Leeds revealed as the most expensive university city outside of London

NatWest, which has published a 2021 student living index, found that typical monthly living and accommodation costs in Leeds, including rent, socialising, clothes, bills, groceries and takeaways, almost exceeded average incomes for students.

Sheffield was named as the most affordable city for students to live in, while the Capital was unsurprisingly the most expensive.

The study looked at 21 university cities across Britain.

The study found that overall, sharp increases in supermarket spending and rents are adding to cost pressures for students, although spending on gigs, theatres and clubs has fallen amid the coronavirus pandemic.

With Covid-19 causing universities across the UK to take teaching online, the research found that almost a third (31 per cent) of students were very dissatisfied with the value of their online teaching this semester.

When it came to budgeting, more than half (55 per cent) of students used an app to help manage their finances, the report found.

Andy Nicholson, head of NatWest student accounts, said: “The cost of being a student is increasing, making it more important than ever that students properly manage their finances.”

Here are the results of NatWest’s student living index, ranking the most expensive cities to the least. The index was calculated by dividing average monthly accommodation and living costs by average incomes:

1. London, 1.1

2. Leeds, 0.99

=3. Bristol, 0.98

=3. York, 0.98

5. Liverpool, 0.96

6. Cardiff, 0.91

7. Canterbury, 0.90

8. Edinburgh, 0.88

9. Coventry, 0.84

=10. Southampton, 0.83

=10. Newcastle, 0.83

12. Manchester, 0.80

13. Leicester, 0.78

=14. Nottingham, 0.77

=14. Durham, 0.77

=14. Exeter, 0.77

17. Birmingham, 0.76

18. Oxford, 0.73

19. Glasgow, 0.72

20. Cambridge, 0.70

21. Sheffield, 0.67

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