The 
has placed South Cambridgeshire in the top spot based on residents’ health, life expectancy, employment, school performance and regional climate.
Why South Cambridgeshire is a great place to live:
Residents tend to be fit and well with 95 per cent reporting general good health
Higher than average life expectancy (81.6 years).
A high employment rate (79 per cent) with many residents enjoying high incomes with weekly average earnings of £739.
The level of school qualifications is above the national average – 75 per cent achieve five or more GCSE results grades A-C, just ahead of the national average of 74 per cent1.
Residents also enjoy a relatively good climate with significantly less rainfall per year than the national average (597 mm against 871 mm).
Residents in southern England generally enjoy the best rural quality of life with over two thirds of the top rated 50 areas being here. The South East rates highest with fifteen local rural areas placed in the top 50, followed by the East of England (14) and the South West (7). The remainder is split between nine in East Midlands, three in the West Midlands and two in Yorkshire and the Humber.
Rural areas in the North tend to receive high ratings on school exam results and environmental measures such as low population densities and low traffic flows. Rural areas in the south of England typically perform better on average earnings, employment, health and weather.
Note: 1 74 per cent is the average for England and Wales.
Nitesh Patel, housing economist at Halifax, commented: “In recent years, South Cambridgeshire has performed well against the full range of indicators to demonstrate that its residents consistently have amongst the best quality of life in rural Britain. In particular, good health scores and life expectancy in South Cambridgeshire are the highest amongst all the regional areas on the survey. Even the rain falls less frequently than the national average in South Cambridgeshire, contributing to the general high performance of this area in employment, average earnings, school performance, health and life expectancy.”
