This southwest London borough is officially the UK’s second-happiest place to live

Last year, Richmond in west London was crowned the happiest place to live in Britain. A year on, what’s changed in the leafy London borough that’s home to Richmond Park, Kew Gardens and the arty Eel Pie island?

In 2024, Richmond upon Thames is still a very happy place to live, according to the Rightmove Happy at Home 2024 Index. But it’s no longer number one, being overtaken by Woodbridge in Suffolk. 

Rightmove surveyed more than 35,000 people across the UK to find out what they loved, and didn’t love, about where they live to come up with the definitive ranking of happy places. The survey took into account 15 different happiness factors, such as sense of community, access to green  spaces and proximity to services like schools, doctors and shops. 

Speaking about this year’s first place, property expert Tim Bannister said: ‘Woodbridge appears to have a lot of the factors that people are looking for from an area, including being close to a river, and a National Landscape. It’s the intangible factors of feeling proud to live in an area, feeling a sense of belonging, and feeling able to be yourself that are the biggest drivers of happiness.’

This year’s study found that people living in rural areas were more likely to be happy than those in big cities, which is likely to be why Richmond dropped from first to second place this year. You can read more about Woodbridge on Time Out here.

Richmond losing to Woodbridge could also have something to do with house prices. The average house price in the London borough is £939,329, with average rents coming in at £3,131 per month. In Woodbridge, the average house asking price is £441,569 and rent is £1,478. 

Still, Richmond did pretty well being the second-happiest place to live. In the London ranking, Richmond was followed by Kensington and Chelsea, Wandsworth and Westminster. These boroughs ranked at 16, 19, and 24 nationally. 

The entire Elizabeth line now has 4G coverage. 

This south London home has been crowned Britain’s ‘house of the year’ for 2024.