The UK’s Best Trade Cities

The best areas for tradespeople

Over recent years, the UK economy has suffered from a lack of skilled labour. However, it’s not all bad news for tradespeople. The shortage has meant higher demand, regular work and better wages for trades, so there’s never been a better time for tradespeople taking on jobs such as tiling, installing bathroom wall tiles and bricklaying.

So, which areas in the UK are best for tradespeople? We’ve taken a look at the proportion of trade jobs, average pay and reviews across the UK’s cities and regions to find out. We’ve also looked at the best-paying trade jobs across the country too, to reveal which trades are considered the most valuable.

The best areas for tradespeople

1.Warrington                                        Tradesperson score: 7.14/10

The Chesire town of Warrington takes the top spot thanks to its high proportion of available trade jobs, ranking first for the factor. The town also scores particularly highly for its average trade rating, narrowly missing the top spot to Liverpool.

2. Huddersfield                                      Tradesperson score: 7.02/10

Huddersfield is up next. The historic town and home of the Rugby League has a high number of openings for trade jobs, placing in the top ten for the factor. It also ranks in the top three regions for average salary, which takes it to second place.

3. Southend-on-sea                              Tradesperson score: 6.91/10

This coastal town of the Thames estuary takes third place, scoring 6.91 out of 10 in the study. Southend-on-sea ranks high thanks to the average income in the region, taking second place for the factor. It also ranks in the top five for the average trade rating in the area and the top ten for its number of trade jobs too.

The areas with the best opportunities for tradespeople

1. Warrington                            755 jobs per 100,000 people

Taking the top spot as the location with the most available trade jobs is Warrington. The Chesire town has an exceptionally high demand for builders, which make up 45% of the total. This is no surprise as the town will soon be undergoing major redevelopment.

2. Reading                                  688 jobs per 100,000 people

Finding the perfect job can be easy if there are a high proportion of vacancies in your area, as it gives you plenty of opportunities to search for your ideal role. Reading is consistently voted one of the most friendly towns in the UK for job seekers, so it’s no surprise it has the second highest demand for tradespeople with 688 jobs available per 100,000 of the population.

3. Luton                                      496 jobs per 100,000 people

Luton is a hotspot for opportunities for tradespeople, with nearly 500 available jobs per 100,000 people. The town is one of the most attractive places in the UK for small businesses thanks to its high proportion of skilled workers, so it’s no surprise it ranks third for the factor.

The regions with the highest-paying trade jobs

1. South East                             Average annual salary: £25,966

A major cause of employee turnover is low salary, although if you’re a tradesperson in the South East, you won’t have to worry about finding a better-paid job too much. The region takes first for its average salary, at £25,966 per year across all trades, thanks to the high cost of living due to its proximity to the capital.

2. Scotland                                Average annual salary: £25,082

Scotland takes second place with tradespeople earning slightly more than 25,000 each year. Tradespeople in this region of the UK have a relatively low cost of living compared to the rest of the country, so even though they only place second, their salaries stretch much further.

3. East                                        Average annual salary: £24,724

The East of England takes third place with an average salary of more than £24,000. Wages in the area are competitive due to a recent construction boom, creating a high demand for skilled tradespeople.

The areas with the best tradespeople

1. Liverpool                                Average customer rating: 4.97/5

When you’re hiring a tradesperson it’s important to know if they have a good reputation with previous customers. If you’re looking for top-quality tradespeople Liverpool is the perfect place. Tradespeople in the city score an average rating of 4.97 thanks to customer reviews, with both tilers and electricians being rated the full five out of five.

2. Warrington, Manchester, Sheffield, Nottingham     Average customer rating: 4.96/5

Four cities share second place, three in the North and Nottingham in the East Midlands.

Warrington is one of the best cities when it comes to builders, with an average score of 4.97 out of five for tradesmen in the area. It also ranks third for plumbers too.

Manchester also achieves a high average score of 4.97 out of five, mainly thanks to the professionalism of its plumbers, who score a perfect five out of five.

Sheffield also shares first place, with the Yorkshire city scoring five out of five for its electricians.

Rounding out the top cities is Nottingham, which shares a perfect score for its plumbers with Sheffield. It also has one of the top three spots for builders’ reviews.

3. Plymouth, Stoke-on-Trent, Middlesbrough, Bristol, Bradford, Bolton                            Average customer rating: 4.95/5

Six areas share third place. Half of these cities (Middlesbrough, Bradford and Plymouth)  rank in the top five for customer satisfaction when it comes to plumbers and four are in the top ten for tilers, giving them all an average customer rating of 4.95 out of 5.

The best-paid tradespeople

1. Bricklayer                              Average salary: £50,076

Bricklayers are the highest-paid tradespeople in the UK. The trade responsible for constructing and repairing walls and even decorative masonry work too has a starting salary of around £17,000 but more experienced brickies can earn an average of over £50,000.     

 2. Scaffolder                              Average salary: £43,853

Tradespeople are in increasingly short supply, which means construction businesses have to pay their workers very competitive wages to keep them on. Nobody knows this more than scaffolders who earn an average of over £43,000 a year for their skillset, even more than architects and other roles that require a degree.

3. Electrician                              Average salary: £39,670

In third place are electricians, earning just under £40,000 annually. Due to the increasing demand for new houses and a skills shortage in the construction industry, electricians’ wages have skyrocketed over recent years as skilled sparkies are in short supply.

Methodology

Beginning with a list of the 40 biggest towns and cities in the UK, we analysed each one on the below factors. We then gave each city a normalised score out of ten for each of the factors, before taking an average across each of these scores to reach our final overall score out of ten.

The towns and cities with the most jobs: the total number of trade jobs in each area according to Indeed per 100,000 of the population.

The regions with the highest pay: the average annual pay for trade jobs in each region of the UK according to the ONS. We gathered the most recent data from 2017 but unfortunately, this was not available for every region.

The areas with the best tradespeople: the average reviews for plumbers, tilers, electricians and builders in the biggest 40 areas of the UK by population according to Trustatrader.

Population figures were taken from the ONS for England and Wales and the NRS for Scotland.