25 student cities. One place to compare them.
Cost of living, accommodation, nightlife, neighbourhoods and what everyday student life actually feels like, written for students choosing where to live as well as where to study.
Start with the cities students keep coming back to
Every city has a different trade-off between cost, size, transport, accommodation and social life.
Where you study matters, and students say it does
The flagship survey shows how strongly location and housing feed into the university decision, while city-life polls add a faster read on discovery and affordability.
321 of 500 respondents · structured survey
Read the survey →380 of 500 respondents · structured survey
Read the survey →21 responses · 17 Aug 2026 · indicative poll
See the poll →20 responses · 3 Aug 2026 · indicative poll
See the poll →Structured survey findings and quick audience polls are labelled separately. Polls are indicative snapshots and should not be treated as representative of all UK students.
Compare cities by the things that change student life
A city name is only the start. Use the same questions across every option on your shortlist.
Browse student cities
Jump into a local guide, then compare it with the other cities on your shortlist.
Different cities win for different reasons
There is no single best student city. The useful question is what you want the city to be best at.
The city and the accommodation decision are inseparable
Manchester, Birmingham, Edinburgh and Bristol can contain completely different campus-location needs. Start with the university, then compare the areas that fit the actual week.
Local guides, student context, original evidence
The new cities hub connects local editorial knowledge to cost, accommodation and first-party student data rather than treating city content as a list of attractions.