A New Chapter: Exploring The Best Places To Start Fresh In The UK

With the new year underway, more people are considering making a fresh start in another state. This new study shows the best and worst states to relocate to.

• Cardiff is revealed to be the 8th best city for a new start across the board.
• St Albans, Chester and Winchester rank 1st, 2nd and 3rd respectively.
• Cities are recommended based on metrics such as quality of life, crime rates, economic data, and social connectivity.

Every year, there are people looking to start fresh, to set up life in a new place where they can start over and establish their life. The beginning of a New Year often represents a chance for people to do just that, as seen by McDonald Property, who indicated a 45.1% increase in inquiries towards new homes in the first two weeks of January.

While there are a host of different motivations that can cause someone to move, the team at View Homes gathered the 6 most important metrics to rank the top and bottom states to move to this year.

How The Best States Were Ranked

“We chose to look at a host of attributes to measure when determining the best places for a fresh start in the UK,” says Liam Cope a real estate and relocation expert. “For a lot of people, economic freedom is one of the primary motivators, so we looked at the cost of living, job opportunities, and economic data. Other factors like crime rates, quality of life, and social connectivity make a big difference when choosing where to move to, so we included those.”

The Best States for a Fresh Start

Top 10 Cities for A Fresh New Start in 2025:

1. St Albans

2. Chester

3. Winchester

4. Dundee

5. Westminster

6. Aberdeen

7. Belfast

8. Cardiff

9. Worcester

10. Oxford

If you’d like to see the full data set please find it here.