Mancunians are the happiest people in our City Living survey

Last month we asked if you, our wonderful readers, would mind sharing some information about yourselves for our City Living survey and plenty of you did. Thanks!

The survey covered all of the UK cities where we have Time Out, and we asked some pretty probing things, from your sleeping habits to other things you do in bed, your salary, how you feel about staying in your city, and lots more besides. You gave us a wealth of info and initial findings suggest that Manchester people are doing pretty good. 

But how does Manchester compare to the other cities. Here are some top line findings.

Bristol
The city recently voted the best place to live in England actually turns out to have the unhappiest people. Night time is not the right time for the Bristol folk either, with the highest proportion of people who have trouble sleeping. Oh, and they shower least often, so don't get too close. You'd think they'd cheer themselves up a bit with some hanky panky but they have less sex than all the other cities too, with just 16% having had any in the previous week! Despite all of this, Bristol also has the fewest people who anticipate leaving in the next five years at just 17%. The average salary of respondents was £22k, whilst a comfortable salary came out at £27,750. 

Birmingham
Brummies are the most stressed people in our survey. Perhaps that's because they get up the earliest, start work the earliest, and take the least amount of time to get ready. They're also the least likely to have got drunk in the past week. Doesn't sound like a lot of fun! They sleep badly, (not as badly as those tired Bristol folk), aren't getting much other fun in bed, (26% had some in the previous week), and a whopping 29% are thinking of leaving the city. Actual salary comes out at £19,550 with a comfy one stated as £25k.

Glasgow
Glaswegians aren't particularly happy, getting the next to bottom score in our survey after Bristol, but are they stressed about it? No they're not, scoring the second highest mark on the calmness question. They like a shower, but their breath may not be as fresh as some, with teeth cleaning not coming across as a priority. Still, despite that, 31% had had sex in the past week, 23% had had a drink, and only 17% are thinking of leaving. The actual salary is £28,600 with a comfortable wage set at £28k.

In fact both Glasgow and Edinburgh were the only cities where what was considered to be a comfortable salary came in as lower than actual ones.

Edinburgh
What a lazy bunch of... well, not exactly, but the good people of Edinburgh sleep in the latest, and whilst they still have time to enjoy a shower they, like their Glaswegian neighbours, aren't overly hot on the Colgate. They're slightly happier than their neighbours, but boy do they enjoy a drink, with a mark of 35% putting them at number one on the sauce. Maybe that's one reason why they're getting some in the sack too, with a score rate of 31%. Actual salary is £28k,  comfy comes in at £2k less at £26k, making them, in theory, the best able to enjoy their money.

Leeds
Laid back Leeds has the least stressed-out populace and the fewest insomniacs, giving them the best overall score when you take happiness and stress both into account. Leedsians also have the best oral hygiene, so well done you. Despite 30% having had a drink the last week and 27% having had sex, almost a quarter of them (24%) are thinking of leaving. Actual and comfy salaries come in at £25k.

London
Londoners are having a lot of fun but they're also the most financially starved. They're the cleanest, drunkest and friskiest. In fact with only 1% difference between the drinking (33%) and bonking (34%) can we assume some correlation? Perhaps not surprisingly, London sees the biggest discrepancy between actual and comfortable salaries, the fact being that £29k doesn't go far when the perceived one for a good time is seen as being £38k. A huge 32% of Londoners would consider leaving.

Where oh where could they move to?  

Manchester
It's Grins Up North! Here in Manchester we have the happiest populace, followed by Leeds. Mancunians rated ourselves at 6.95 out of 10 on the happiness scale, which must be why Southerners always say we're so friendly! Even so, 61% of us don't sleep well, but that could be because 26% are having a drink and 31% are at it, so who has time to sleep? And are we worried about it? No, not really... Also, our average salary of £25k matches exactly our perceived salary of how much you need to live here in comfort. We get up at 6.41am and start work at 8.35am, (having not bothered too much about showering but with our teeth gleaming), meaning that only 18% of us would consider leaving.

What might make some of you leave? Certain themes cropped up so here are some of the things you wrote down that annoy you in Manchester.

Transport
'Rude motorists.'
'All the roadworks and transport disruption.'
'Cornbrook tram stop. Hell on Earth. After its frozen over.'
'Public transport finishing too early.'

People
'Self obsession of the masses.'
'Lack of community spirit.'
'Dirty people with hygiene issues.'
'Smelly people on buses.'
'Beards.'
'Strangers.'
'Racism and ignorance towards other people and cultures.'
'Hen parties.'
'Macho aggressive men.'
'Noisy dickhead neighbours.'
'That it's not closer to my family.'

Other themes which cropped up a lot which annoyed you about the city centred around litter, affordable housing, general ignorance of people not being considerate of others, drugs issues and  problems with homeless people, crime and pollution.

But one contributor had this to say: 'Nothing. I love it.'

Watch out for more findings from our City Living survey, coming soon.

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