Bristol has been named among the best places to live in the UK for those who want to achieve a healthy lifestyle.

Comparethemarket’s life insurance team has revealed the best cities in the UK for leading a healthy lifestyle based on the quality of green spaces and parks, Google search volume for gym memberships (from October 2021 to October 2022), the number of healthy restaurants and the amount of outdoor activities available.

Every factor was looked at for the top 50 most populous cities in the UK, Westminster was removed as it is part of Greater London. Derry, Colchester, Lancaster, Winchester, Gloucester and Wakefield were also removed due to missing data on green spaces and/or parks.

To calculate the overall healthiest cities ranking, each factor was scored out of 10 before taking an average for each city.

In the top 10 list, Bristol came in joint 5th place with a 73.4 rating, scored out of 100, for the quality of green spaces and parks.

The number of Google searches for gym memberships per 1,000 of the city’s population is 20.0 while the number of healthy restaurants is 58.

There are five outdoor activities available in the city according to the research.

Top 10 best places to live in the UK to live a healthy lifestyle

Here are the top 10 best places to live in the UK to live a healthy lifestyle alongside each city’s population, quality of green spaces and parks (scored out of 100), monthly Google searches for gym memberships (per 1,000 population), the number of healthy restaurants and outdoor activities.

1. Edinburgh

Population: 476,626

Quality of green spaces and parks: 82.2

Gym memberships: 12.0

Healthy restaurants: 105

Outdoor activities: 60

2. London

Population: 8,799,800

Quality of green spaces and parks: 80.3

Gym memberships: 13.1

Healthy restaurants: 743

Outdoor activities: 82

3. Cambridge

Population: 123,867

Quality of green spaces and parks: 90.5

Gym memberships: 20.1

Healthy restaurants: 21

Outdoor activities: 6

4. Brighton & Hove

Population: 273,369

Quality of green spaces and parks: 85.2

Gym memberships: 7.3

Healthy restaurants: 67

Outdoor activities: 15

5= Newcastle Upon Tyne

Population: 280,177

Quality of green spaces and parks: 79.0

Gym memberships: 16.7

Healthy restaurants: 43

Outdoor activities: 5

5= Bristol

Population: 428,234

Quality of green spaces and parks: 73.4

Gym memberships: 20.0

Healthy restaurants: 58

Outdoor activities: 5

6. Norwich

Population: 132,512

Quality of green spaces and parks: 64.1

Gym memberships: 15.3

Healthy restaurants: 12

Outdoor activities: 46

7. Swansea

Population: 239,023

Quality of green spaces and parks: 91.7

Gym memberships: 5.0

Healthy restaurants: 26

Outdoor activities: 40

8. Liverpool

Population: 466,415

Quality of green spaces and parks: 79.8

Gym memberships: 15.1

Healthy restaurants: 58

Outdoor activities: 5

9= Oxford

Population: 151,906

Quality of green spaces and parks: 88.2

Gym memberships: 11.0

Healthy restaurants: 19

Outdoor activities: 7

9= Exeter

Population: 127,709

Quality of green spaces and parks: 81.3

Gym memberships: 7.3

Healthy restaurants: 15

Outdoor activities: 31

10= Sheffield

Population: 552,698

Quality of green spaces and parks: 86.8

Gym memberships: 8.5

Healthy restaurants: 33

Outdoor activities: 37

10= Glasgow

Population: 593,245

Quality of green spaces and parks: 81.6

Gym memberships: 11.9

Healthy restaurants: 50

Outdoor activities: 21

The full study can be found via the Comparethemarket website.

To measure the level of interest in gym memberships, Google keyword planner was used to find out the amount of times terms relating to gym membership were searched.

This included ‘gym membership’, ‘gyms near me’, ‘gym membership near me’, ‘24 hour gym near me’, and ‘24 hour gym’.

Searches for these terms were then combined to give a total. Search volume for Brighton was used for Brighton & Hove.