Swindon best value town for workers who rent, study finds

Swindon is the most affordable UK town for working renters, a study has found.

Jobs website Azunda compared average advertised salaries with average rental figures in towns and cities across the UK to compile lists of the most and least affordable places for renters to live.

It found in Swindon, workers can typically expect 11.5% of their take-home salary to go on rent, compared with a national average of 22.1%.

The study assumes that the cost of monthly rent is equally split between two people sharing a home.

Bradford, Hull, Dudley and Durham completed the top five "best value towns for renters", with workers in these areas typically facing less than 13% of their wages going on rent, according to the study.

At the other end of the spectrum, Londoners can expect to put 41% of their pay cheques towards their rent while those in Oxford can expect to put 39% of their salaries towards rent.

Andrew Hunter, co-founder of Adzuna, said: "Even though workers may be paid a higher monthly salary, their left-over cash is often smaller after paying steep living costs and local property premiums."

He said alternative locations such as Swindon "offer a much more attractive deal", potentially giving renters in Swindon more opportunities to save any leftover cash from their wages for a deposit to buy a home.

Salary and property data was sourced from Azunda.co.uk.

Here are the top 10 towns and cities where workers can expect to spend the smallest proportion of their salary on rent, according to Azunda, with the typical proportion of wages going on monthly rental costs, based on two people sharing the cost:

1. Swindon, 11.5%
2. Bradford, 11.8%
3. Hull, 11.9%
4. Dudley, 12.8%
5. Durham, 12.9%
6. Stoke-on-Trent, 13.6%
7. Middlesbrough, 14.0%
=8. Rochdale, 15.0%
=8. Derby, 15.0%
10. Belfast, 15.3%

Here are the top 10 towns and cities where workers can expect to spend the largest proportion of their salary on rent, according to Azunda, with the typical proportion of wages going on monthly rental costs, based on two people sharing the cost:

1. London, 40.8%
2. Oxford, 39.1%
3. Wirral, 37.2%
4. Brighton, 36.6%
5. Guildford, 36.4%
6. Milton Keynes, 35.4%
7. Chichester, 33.4%
8. Winchester, 32.9%
9. Edinburgh, 27.6%
10. High Wycombe, 27.1%