage:
4-7 Networks

  • Coventry
    • EE 5G
    • O2 5G
    • Sky 5G
    • Tesco 5G
    • GiffGaff 5G
    • 3 5G
    • ID 3G
  • Doncaster
    • EE 5G
    • O2 5G
    • Sky 5G
    • Tesco 5G
    • GiffGaff 5G
    • 3 5G
    • ID 3G
  • Wakefield
    • EE 5G
    • O2 5G
    • Sky 5G
    • Tesco 5G
    • GiffGaff 5G
    • 3 5G
    • ID 3G
  • Oldham
    • EE 5G
    • O2 5G
    • Sky 5G
    • Tesco 5G
    • GiffGaff 5G

5G Coverage:
1-3 Networks

  • Barnsley
    • EE 5G
    • 3 5G
    • ID 3G
  • Wigan
    • EE 5G
    • 3 5G
    • ID 3G
  • Falkirk
    • 3 5G
    • ID 3G
  • Merthyr Tydfil
    • 3 5G
    • ID 3G
  • Newport
    • 3 5G
    • ID 3G
  • Bury
    • EE 5G
  • Neath Port Talbot
    • EE 5G
  • Stirling
    • EE 5G
  • Walsall
    • EE 5G

5G Coverage:
None

  • Armagh
  • Bridgend
  • Caerphilly
  • Derry
  • Dumfries and Galloway
  • Perth
  • St Helens
  • Wrexham

The UK’s Digital Landscape

From Armagh to Walsall and everywhere in between, get the full lay of the UK’s digital land right here. Where has the fastest internet speeds? Where can you play games and watch Netflix without lagging? And where, oh where, is the best city to land a digital job?

Use the table below to uncover the digital data points in your local area.

You’ll find the full set of data from the study below, which can be sorted by clicking each category within the table.

Area Download Speed Upload Speed Population Total “Digital” Jobs % “Digital” Jobs People for every Digital Job
Aberdeen 119.3 45.4 213224 713 14.04 299.05
Armagh 93.1 21.6 32240 19 5.31 1696.84
Barnsley 88 15.6 227000 140 5.18 5.18
Belfast 148.6 27.6 639000 1175 15.65 543.83
Birmingham 132.6 24.8 1149000 4233 14.3 271.44
Blaenau gwent 28.6 7 69713 15 2.41 4647.53
Bolton 134.1 25.7 288200 232 6.96 1221.19
Bradford 120.2 28.7 536986 418 7.93 1284.66
Bridgend 98.4 16.2 145500 88 6.06 1653.41
Bury 78 16.5 190700 214 8.67 891.12
Caerphilly 77 13.7 181075 86 5.13 2105.52
Calderdale 44.6 10.4 210082 16 6.08 13130.13
Cardiff 116.2 25.3 485000 1128 12.22 429.96
City of Wolverhampton 143.5 20.7 262242 356 7.65 736.63
Conwy 67.6 16.2 117181 59 4.65 1986.12
Coventry 132.3 36.8 379387 835 10.11 454.36
Derry 140.2 25.3 150496 47 8.26 3202.04
Doncaster 82.1 15.4 311890 302 6.93 1032.75
Dudley 109.3 16.4 323500 225 5.59 1437.78
Dumfries and Galloway 37.2 9.1 33215 49 5.37 677.86
Dundee 143.1 23.4 44441 216 10.68 205.75
Edinburgh 123.6 30.7 548000 2887 18.54 189.82
Falkirk 114.8 15.8 160560 62 4.08 2589.68
Fife 87.2 13.5 55800 121 7.02 461.16
Gateshead 118.6 17.2 201950 1620 13.46 124.66
Glasgow 100.9 18.2 1689000 2952 18.29 572.15
Isle of Anglesey 52.5 11 69961 11 4.56 6360.09
Kirklees 106.1 26.4 438727 100 7.27 4387.27
Knowsley 108.3 17.6 149571 175 6.47 854.69
Leeds 94.2 18.3 792525 3667 17.55 216.12
Liverpool 114.6 24.8 496784 1267 9 392.09
London 107.3 28.2 9541000 52670 22.51 181.15
Manchester 106.1 23.1 553230 6917 18.32 79.98
Merthyr Tydfil 66.7 17.2 60000 39 5.26 1538.46
Moray 49.9 12 23747 1 0.2 23747
Neath Port Talbot 64.3 12.6 142906 49 3.99 2916.45
Newcastle 101.6 23.6 818000 1883 15.43 434.41
Newport 116.2 20.1 319221 329 8.81 970.28
North Tyneside 104.9 18.2 205985 171 n/a 1204.59
Oldham 129.1 20.5 237110 276 6.33 859.09
Perth 55.7 8.8 151290 60 5.26 2521.5
Rochdale 92.6 15.6 223700 143 5.69 1564.34
Rotherham 113.6 19.5 264984 283 7.42 936.34
Salford 97.6 19.3 262700 6967 18.31 37.71
Sandwell 146.2 19.4 328774 2285 n/a 143.88
Sefton 91.9 14.5 275562 111 6.7 2482.54
Sheffield 94.1 23 584028 987 10 591.72
Solihull 112.3 19.3 215000 347 7.78 61.96
South Tyneside 104.8 15.6 150265 259 n/a 580.17
St Helens 92.4 15.7 177188 179 5.88 989.88
Stirling 60.3 18.9 37700 69 5.34 546.38
Stockport 106.2 17.7 291775 580 7.97 503.06
Sunderland 83.1 13.5 344000 252 9.44 1365.08
Swansea 118.5 17.4 246217 231 7.77 1065.87
Tameside 116.4 23 225197 202 7.18 1114.84
Vale of Glamorgan 85.2 17.3 132165 10 1.76 13216.5
Wakefield 88.4 16.1 343932 426 8.31 807.35
Walsall 100.7 15.9 285500 235 5.56 1214.9
Wigan 123.3 16.1 330700 151 5.75 2190.07
Wirral 119 20 323266 93 4.29 3475.98
Wrexham 69.4 13.6 136000 158 7.03 860.76

Methodology

Internet Speeds

This was gathered using thinkbroadband’s Local Broadband Information Tool, using the most recent data available. This site uses data from users' own reports to generate the information, which means that hardware, providers and location are variables which must be kept in mind. We also used the mean rather than the median as we believe this shows the potential that the areas have, giving the faster connections a bit more sway.

Job information

We used a mix of Indeed and LinkedIn, using the city/town for the location (with a 5 mile and 8km radius respectively) to see total jobs available. We also only considered on-site roles and chose to omit hybrid and remote roles, as despite their prevalence in today’s workplace we felt they didn’t paint a true picture of the opportunities available in these areas specifically. We then used the term “digital” to see the number of matching jobs available in each location and used this data to calculate the percentage of available jobs in each city/town.

Population data

This was taken from a variety of sources, using the census as and where it was possible. This data was then used to calculate how many people were available per “digital” role, with the lowest number ranking the highest as it meant there were more roles available in that area.

Using our data

Each area was then given a rank for each set of data, before collating the top 10 for download speeds, upload speeds, people per job and percentage of jobs that are “digital”, gaining 10 points for 1st, 9 for 2nd, 8 for 3rd and so on. These points were then totalled up to give each area a score.

We then used this 5G coverage finder to see which areas had the most networks providing 5G from major networks across the UK, including EE, Virgin and 3, giving each area an amount of points. We calculated this based on how many networks they were covered by to give us our final tables.

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