Sunday Times Best Places to Live Guide 2023: Leeds and Ilkley named best places to live in West Yorkshire

This year’s guide – the 11th – featured more new entries than ever before. The Sunday Times’ expert judges visited all the locations and assessed factors from schools to transport, broadband speeds to culture, as well as access to green spaces and the health of the high street.

Spa town Ilkley, which took home the prize of best place to live in 2022, stood firm at the top of this year’s list, with one reviewer writing: “Ilkley continues to dazzle with its enviable shops, schools, scenery and transport links.”

Leeds also earned itself a place on the guide for 2023. "For culture, commerce and joyful consumerism, there’s no finer city centre in the UK than Leeds,” one reviewer wrote. “It’s the only place outside London with its own opera, theatre, ballet and opera houses, and as a shopping destination, it’s second to none. Thanks to the eco-houses in the inspiring new riverside Climate Innovation District, it’s leading the way for sustainability, too."

The title of Best Place to Live in the North and Northeast was given to Tyne and Wear, which was praised for its beautiful coastline and the thoughtful regeneration. Others that made it onto the list include Holmfirth in West Yorkshire, Thirsk in North Yorkshire and Wooler in Northumberland.

Helen Davies, the editor of Best Places to Live 2023, said: “When times are tough, where we live matters more than ever. Attractive surroundings, good neighbours and a comfortable home are the best defences when the stresses of modern life seem overwhelming. This guide is a celebration of towns, cities and villages that are each a fantastic place to live in 2023 from Orkney to Felixstowe, the Chew Valley to Manchester city centre. Whether you’re downsizing, trading up or getting onto the property ladder, there will be somewhere to suit you.”

Previous winners of the Best Places to Live in Britain title are: Stamford, Lincolnshire (2013); Skipton, North Yorkshire (2014); Newnham, Cambridge (2015); Winchester,

Hampshire (2016); Bristol (2017), York (2018), Salisbury, Wiltshire (2019), Altrincham, Cheshire (2020) Stroud, Gloucestershire (2021) and Ilkley, West Yorkshire (2022).