RANKED: The UK’s Best Cities for Healthy Living
Do you see gyms on every street? Does all your office small talk revolve around sports? Does your local supermarket dedicate a whole aisle to protein powders, bars and butter?
You could be living in one of the UK’s best cities for healthy living!
We ranked different locations on crucial characteristics of a healthy city like the number of gyms and local interest in physical health, nutrition and supplements. Read on to learn the biggest health and fitness hotspots, including the most physically fit city, the healthiest eaters and the UK’s holistic health hub!
Newcastle is the UK’s top healthy city
Newcastle is the UK’s health and fitness capital, ranking highly for all characteristics of a healthy city.
For residents of Newcastle, it feels like fitness facilities are on every street corner, so there’s almost no excuse for skipping that workout! Newcastle has a total of 247 fitness facilities, including gyms and workout studios, which is more per person than any other UK city (roughly one gym per 1,218 people).
Not only that, but out of the cities we researched, Newcastle has the second-highest interest in physical fitness and third-highest interest in nutrition and supplements. In total, Newcastle residents make 121,380 health and fitness searches on Google per month — equivalent to as many as two-fifths of the city’s population showing an interest in exercise and health.
Here are the top trends among Newcastle’s fitness fanatics:
Trend |
Monthly Interest |
Gym |
2,900 |
Fitbits |
2,900 |
Exercise Bike |
1,300 |
1,000 |
|
Weighted Hula Hoop |
880 |
The top UK health and fitness hubs ranked
Ranking |
City |
Population |
Number of Gyms |
People per Gym |
Total Online Interest in Fitness, Exercise, Nutrition and Supplements |
1 |
Newcastle |
300820 |
247 |
1218 |
121,380 |
2 |
Reading |
161780 |
108 |
1498 |
93,620 |
3 |
Bristol |
465900 |
230 |
2026 |
208,960 |
4 |
Leicester |
355200 |
184 |
1930 |
128,860 |
5 |
Liverpool |
500500 |
250 |
2002 |
179,300 |
6 |
Nottingham |
332900 |
195 |
1707 |
112,150 |
7 |
Southampton |
260100 |
187 |
1391 |
75,870 |
8 |
Belfast |
333000 |
161 |
2068 |
114,400 |
9 |
Manchester |
576500 |
197 |
2926 |
206,600 |
10 |
Glasgow |
633100 |
213 |
2972 |
221,530 |
11 |
Edinburgh |
524930 |
239 |
2196 |
157,440 |
12 |
Cardiff |
364200 |
175 |
2081 |
70,700 |
13 |
Leeds |
798786 |
202 |
3954 |
183,270 |
14 |
Birmingham |
1140500 |
223 |
5114 |
326,130 |
15 |
Sheffield |
584853 |
223 |
2623 |
150,360 |
16 |
London |
9002488 |
378 |
23816 |
2,037,890 |
Belfast cares about physical fitness more than any other city
Out of all the cities we researched, Belfast showed the highest predisposition for physical fitness trends, making it one of the UK’s fittest cities. From wearable tech to nearby fitness studios and exercise equipment, the people of Belfast search online for topics relating to physical fitness 63,160 times per month.
Top trends include:
Trend |
Monthly Interest |
Fitbits |
2,900 |
Gym |
1,900 |
Exercise Bike |
1,000 |
Cross Fitness |
880 |
590 |
Cardiff cares most about supplements and nutrition
When it comes to counting calories and monitoring macros, Cardiff is the winning city on our list. Cardiff residents Google diet and nutrition topics 15,080 times per month, with top searches including:
Trend |
Monthly Interest |
Calorie Deficit |
90 |
Low Calorie Meals |
90 |
Nutritional Yeast |
70 |
Calorie Counter |
70 |
Low Calorie Snacks |
70 |
Not only that, but Cardiff is top for supplements usage too: there’s more interest in supplements in the Welsh capital than anywhere else in the UK!
Of Cardiff’s 20,520 searches for supplements per month, the biggest trends are:
Trend |
Monthly Interest |
320 |
|
170 |
|
B12 Vitamins |
170 |
140 |
|
140 |
Reading has the most holistic approach to health and fitness
When it comes to balancing physical fitness with a healthy diet and optimised supplement regimen, Reading takes the top spot.
There are 93,620 online searches relating to physical fitness, nutrition and supplements in Reading each month. This amounts to as many as six in ten Reading residents showing an active monthly interest in their overall health and fitness.
The top health and fitness trends in Reading are:
Trend |
Monthly Interest |
Gym |
2,400 |
Fitbits |
1,900 |
Exercise Bike |
720 |
Vitamin D |
720 |
Cross Fitness |
480 |
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Method & Sources
Rankings are based on key metrics like the number of gyms and online interest in different health topics relative to local populations.
The number of gyms, fitness studios and fitness facilities is calculated using Google Maps search results. City populations were found using city council and Office of National Statistics data. These were used to calculate the number of people per gym.
Online interest in different health and fitness terms for each location was sourced from Google Adwords. Population data found using city council and Office of National Statistics websites was used to calculate interest relative to population size.
Top locations for interest in physical fitness, nutrition and supplements were sourced through Google Trends.