Edinburgh among best UK cities for self-employed workers

Edinburgh has been named one of the top three UK cities to live in for self-employed workers.

Picture: Steven Scott Taylor

A survey of more than 5,000 self-employed workers from across the UK detailed working hours, financial status, life satisfaction, holidays, loans and mean income.

It ranked Southampton, London and Edinburgh in the top three.

The mean yearly earnings of self-employed workers in Southampton is £39,024 - higher than the UK average of £32,623. At 26 hours per week, Southampton’s self-employed also work two hours less per week than the average self-employed worker.

Mean yearly earnings in London are £35,779; in Edinburgh they are £35,285; and in Brighton they are £35,589.

Dominic Allon of Intuit Europe, which commissioned the survey, said: “The surge in self-employment has been fuelled by demand for a better quality of life.

“There is a fantastic entrepreneurial spirit across the breadth of the UK, and we shouldn’t be held back by where we live. New technologies and platforms are enabling more of us than ever to explore new income streams and dramatically different working habits.”