Student living costs calculator: Compare cities in the UK

Our living costs calculator compares the cost of living in different cities around the UK while you are studying, so you can see how much you need in your student bank account.

Student cost of living calculator

From city or town Select a city or town Aberdeen Bangor Bath Belfast Birmingham Bolton Bournemouth Bradford Brighton Bristol Cambridge Canterbury Cardiff Carlisle Chelmsford Chester Colchester Coventry Derby Derry Doncaster Dundee Dunfermline Durham Edinburgh Exeter Glasgow Gloucester Guildford Hereford Hull Lancaster Leeds Leicester Lincoln Liverpool London Loughborough Luton Manchester Milton Keynes Newcastle Newport Northampton Norwich Nottingham Oxford Perth Peterborough Plymouth Portsmouth Preston Reading Salford Sheffield Southampton Southend St Albans St Andrews Stirling Stoke on Trent Sunderland Swansea Wakefield Winchester Wolverhampton Worcester York

To city or town Select a city or town Aberdeen Bangor Bath Belfast Birmingham Bolton Bournemouth Bradford Brighton Bristol Cambridge Canterbury Cardiff Carlisle Chelmsford Chester Colchester Coventry Derby Derry Doncaster Dundee Dunfermline Durham Edinburgh Exeter Glasgow Gloucester Guildford Hereford Hull Lancaster Leeds Leicester Lincoln Liverpool London Loughborough Luton Manchester Milton Keynes Newcastle Newport Northampton Norwich Nottingham Oxford Perth Peterborough Plymouth Portsmouth Preston Reading Salford Sheffield Southampton Southend St Albans St Andrews Stirling Stoke on Trent Sunderland Swansea Wakefield Winchester Wolverhampton Worcester York

Calculate

Select 2 cities or towns from the dropdowns above to begin.

How does our calculator work?

Enter two cities you want to compare the cost of living between. The calculator will show how much more or less expensive the second city is compared to the first as a percentage.

It also gives a more detailed breakdown below so you can understand the costs. This includes the estimated cost of living in each city including rent and the rent for a 1-bedroom flat in each city.

To find out the cost of living without rent – you can simply subtract the rent price from the total cost of living. This cost of living figure includes monthly outgoings such as groceries, bills and entertainment, plus saving 20% of your income.

How should I interpret the results?

The cost of living will vary depending on your lifestyle and circumstances so is not an absolute figure – but it acts as a guide for a single person living and renting in a major UK city.

Why does the cost of living vary between cities?

Rent is a major factor in the cost of living and this tends to be quite different across cities, which can account for a lot of differences. Other costs will also vary – with entertainment and food in London, for example, generally more expensive than a city in the north of the UK.

What is the average cost of living for a student in the UK?

The average monthly cost of living in university cities in the UK is £1,296, despite the average maintenance loan for students being just £633 per month (£7,590 a year) for the 2023/2024 academic year, leaving the average student with £663 extra a month to fund.

The most (and least) expensive university cities and towns

London is far and away the city in the UK with the most unis, and students planning to live in the capital are going to pay a pretty penny for it. For students planning on attending one of the 40 universities based in London, the average monthly living costs work out to about £2,210. To account for these higher living costs, those studying in London qualify for a higher maximum maintenance loan amount (up to £13,348 p.a. vs. £10,227 for the 2024/2025 academic year).

Edinburgh comes in as a distant number two, with students attending one of the Scottish capital’s 4 universities budgeting monthly living costs around £1,672 pcm. University students in Oxford (£1,649), Cambridge (£1,623), and Brighton (£1,570) round out the list of the top 5 most expensive cities in the UK for living costs.

On the flip side, students moving to Stoke-on-Trent to attend Staffordshire University could be set to save. Stoke-on-Trent came in as the most affordable university city in the UK with monthly living costs coming out to just over £1,000 a month at £1,047.

Sunderland is equally budget-friendly for its uni students, coming out to £1,048 a month, followed by University of Hull in Hull (£1,107), University of Cumbria in Carlisle (£1,111), and Lancaster University in Lancaster (£1,113).

The most expensive university cities

City	Living costs per month	Universities
London	£2,210	40+ including UCL, King's College, Imperial and LSE
Edinburgh	£1,672	University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh Napier University, Heriot-Watt University, Queen Margaret University
Oxford	£1,649	University of Oxford, Oxford Brookes University
Cambridge	£1,623	Anglia Ruskin University, University of Cambridge
Brighton	£1,570	University of Brighton, University of Sussex

The least expensive university cities

City	Living costs per month	Universities
Hull	£1,047	University of Hull
Sunderland	£1,048	University of Sunderland
Stoke-on-Trent	£1,107	Staffordshire University
Carlisle	£1,111	University of Cumbria
Lancaster	£1,113	Lancaster University