The UK is brimming with technological innovation. Whether it's major brands and businesses pushing tech boundaries or innovative startups disrupting the market, Britain is a hotbed for tech.  

And right across the country we’re seeing more towns and cities becoming tech hubs. These areas are packed with tech-related businesses and startups. They are locations that are thriving and appealing for tech workers to relocate to, with both job opportunities and well-paid salaries on offer. Plus, the best tech hubs balance this with quality of life too. Lower childcare costs, affordable gym memberships, food costs and rent are all things that make a great tech hub.  

We researched a range of factors to find the best spots in the UK for new graduates or experienced tech industry professionals looking for a better quality of life. We looked at:  

• Average salaries  

• Job opportunities  

• Cost of living (including food, gym, utilities and childcare) 

The top 10 best tech hubs

According to our research, the UK’s top tech hub is Harlow. Also in the top three are Slough and Bracknell.  

All three towns are home to dedicated innovation hubs in place to help grow and nurture tech businesses, and provide tech employment opportunities in the local areas. These include Harlow Innovation Park, Plus X Innovation in Slough, and Bracknell Enterprise & Innovation Hub. 

Each of these three towns also benefit from being close to London, in terms of the higher salaries on offer yet with a more affordable cost of living than the capital. Looking specifically at salaries for seven key tech jobs across our top three tech hubs, we can see the following averages:

For IT project managers in both Harlow and Bracknell there is even the potential to earn a higher average salary than in London. This is also the case for Software Engineers, Front End Developers and Cloud Engineers in Bracknell.  

The tech hubs in our top three also score well for cost of living.  

• The average cost of a beer in Slough is £3.25 compared to £5.00 in London.  

• A cappuccino is just £2.88 in Harlow compared to £3.54 in the capital.   

• On average, you’ll pay just £15 a month for a gym membership in Harlow.  

• Monthly childcare costs in Harlow are just £900 a month on average. This is compared to £1,309 in London, £1,025 in Manchester and £1,166 in Leeds.  

• To rent a room for a month in Slough, your average rent would be £840.  

Sunderland is the only tech hub in the North of England to make it into the top 10, at number 7. The city benefits from some strong average salaries, with data analysts able to earn £62,957 a year on average. This is around £10,000 higher than the average salary for the same job in Manchester.  

Sunderland also scores well for cost of living across food costs and utility costs.

Bracknell is an important tech hub for a variety of other factors

In our research, we also analysed key attributes that make a location attractive for tech workers, with Bracknell securing top spot across each of the following categories:  

Best for fitness enthusiasts 

Based on:  

• Average salaries across six key tech jobs  

• Food prices: £15 for the average meal  

• Gym cost: £25.33 a month on average  

Best for raising children  

Based on:  

• Childcare: Just £900 a month on average  

• Rent: £1,250 a month  

Best for homeowners 

Based on:  

• Average salaries across six key tech jobs   

• Average home value per square foot: £5,862 

• Average mortgage rates: 5.76%  

Other high ranking tech hub locations  

Whilst the potential to earn well is no doubt a factor for many tech workers, a good tech hub must have plenty of job opportunities and be a good place to raise children.  We analysed both of these factors in our research.  

Potential for employment  

Just focusing on average tech salaries alongside the number of available tech roles, London takes the top spot. Cambridge and Oxford make the top 10. 

Raising kids  

Looking at childcare costs and cost of living, we can see that both Guildford and Redditch score highly for as tech hubs for raising kids. Luton and Chelmsford both also make the top 10. 

Defining the best tech hubs: Expert insight from TalkTalk  

Ian Cairns, Sales Director from TalkTalk Business offers expert advice on what to look for when choosing the best tech hubs in the UK:  

“The best tech hubs understand it's a two-way street. They offer competitive salaries and opportunities, but also a high quality of life that attracts and retains top talent. A genuinely great tech hub isn't built on just code, it's built on community. You need that mix of talent, investment, and a dash of creative chaos to really ignite innovation.”  

At TalkTalk Business, our mission is to help UK businesses meet and exceed their ambitions. As well as highlighting the best areas for tech innovation in the UK, we continue to support businesses of every shape and size, providing a broad range of affordable connectivity and managed network solutions that are backed by exceptional service.  

And one of the ways we do that is through our 10Gb leased lines. The fastest business internet available, these 10Gb leased lines help bring businesses and their tech together through a lightning-fast, private connection which will satisfy even the most data-hungry organisations. 

If you'd like to find out how to get the most out of your technology, we'd love to chat. You can speak to our expert team on 0333 060 8157 or arrange a call back by clicking here. 

Methodology

To gather the tech hubs in the UK, we used an ONS list of built up towns and cities. These locations were judged against three sets of criteria which were used to gauge salary, affordability and opportunity, all of which were given a score. The averages of these scores were then used to give a final score to determine best overall tech hubs. We used Indeed and Numbeo to find salary, job listing and cost of living data, with high salaries and high number of roles increasing the score and high prices taking away from it.