Surrey's Elmbridge tops Quality of Life Survey

Home to Chelsea FC's training ground, the multi-million pound mansions of St Georges Hill and Sandown Race Course, the Surrey borough of Elmbridge has long been a desirable location to live and tops the annual Halifax Quality of Life Survey for the third year running.  

The Halifax Quality of Life Survey has placed Elmbridge in the top spot based on residents' health and life expectancy, employment, school performance and the weather they enjoy.

Why Elmbridge is a great place to live:

Residents tend to be fit and well - 95% reporting good health

There is a higher than average life expectancy (81.4 years).

The employment rate is high at 75%, with many residents enjoying high incomes with weekly average earnings of £1,018.

The level of school qualifications is above the national average - 77% achieve five or more GCSE results grades A-C compared with the national average of 74%.

Residents also enjoy a relatively good climate - less rainfall per year than the national average (676 mm against 871 mm) and more weekly sunshine hours (32.7 hours against the national average of 30.0 hours).

Residents in the South East enjoy the best quality of life with over two thirds (32) of the top rated 50 local authorities being here.  The East of England rates well with over a fifth (11) placed in the top 50. The remainder is split between three in West Midlands, two in the South West, one in East Midlands and just one in London.

Northern areas tend to receive high ratings on school exam results and environmental measures such as low population densities and low traffic flows whereas areas in the south of England typically perform better than elsewhere on average earnings, employment, health and weather.

Nitesh Patel, housing economist at Halifax, commented: "The old adage of ‘Health, Wealth and Happiness', is the traditional measure of a good quality of life.  For the third year running Elmbridge has delivered against a range of indicators to demonstrate that its residents have the best quality of life in Britain.  The Surrey district scores highly on several measures, including health, life expectancy, employment, average earnings and school results.

"Many areas in southern England perform well in terms of average earnings, employment rates, health and the weather, whilst areas in the North tend to score highly on school exam results and physical environment characteristics such as low population densities and low traffic flows."